The phonological deficit in developmental dyslexia : is there a suprasegmental component?

Abstract

Adult dyslexics were tested on a range of tasks which were presented in two closely matched versions: a segmental version and a suprasegmental version. The tasks targeted phonological contrasts on one hand and the metalinguistic ability to manipulate phonological units on the other hand. The dyslexic group showed a deficit in suprasegmentals as well as segmentals but only when the tasks involved manipulation. We found no evidence that the representations of suprasegmental contrasts are impaired in the dyslexic participants. Keywords: developmental dyslexia