Word imageability effects on naming: A pilot investigation of beginning readers of Turkish

Word imageability, a semantic variable, in naming by beginning readers of E nglish is well documented particularly with poor readers naming high imagea ble words more accurately than low imageable words. The present study exami ned the role of imageability on word naming by 20 good and 20 poor beginnin g readers as a function of orthographic transparency by utilizing the pecul iarities of the transparent Turkish writing system. Neither good nor poor b eginning readers show any evidence of imageability for Turkish suggesting t hat the contribution of imageability to word naming may indeed be determine d by orthographic transparency. Implications of these findings are discusse d.