THE INFLUENCE OF WORD FUNCTION IN THE MISSING-LETTER EFFECT - FURTHEREVIDENCE FROM FRENCH

When asked to detect target letters while reading continuous text, sub jects miss more letters in highly common function words than in less c ommon content words. This known as the missing-letter effect. Accordin g to the structural account, the higher omission rates for frequent fu nction words are attributable to their role in supporting the extracti on of phrase structure, after which they become lost in the transition from structure to meaning. This implies that word function in and of itself should affect letter detection accuracy. This issue was examine d in four experiments while controlling for a number of confounded fac tors associated with another influential model: the unitization accoun t. The first experiment extended the missing-letter effect to the Fren ch language. The second showed that letter detection is influenced by slight variations in the function assumed by the same word, such as wh en it is used as a definite article as opposed to a pronoun. This effe ct was observed even when the frequency of the orthographic pattern an d the syllable stress patterns were controlled. In the last two experi ments, a control was added for another factor: frequency of word meani ng. The results indicate that word function contributes to the missing -letter effect over and above what is contributed by frequency of word meaning.