Brain potentials indicate differences between regular and irregular German plurals

Event-related brain potentials were recorded as 18 German-speaking subjects read sentences that contained as critical words German nouns in correct and incorrect plural forms. Two types of plurals were investigated: regular -s plurals (e.g. Karussell-s 'roundabouts') and irregular -(e)n plurals (Muskel-n "muscles'). We compared correct regular and irregular plurals with incorrect ones; the latter had -(e)n on nouns that actually take -s plurals (*Karussell-en), or -s on nouns that require -(e)n (*Muskel-s). ERPs showed different responses to regular and irregular plurals: incorrect irregular plurals (*Muskel-s) elicited a ramp-shaped left frontotemporal negativity, whereas incorrect regulars (*Karussell-en) produced a central phasic negativity with a maximum at 380 ms. This dissociation supports the view that regularly inflected words are processed differently from irregularly inflected ones.