Cross-linguistic Studies of Visual Word Recognition

Greg SimpsonIllinois State University

Word Recognition and Orthographies

• The role of cross-linguistic studies in psychology– Universals vs language-specific phenomena

• Confusing the subject matter with the language

• Confusing the subject matter with the subjects

• Languages chosen for certain characteristics

Word Recognition and Orthographies

• Ambiguous words (e.g., count)– Number count– Handsome count

• Context leads to activating one meaning, or

• Context selects among activated meanings

Sample of the meanings of “Shi”• First tone:

– Wet, poetry, teacher, model, example, troops, lion, hush, lose, break (promise), get lost, mishap, mistake, implement (v), bestow, grant, corpse, louse

• Second tone:– Solid, true, honest, fruit, knowledge, ten, assorted stone, pick up,

time, season, opportunity, occasionally, eat, erode• Third tone:

– Drive, sail, excrement, arrow, swear, beginning, only then

Sample of the meanings of “Shi”• Fourth tone:– Room, market, city, persimmon, type, pattern, formula,

try, examination, wipe, show, notify, look at, scholar, rely on, serve, lifetime, age, world, epoch, matter, business, trouble, accident, job, responsibility, swear, pledge, to die, power, momentum, situation, sign, gesture, to be correct, explain, be relieved of, set free, fit proper, comfortable, follow, family name, decorations, dress up, act a part

Word Recognition and Orthographies

• Writing represents speech– A unit of writing represents a unit of the

speech stream• Units of the speech stream– Morpheme: Logography (Chinese)– Syllable: Syllabary (Japanese)– Phoneme: Alphabet (Most of the rest)

Orthographic Transparency

• Print-pronunciation relations– Opaque (e.g., English)• Lack of 1:1 relation of graphemes to

phonemes– great/giant– sent/cent– morpheme– morpheme/shepherd

– Transparent (e.g., Spanish, Korean)• Closer correspondence of graphemes

to phonemes

• The most rational of all writing systemsWatanabe & Suzuki (1981)

• If rulers were ever measured by anything besides military exploits, [Sejong] would surely be among the foremost to have appeared on the stage of history.

DeFrancis (1989)

• An intelligent person can learn the system before the morning is over. Even the thick-headed can master it in ten days.

Hangul scholar (ca. 1446)

Sejong the Great (1397-1450)

Korean Orthography

• The Hangul alphabet– Transparent– Letter shape• Related phonemes/related letters• Consonants and the vocal tract• Syllable block printing

Hangul Consonants

Origin of Consonant Shape

Hangul Vowels

• Variations on vertical or horizontal line

• Related vowels represented by similar letters (ah/yah, oh/yoh)

Syllable-block Printing

Hangul and Hanza

• Hangul and Hanza naming– .8 Hanza/.2 Hangul– .2 Hanza/.8 Hangul

• Dual-route Model– Phonological– Lexical– Neurological evidence• Acquired dyslexia

– Word-reading evidence• Regular and irregular

words• Nonwords

• Assessing the routes– Finding a “marker”• Regularity• Frequency• Semantic Priming

• Strategic control– Biasing a route

• 20 HF Hangul words• 20 LF Hangul words• 160 Filler words– Hangul words– Hanza words– Hangul pseudowords

• Will frequency effect change as function of filler?

Hangul Frequency Experiment

Hangul Frequency Experiment

• Results– Frequency effect larger

with Hanza word fillers– No effect with Hangul

pw fillers– Route can be

emphasized according to list context

Some Observations, Puzzles, and Implications

• How should we teach reading?• The “Great Debate”– Phonics– Whole language

• Relation to the dual-route model• English and the advantage of the lexical

path -- suggests whole language

Some Observations, Puzzles, and Implications

• But, does the fluent adult reader use knowledge of the sound system?– Rows-flower

• Children and phonological awareness