LEX-I AND LEX-II - 2 DATABASES OF SURFACE WORD FORMS FOR PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH IN SPANISH

Two databases of Spanish surface word forms are presented. Surface wor d forms are words considered as orthographically or phonologically spe cified without reference to their meaning or syntactic category. The d atabases are based on the productive written vocabulary of children be tween the ages of 6 and 10 years. Statistical and structural informati on is presented concerning surface word-form frequency, consonant-vowe l (CV) structure, number of syllables, syllables, syllable CV structur e, and subsyllabic units. LEX I was intended to aid in the study of re ading processes. Entries were orthographic surface word forms; words w ere divided in their components following orthographic criteria. LEX I I was designed for spoken language research. Accordingly, words were t ranscribed phonologically and phonological criteria were applied in ex tracting the internal units. Information about stress location was als o provided. Together, LEX I and LEX II represent a useful tool for psy cholinguists interested in the study of people acquiring Spanish as a first or foreign language and of Spanish-speaking populations in gener al.