An event-related potential (ERP) technique was used to investigate the way in which noun-noun compounds are processed during a lexical decision task with Italian speakers. Reaction times and error rates were higher for compounds than for noncompounds. ERP data showed a more negative peak in the left anterior negativity (LAN) component for compounds. These results are compatible with a dual-route model that posits not only whole-word access for compounds but also an activation of decomposed representations of compound constituents. A final result relates to head position, which in Italian compounds could be on either the left- or the right-hand side of the word. While behavioural analysis did not reveal a difference between left- and right-headed compounds, a difference was found with the P300 component. The role of the compound head as a crucial information-bearing component is discussed.

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This study investigated the production of compounds in Italian-speaking patients affected by different aphasia categories (i.e., Broca's, Wernicke's, and anomic aphasia) in a confrontation naming task. Questions of theoretical interest concerning the processing of compounds within the framework of the "lemma theory" as well as the role of morphological productivity in compound processing are addressed. Results indicate that all persons with aphasia retain knowledge of the morphological status of words, even when they fail to retrieve the corresponding phonological form (the "compound effect"). A difference was found among aphasia categories in the type of errors produced (omission vs. substitution) and in the position (first or second) of these errors within the compound words. In Broca's aphasia, the first component is omitted more frequently than the second one, but only in verb-noun compounds. Anomic and Wernicke's aphasia, unlike in Broca's aphasia, seem to retain sensitivity to morphological productivity.