Word naming in Spanish

Abstract

Studies on the factors that determine word naming speed have been conducted in a number of languages. In this study two objectives were pursued: (1) to contrast the effects of the variable of age of acquisition with the different measures of frequency of use (adult written frequency, child written frequency, cumulative frequency, and frequency trajectory), and (2) to verify which variables determine reading latencies in a language with a completely transparent reading system (Spanish). For these purposes, 53 native speakers of Spanish read aloud 240 words for which values were available of the main lexical, phonological, and semantic variables. The results of the regression analyses showed that the best predictors of reading times were length (measured in terms of both number of letters and number of syllables) and subjective age of acquisition (AoA). The different frequency measures correlated significantly with the response latencies but were not longer significant in the regression analyses. Semantic variables (familiarity and imageability) had the smallest effects on reading speed. The comparison of the results obtained in this study with those reported for other languages offers some conclusions about the effects of orthographic systems on word naming.

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