Lexical and sub - lexical knowledge influences the encoding , storage , and articulation of nonwords Short title : Lexical knowledge and nonwords

Nonword repetition (NWR) has been used extensively in the study of child language. Although lexical and sub-lexical knowledge is known to influence NWR performance, there has been little examination of the NWR processes (e.g., encoding, storage, articulation) that may be affected by lexical and sub-lexical knowledge. We administered 2and 3-syllable spoken nonword recognition and nonword repetition tests on two independent groups of 31 children (M=5;07). Spoken nonword recognition primarily involves encoding and storage, whereas NWR involves an additional articulation process. The influence of lexical and sub-lexical knowledge was determined by examining the amount of lexical errors produced. There was a clear involvement of long-term lexical and sub-lexical knowledge in both spoken nonword recognition and NWR. In spoken nonword recognition, twice as many errors involved selecting a foil that contained a lexical item (e.g., yashukup) over a foil that contained only nonsense syllables (e.g., yashunup). In repetition, over 30% of errors changed a nonsense syllable to a lexical item. Our results show that long-term lexical and sub-lexical knowledge is pervasive in NWR – any explanation of NWR performance must therefore consider the influence of lexical and sub-lexical knowledge throughout the whole repetition process, from the encoding of nonwords to the articulation of them.