Identifying the pronunciation of irregularly spelled words: Relation to verbal IQ

The relation between ability to identify the pronunciation of irregularly spelled words (from the AMNART) and performance on six verbal subtests of the WAIS-R was investigated in 34 non-brain-damaged adults. A correlation of r = -.74 emerged between Verbal IQ and pronunciation identification errors. However, results of a multiple regression analysis showed that task order (WAIS-R, pronunciation task) contributed significantly to the variability in pronunciation identification scores beyond what was already accounted for by education. When the relation between task order and Verbal IQ and task order and pronunciation identification errors was removed, the resulting partial correlation was r = -.68 between Verbal IQ and pronunciation identification errors.