ABSTRACT
Studying how to learn and how to use written language morphology is one of the less frequently explored fields of research in psycholinguistics. Yet, morphology plays an essential role in written French, especially since many written markers have no corresponding pronunciation (Catach, 1986; Dubois, 1965). This predominantly silent morphology has two general consequences: (a) For children, the learning of these markers and of their functions must be performed without an oral reference (e.g., the absence of phonetic realization of the nominal plural -s in les chiens (the dogs) and of the verbal plural -nt in ils jouent (they play); (b) for adults, the implementation and the control of these markers take place only in reference to the written language. Despite the crucial character of morphology for the mastery of writing, the studies that concern it remain rare and mainly involve the counting of spelling errors or developing taxonomies of errors (Chervel & Manesse, 1989; Girolami-Boulinier, 1984; Jaffré, 1992). In short, there is, to the best of our knowledge, no psycholinguistic approach of the acquisition and implementation of written French morphology.
