Conceptions and questions concerning morphological processing.

The understanding of the nature and extent of morphological processing is critical to the overall investigation of how words are organized in the mind. In this overview article, we discuss the nature of morphological processing and the domain of morphological processing research. We claim that investigations crucially involve the understanding of relations among morphologically simple and morphologically complex words, and sketch how specific questions of morphological processing within the 2004 special issue on the mental lexicon fall under these categories. Finally, we discuss issues of construct, content and ecological validity within the field and what morphological processing can reveal about the association of form and meaning in the mind.