BRAIN POTENTIALS INDICATE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REGULAR AND IRREGULAR GERMAN PLURALS

EVENT-RELATED brain potentials were recorded as 18 German-speaking sub jects read sentences that contained as critical words German nouns in correct and incorrect plural forms. Two types of plurals were investig ated: regular -s plurals (e.g. Karussell-s 'roundabouts') and irregula r -(e)n plurals (Muskel-n 'muscles'). We compared correct regular and irregular plurals with incorrect ones; the latter had -(e)n on nouns t hat actually take -s plurals (Karussell-en), or -s on nouns that requ ire -(e)n (Muskel-s). ERPs showed different responses to regular and irregular plurals: incorrect irregular plurals (Muskel-s) elicited a ramp-shaped left frontotemporal negativity, whereas incorrect regulars (Karussell-en) produced a central phasic negativity with a maximum a t 380 ms. This dissociation supports the view that regularly inflected words are processed differently from irregularly inflected ones.