NOTE When memorized instances compete with rules : The case of number–noun agreement in written French* PIERRE LARGY University of Toulouse le Mirail, France MARIE-PAULE COUSIN University of Toulouse le Mirail, France PETER BRYANT Oxford University, UK AND MICHEL FAYOL University of Clermont-Ferrand & CNRS, France (Received 3 October 2005. Revised 11 September 2006) ABSTRACT It is claimed by Totereau, The´venin & Fayol (1997) that French children understand the rule for spelling the plural inflection very early on. However, no evidence contradicts the alternative that they learn the spelling of a word’s singular and plural forms by treating the two forms as entirely different words. We tested this by asking French first and second graders (85 six-year-old and 89 seven-year-old children, respectively) to read and write rare words, either in just the singular or in just the plural, and then testing their spelling. The children tended to attach plural inflections to words which they had encountered only as plural and to omit them from words encountered before only as singular. [*] This research was supported by the Ministe`re de la Jeunesse, de l’Education Nationale et de la Recherche (Ecole et Sciences cognitives : de´cision nx 03 3 179, projet AF 13). Address for correspondence : Pierre Largy, Universite´ de Toulouse le Mirail, U.F.R. de Psychologie, F-31058 Toulouse cedex 9, France. tel : (33)5 61 50 48 25 ; e-mail : largy@ univ-tlse2.fr. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Pierre Largy, Universite´ de Toulouse le Mirail, U.F.R. de Psychologie, F-31058 Toulouse cedex 9, France. J. Child Lang. 34 (2007), 425–437. f 2007 Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/S0305000906007914 Printed in the United Kingdom 425