ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issue of prefix processing and representation by taking into account two quantitative dimensions of prefix distribution in Italian: the number of word-types in which a given prefix is present; the quantitative relationship between this number and the number of word-types in which the same orthographic sequence is present as a pseudoprefix. The role of the morphological structure of words in lexical processing has been investigated in the last two decades through a variety of experimental paradigms. The experiment is based on a multiple-regression design in which the two independent variables acted as predictors and reaction times and errors constituted the criteria. The results of the experiments support the view that prefixes may be represented as units of access and/or representation in the mental lexicon, and that they can be activated during the process of recognition of new letter strings.
