The English disease in Finnish compound processing: Backward transfer effects in Finnish–English bilinguals

Abstract Most English compounds are spaced compounds, whereas spelling regulations prescribe Finnish compounds to be written in a concatenated format. However, as in English, Finnish compounds are commonly spaced nowadays (e.g., piha juhla ‘garden party’), a phenomenon that we labeled the ‘English disease’. In this eye movement study with Finnish–English bilinguals we investigate whether the reading of a concatenated or illegally spaced Finnish …