EFFECTS OF MORPHOLOGY ON CHILDRENS SPELLING OF FINAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS

Most research on children's spelling has emphasized the role of phonol ogical or sound-based processes. We asked whether morphology plays a p art in early spelling by examining how children write words with final consonant clusters. In three experiments, children made different pat terns of omission errors on the last two consonants of words such as t uned and bars, in which the consonants belong to different morphemes, and words such as brand and Mars, in which the consonants belong to th e same morpheme. These differences emerged even among children reading at the first-grade level. Effects of morphology appeared whether chil dren spelled single words to dictation (Experiments 1 and 3), finished partially completed spellings (Experiment 2), or wrote sentences cont aining specified words (Experiment 3). Children did not use morphologi cal relations among words as much as they could have, given their know ledge of the stems, but they did use them to some extent Although phon ology plays an important role in early spelling, young children can al so use other sources of information, including certain morphological r elationships among words. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.