From written word to written sentence production

Guido Nottbusch, Rüdiger Weingarten & Said Sahel (2007)

In: D. Galbraith, L. van Waes. & M. Torrance, M. (Eds.), Writing and Cognition. Research and Applications. (Studies in Writing, Volume 4) Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Abstract: In this article, we present an experimental paradigm of time course measurements for the study of written language production at the levels of words and sentences. It is shown that time measurements can give insights into cognitive processes involved in writing. In the first section, we outline the methodology and discuss it in the context of written language production. In the second section, we summarize a series of experimental studies on written word production. The main result is that at the beginning of word writing the segmental information – the grapheme or letter sequence – is not yet specified completely. Instead, depending on linguistic word structure, the motor buffer has to be reloaded. This indicates that cognitive processes are operating during writing. In the third section, we present an original study on written sentence production. It shows that the time course of writing sentences is influenced by sentence planning and syntactic structures at the boundaries of major syntactic constituents and words as well as within these boundaries, depending on the task type. At this point, we also discuss the relationship of written word production and sentence production with respect to time course measurements. Finally, some perspectives for future research are outlined.