Katsuo Tamaoka - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Katsuo Tamaoka

Research paper thumbnail of Homophonic and Semantic Priming of Japanese Kanji Words: A Time Course Study

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Jan 1, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Semantic involvement in the lexical and sentence processing of Japanese Kanji

This study examined how skilled Japanese readers activate semantic information when reading kanji... more This study examined how skilled Japanese readers activate semantic information when reading kanji compound words at both the lexical and sentence levels. Experiment 1 used a lexical decision task for two-kanji compound words and nonwords. When nonwords were composed of kanji that were semantically similar to the kanji of real words, reaction times were longer and error rates were higher than when nonwords had kanji that were not semantically similar. Experiment 2 used a proofreading task (detection of kanji miscombinations) for the same two-kanji compound words and nonwords at the sentence level. In this task, semantically similar nonwords were detected faster than dissimilar nonwords, but error rates were much higher for the semantically similar nonwords. Experiment 3 used a semantic decision task for sentences with the same two-kanji compound words and nonwords. It took longer to detect semantically similar nonwords than dissimilar nonwords. This indicates that semantic involvement in the processing of Japanese kanji produces different effects, depending on whether this processing is done at the lexical or sentence level, which in turn is related to where the reader's attention lies.

Research paper thumbnail of Reading processes of English sentences in Japanese and Canadian students

Research paper thumbnail of Acquisition of Japanese Honorific Expression by Native Chinese Speakers with Low, Middle and High

Research paper thumbnail of Predicting Attachment of the Light Verb -suru to Japanese Two-kanji Compound Words Using Four Aspects 1

In the Japanese language, the light verb -suru can be attached to various two-kanji compound word... more In the Japanese language, the light verb -suru can be attached to various two-kanji compound words containing a verb-like feature (or aspects) to allow them to be used as a verb. Using a large sample of the 2,000 two-kanji compound words, encompassing a little less than 80 percent of the total two-kanji compound words printed in 14 years of Asahi Newspaper issues, the present study investigates how much the light verb attachment is predicted by four aspects: inchoative, durative, telic and stative. A binary logistic regression analysis indicates that all four aspects are significant predictors. Among them, the telic aspect shows an overwhelmingly high predictive power. The quantitative theory type III analysis further demonstrates that, in contrast to the stative aspect, the inchoative, durative and telic aspects share a similar semantic feature of time series. Nevertheless, since the telic aspect overlaps not only the time series feature of the inchoative and durative aspects, but also the stative aspect, it is the most effective single predictor for light verb attachment, showing an extremely high prediction rate of 93.64 percent (751 cases out of 802) with errors of 6.36 percent (51 cases out of 802). These errors include 8 words with the telic aspect, 11 words with no telic aspect, and 32 words with none of the four aspects.

Research paper thumbnail of New figures for a Web-accessible database of the 1,945 basic Japanese kanji, fourth edition

Research paper thumbnail of Priority Information Used for the Processing of Japanese Sentences: Thematic Roles, Case Particles or Grammatical Functions?

The present study investigated scrambling effects on the processing of Japanese sentences and pri... more The present study investigated scrambling effects on the processing of Japanese sentences and priority information used among thematic roles, case particles and grammatical functions. Reaction times for correct sentence decisions were significantly prolonged for scrambled active sentences with transitive verbs in the first experiment and with ditransitive verbs in the second experiment. Errors were made with scrambled sentences more than canonical sentences in both experiments, which suggested that scrambling effects were apparent in active sentences. Passive sentences in the third experiment indicated that canonical order defined based on case particles, not thematic roles, was more quickly and accurately identified than scrambled order. Potential sentences in the fourth experiment and causative sentences in the fifth experiment indicated that the processing of scrambled sentences based on grammatical functions, but not on case particles, required longer reaction times and resulted in higher error rates than canonical sentences. Consequently, scrambling effects in the present study indicated that neither thematic roles nor case particles can provide fully-satisfactory information for canonical phrase order, and that only grammatical functions offer satisfactory information in all types of sentences.

Research paper thumbnail of Japanese Mental Syllabary and Effects of Mora, Syllable, Bi-mora and Word Frequencies on Japanese Speech Production

Language and Speech, 2009

The present study investigated the existence of a Japanese mental syllabary and units stored ther... more The present study investigated the existence of a Japanese mental syllabary and units stored therein for speech production. Experiment 1 compared naming latencies between high and low initial mora frequencies using CVCVCV nonwords, indicating that nonwords with a high initial mora frequency were named faster than those with a low frequency initial mora. Experiments 2 and 3 clarified the possibility of CV light and CVN/CVR heavy syllables as being units implicated in speech production. CVNCV nonwords in Experiment 2 and CVRCV nonwords in Experiment 3 displayed shorter naming latencies and lower error rates than their baseline (same bi-mora frequencies) of CVCVCV-structured nonwords. Since bi-mora frequencies between CVN/CVR and CVCV were the same, heavy syllables comprised of CVN and CVR units may contribute to ready-made motorprograms stored in the Japanese mental syllabary as variations of the 100 core light syllables (300 units in total). Experiment 4 further tested the effects of bi-mora frequency on the naming of nonwords, and found that CVCVCV-structured nonwords with high bi-mora frequencies were named more quickly and accurately than those with low bi-mora frequencies, although some bi-mora combinations seem to exhibit nonconforming tendencies (i.e., null significance in item analysis). Experiment 5 demonstrated that the naming of real words with high word frequency was quicker than for other real word conditions with low word frequencies (i.e., word frequency effects), with little effect of bi-mora frequencies. Unlike the nonword condition of Experiment 4, bi-mora frequency had only a minor influence on the naming of real words. Based on these findings, the present study proposes a possible model of the Japanese mental syllabary accompanied by a discussion of bi-mora and word frequency effects.

Research paper thumbnail of How do native Chinese speakers learning Japanese as a second language understand Japanese kanji homophones?

Writing Systems Research, 2012

The present study investigated causal relations between lexical/grammatical knowledge and the abi... more The present study investigated causal relations between lexical/grammatical knowledge and the ability to make homophonic distinctions among 170 native Chinese speakers learning Japanese as a second language (L2). The result of a structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis indicated that the ability to distinguish homophones depending on sentential context was strongly affected by grammatical knowledge, though not by lexical knowledge. Therefore, grammatical knowledge greatly assists Chinese learners of L2 Japanese to identify the specific homophone appropriate in a sentential context among multiple candidates.

Research paper thumbnail of Pre- and post-head processing for single- and double-scrambled sentences of a head-final language as measured by the eye tracking method

Journal of psycholinguistic research, 2014

Using the eye-tracking method, the present study depicted pre-and post-head processing for simple... more Using the eye-tracking method, the present study depicted pre-and post-head processing for simple scrambled sentences of head-final languages. Three versions of simple Japanese active sentences with ditransitive verbs were used: namely, (1) SO 1 O 2 V canonical, (2) SO 2 O 1 V single-scrambled, and (3) O 1 O 2 SV double-scrambled order. First pass reading times indicated that the third noun phrase just before the verb in both single-and double-scrambled sentences required longer reading times compared to canonical sentences. Re-reading times (the sum of all fixations minus the first pass reading) showed that all noun phrases including the crucial phrase before the verb in double-scrambled sentences required longer re-reading times than those required for single-scrambled sentences; single-scrambled sentences had no difference from canonical ones. Therefore, a single filler-gap dependency can be resolved in pre-head anticipatory processing whereas two filler-gap dependencies require much greater cognitive loading than a single case. These two dependencies can be resolved in post-head processing using verb agreement information.

Research paper thumbnail of What makes international students satisfied with a Japanese university?

Asia Pacific Education Review, 2003

The present study investigated the satisfaction of international students. The factor analysis re... more The present study investigated the satisfaction of international students. The factor analysis revealed the three factors of ‘learning and research’, ‘living and adaptation’ and ‘Japanese language ability’. The ten variables were used to predict the satisfaction of international students and found five significant variables in predicating the satisfaction of international students. These were suitability of curriculum, progress of research, having a good friend, cultural adaptation and part-time work. Among these, the suitability of the curriculum was the most significant predictor. Furthermore, the path analysis for learning and research indicated significant mutual causal relationships between research progress and supervisor’s advice. The level of Japanese language skills is not necessarily required to receive advice from their supervisors, although Japanese language skills help to understand the content of classes.

Research paper thumbnail of Rebounding activation caused by lexical homophony in the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words

Reading and Writing, 2007

The present study investigated the effects of lexical homophony on the processing of Japanese two... more The present study investigated the effects of lexical homophony on the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words. Experiment 1 showed that participants took longer to perform lexical decisions for words with a high degree of lexical homophony than those with no homophony. Interestingly, the same inhibitory trend was found in the naming task of Experiment 2. Participants took longer to name words with a high degree of lexical homophony than those with no homophony. The consistency of an inhibitory effect through the two experiments suggests that during naming and lexical decisions for Japanese two-kanji compound words, an orthographic representation activates the phonological representation, which then leads to a rebounding activation of orthographic representations of homophonic forms.

Research paper thumbnail of Constructing initial phonology in Mandarin Chinese: Syllabic or subsyllabic? A masked priming investigation

Recent research has put forward the idea that Chinese speech production is governed by the syllab... more Recent research has put forward the idea that Chinese speech production is governed by the syllable as the fundamental phonological unit. However, it may be that onset priming might be more difficult to obtain in Mandarin Chinese. Therefore, in this study, the degree of overlap between prime and target was increased from C to CV (i.e., extending beyond the phoneme) as well as whether primes and targets had an overlapping structure (CV vs. CVN). Subsyllabic priming effects were found (i.e., onset + vowel overlap but not purely onset overlap), contrasting with the claim that the syllable is the compulsory building block in the initial construction of Mandarin Chinese phonology.

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying empty subjects by modality information: the case of the Japanese sentence-final particles -yo and -ne

Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 2007

The present study conducted four experiments to investigate how modality information provided thr... more The present study conducted four experiments to investigate how modality information provided through the sentence-final particles -yo and -ne were utilized in identifying an empty subject by native Japanese speakers. Experiment 1 conducted a whole-sentence anomaly decision task, finding that base sentences without -yo and -ne attached were processed more quickly than sentences with either -yo or -ne and that sentences with -yo were processed more quickly than the same sentences with -ne. A delay in processing sentences with -ne was created by the ambiguity of an empty subject identified by -ne as either ‘I’ or ‘you’. In Experiment 2, the auxiliary verb -ou ‘let us’ was added to the base sentence before -yo and -ne, providing a cue to identify the empty subject as ‘we’. Although the base sentences were processed more quickly than those containing the particles -yo and -ne, no other difference resulted from the attachment of these particles. To eliminate the possibility of orthographic-length effects, Experiment 3 compared base sentences with -ou, -ou-yo, and -ou-ne, finding no difference among them (i.e., no ortho- graphic-length effects). Experiment 4 was conducted to further eliminate the possible involvement of discourse-level computation by utilizing base sentences with overt subjects, past tense verbs, and the auxiliary verb -rasii ‘appear to’. Once subjects of sentences were clearly shown, there was no difference among base sentences and those with either -yo or -ne attached (i.e., no discourse-level computation effects). Thus the present study proved that the modality information inherent in the particles -yo and -ne was used for identifying empty subjects.

Research paper thumbnail of The Proximate Phonological Unit of Chinese-English Bilinguals: Proficiency Matters

Plos One, 2013

An essential step to create phonology according to the language production model by Levelt, Roelo... more An essential step to create phonology according to the language production model by Levelt, Roelofs and Meyer is to assemble phonemes into a metrical frame. However, recently, it has been proposed that different languages may rely on different grain sizes of phonological units to construct phonology. For instance, it has been proposed that, instead of phonemes, Mandarin Chinese uses syllables and Japanese uses moras to fill the metrical frame. In this study, we used a masked priming-naming task to investigate how bilinguals assemble their phonology for each language when the two languages differ in grain size. Highly proficient Mandarin Chinese-English bilinguals showed a significant masked onset priming effect in English (L2), and a significant masked syllabic priming effect in Mandarin Chinese (L1). These results suggest that their proximate unit is phonemic in L2 (English), and that bilinguals may use different phonological units depending on the language that is being processed. Additionally, under some conditions, a significant sub-syllabic priming effect was observed even in Mandarin Chinese, which indicates that L2 phonology exerts influences on L1 target processing as a consequence of having a good command of English.

Research paper thumbnail of Phonological involvement in the processing of Japanese at the lexical and sentence levels

Reading and Writing, 2002

The present study examined whether Japanesereaders activate phonological information whenreading ... more The present study examined whether Japanesereaders activate phonological information whenreading kanji compound words and sentences andif so, how they do it. Experiment 1 usedtwo-kanji compound words in a lexical decisiontask to study phonological processing at thelexical level. When nonwords werepseudo-homophones (/roR hi/ in placeof the real word /roR hi/), reactiontimes were longer and more errors occurred thanwith nonwords in the control group(/saku hi/). Experiment 2required participants to detect misspellings(i.e., incorrect kanji combinations) oftwo-kanji compound stimuli embedded insentences. In the detection task of misspelledkanji, no homophonic effect was apparent. Experiment 3 used a semantic decision task. Included in this task were semantically similarbut incorrect kanji compound words used asfillers in sentences (e.g.,meaning `The building you can see over there was facilitated by my friend' instead of designed) as well as the sentences used inExperiment 2. Results from Experiment 3indicated that participants could reject asentence as incorrect more quickly whenpseudo-homophones were embedded in thesentences rather than nonwords. These resultssuggest that readers activate phonologicalinformation of two-kanji compound words whenreading for comprehension but not for simpleproofreading.

Research paper thumbnail of The effects of morphological semantics on the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words

Reading and Writing, 1998

The present study investigated the way in which the activation of semantic representations at the... more The present study investigated the way in which the activation of semantic representations at the morpheme level affects the processing of two-kanji (morpheme) compound words. Three types of Japanese two-kanji compound words were used as stimulus items: (1) words consisting of two kanji representing opposite concepts (e.g., long + short = length), (2) words consisting of two kanji representing similar concepts (e.g., soft + flexible = pliable), and (3) control words consisting of two closely bound kanji (e.g., wild + field = wilderness). Words consisting of kanji of opposite concepts (M = 768 ms for LD and M = 645 ms for naming) were processed more slowly for lexical decision, but not for naming, than words with kanji of similar concepts (M = 743 ms for LD and M = 636 ms for naming), both of which were, furthermore, processed more slowly for lexical decision and naming than the control compound words (M = 716 ms for LD and M = 590 ms for naming). These results were explained in the framework of the multiple-level interactive-activation model as follows. Because kanji morphemes of opposite and similar concepts are semantically activated both as morpheme units and compound word units, semantic representations of the two morphemes and the compound word which they create compete with each other at the concept level, which slows down lexical decision and naming of the compound word.

Research paper thumbnail of On the dynamics of the compounding of Japanese kanji with common and proper nouns∗

Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of The effect of morphemic homophony on the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words

Reading and Writing, 2005

Two experiments investigated the effect of kanji morphemic homophony on lexical decision and nami... more Two experiments investigated the effect of kanji morphemic homophony on lexical decision and naming. Effects were examined from both the left-hand and right-hand positions of Japanese two-kanji compound words. The number of homophones affected the processing of compound words in the same way for both tasks. For left-hand kanji, fewer morphemic homophones led to faster lexical decision and whole-word naming. For right-hand kanji, the number of morphemic homophones did not affect either lexical decision or naming. This effect of homophonic density suggested that, when a kanji-compound word is to be processed, phonological information of its kanji constituents is automatically activated and reverberates back to generate a series of orthographic representations of kanji morphemic homophones, but not in a completely parallel fashion.

Research paper thumbnail of Factor Structure of the Korean Version of Wong and Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale

Assessment, 2012

This study reports the factor structure of a Korean version of the 16-item Wong and Law Emotional... more This study reports the factor structure of a Korean version of the 16-item Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) for a sample of 161 Korean university students. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-factor model of the WLEIS: (1) self-emotional appraisal, (2) others' emotional appraisal, (3) use of emotion, and (4) regulation of emotion. However, improvement of the model fit after removing three items suggests the need for future research on the crosscultural measurement invariance of the WLEIS.

Research paper thumbnail of Homophonic and Semantic Priming of Japanese Kanji Words: A Time Course Study

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Jan 1, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Semantic involvement in the lexical and sentence processing of Japanese Kanji

This study examined how skilled Japanese readers activate semantic information when reading kanji... more This study examined how skilled Japanese readers activate semantic information when reading kanji compound words at both the lexical and sentence levels. Experiment 1 used a lexical decision task for two-kanji compound words and nonwords. When nonwords were composed of kanji that were semantically similar to the kanji of real words, reaction times were longer and error rates were higher than when nonwords had kanji that were not semantically similar. Experiment 2 used a proofreading task (detection of kanji miscombinations) for the same two-kanji compound words and nonwords at the sentence level. In this task, semantically similar nonwords were detected faster than dissimilar nonwords, but error rates were much higher for the semantically similar nonwords. Experiment 3 used a semantic decision task for sentences with the same two-kanji compound words and nonwords. It took longer to detect semantically similar nonwords than dissimilar nonwords. This indicates that semantic involvement in the processing of Japanese kanji produces different effects, depending on whether this processing is done at the lexical or sentence level, which in turn is related to where the reader's attention lies.

Research paper thumbnail of Reading processes of English sentences in Japanese and Canadian students

Research paper thumbnail of Acquisition of Japanese Honorific Expression by Native Chinese Speakers with Low, Middle and High

Research paper thumbnail of Predicting Attachment of the Light Verb -suru to Japanese Two-kanji Compound Words Using Four Aspects 1

In the Japanese language, the light verb -suru can be attached to various two-kanji compound word... more In the Japanese language, the light verb -suru can be attached to various two-kanji compound words containing a verb-like feature (or aspects) to allow them to be used as a verb. Using a large sample of the 2,000 two-kanji compound words, encompassing a little less than 80 percent of the total two-kanji compound words printed in 14 years of Asahi Newspaper issues, the present study investigates how much the light verb attachment is predicted by four aspects: inchoative, durative, telic and stative. A binary logistic regression analysis indicates that all four aspects are significant predictors. Among them, the telic aspect shows an overwhelmingly high predictive power. The quantitative theory type III analysis further demonstrates that, in contrast to the stative aspect, the inchoative, durative and telic aspects share a similar semantic feature of time series. Nevertheless, since the telic aspect overlaps not only the time series feature of the inchoative and durative aspects, but also the stative aspect, it is the most effective single predictor for light verb attachment, showing an extremely high prediction rate of 93.64 percent (751 cases out of 802) with errors of 6.36 percent (51 cases out of 802). These errors include 8 words with the telic aspect, 11 words with no telic aspect, and 32 words with none of the four aspects.

Research paper thumbnail of New figures for a Web-accessible database of the 1,945 basic Japanese kanji, fourth edition

Research paper thumbnail of Priority Information Used for the Processing of Japanese Sentences: Thematic Roles, Case Particles or Grammatical Functions?

The present study investigated scrambling effects on the processing of Japanese sentences and pri... more The present study investigated scrambling effects on the processing of Japanese sentences and priority information used among thematic roles, case particles and grammatical functions. Reaction times for correct sentence decisions were significantly prolonged for scrambled active sentences with transitive verbs in the first experiment and with ditransitive verbs in the second experiment. Errors were made with scrambled sentences more than canonical sentences in both experiments, which suggested that scrambling effects were apparent in active sentences. Passive sentences in the third experiment indicated that canonical order defined based on case particles, not thematic roles, was more quickly and accurately identified than scrambled order. Potential sentences in the fourth experiment and causative sentences in the fifth experiment indicated that the processing of scrambled sentences based on grammatical functions, but not on case particles, required longer reaction times and resulted in higher error rates than canonical sentences. Consequently, scrambling effects in the present study indicated that neither thematic roles nor case particles can provide fully-satisfactory information for canonical phrase order, and that only grammatical functions offer satisfactory information in all types of sentences.

Research paper thumbnail of Japanese Mental Syllabary and Effects of Mora, Syllable, Bi-mora and Word Frequencies on Japanese Speech Production

Language and Speech, 2009

The present study investigated the existence of a Japanese mental syllabary and units stored ther... more The present study investigated the existence of a Japanese mental syllabary and units stored therein for speech production. Experiment 1 compared naming latencies between high and low initial mora frequencies using CVCVCV nonwords, indicating that nonwords with a high initial mora frequency were named faster than those with a low frequency initial mora. Experiments 2 and 3 clarified the possibility of CV light and CVN/CVR heavy syllables as being units implicated in speech production. CVNCV nonwords in Experiment 2 and CVRCV nonwords in Experiment 3 displayed shorter naming latencies and lower error rates than their baseline (same bi-mora frequencies) of CVCVCV-structured nonwords. Since bi-mora frequencies between CVN/CVR and CVCV were the same, heavy syllables comprised of CVN and CVR units may contribute to ready-made motorprograms stored in the Japanese mental syllabary as variations of the 100 core light syllables (300 units in total). Experiment 4 further tested the effects of bi-mora frequency on the naming of nonwords, and found that CVCVCV-structured nonwords with high bi-mora frequencies were named more quickly and accurately than those with low bi-mora frequencies, although some bi-mora combinations seem to exhibit nonconforming tendencies (i.e., null significance in item analysis). Experiment 5 demonstrated that the naming of real words with high word frequency was quicker than for other real word conditions with low word frequencies (i.e., word frequency effects), with little effect of bi-mora frequencies. Unlike the nonword condition of Experiment 4, bi-mora frequency had only a minor influence on the naming of real words. Based on these findings, the present study proposes a possible model of the Japanese mental syllabary accompanied by a discussion of bi-mora and word frequency effects.

Research paper thumbnail of How do native Chinese speakers learning Japanese as a second language understand Japanese kanji homophones?

Writing Systems Research, 2012

The present study investigated causal relations between lexical/grammatical knowledge and the abi... more The present study investigated causal relations between lexical/grammatical knowledge and the ability to make homophonic distinctions among 170 native Chinese speakers learning Japanese as a second language (L2). The result of a structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis indicated that the ability to distinguish homophones depending on sentential context was strongly affected by grammatical knowledge, though not by lexical knowledge. Therefore, grammatical knowledge greatly assists Chinese learners of L2 Japanese to identify the specific homophone appropriate in a sentential context among multiple candidates.

Research paper thumbnail of Pre- and post-head processing for single- and double-scrambled sentences of a head-final language as measured by the eye tracking method

Journal of psycholinguistic research, 2014

Using the eye-tracking method, the present study depicted pre-and post-head processing for simple... more Using the eye-tracking method, the present study depicted pre-and post-head processing for simple scrambled sentences of head-final languages. Three versions of simple Japanese active sentences with ditransitive verbs were used: namely, (1) SO 1 O 2 V canonical, (2) SO 2 O 1 V single-scrambled, and (3) O 1 O 2 SV double-scrambled order. First pass reading times indicated that the third noun phrase just before the verb in both single-and double-scrambled sentences required longer reading times compared to canonical sentences. Re-reading times (the sum of all fixations minus the first pass reading) showed that all noun phrases including the crucial phrase before the verb in double-scrambled sentences required longer re-reading times than those required for single-scrambled sentences; single-scrambled sentences had no difference from canonical ones. Therefore, a single filler-gap dependency can be resolved in pre-head anticipatory processing whereas two filler-gap dependencies require much greater cognitive loading than a single case. These two dependencies can be resolved in post-head processing using verb agreement information.

Research paper thumbnail of What makes international students satisfied with a Japanese university?

Asia Pacific Education Review, 2003

The present study investigated the satisfaction of international students. The factor analysis re... more The present study investigated the satisfaction of international students. The factor analysis revealed the three factors of ‘learning and research’, ‘living and adaptation’ and ‘Japanese language ability’. The ten variables were used to predict the satisfaction of international students and found five significant variables in predicating the satisfaction of international students. These were suitability of curriculum, progress of research, having a good friend, cultural adaptation and part-time work. Among these, the suitability of the curriculum was the most significant predictor. Furthermore, the path analysis for learning and research indicated significant mutual causal relationships between research progress and supervisor’s advice. The level of Japanese language skills is not necessarily required to receive advice from their supervisors, although Japanese language skills help to understand the content of classes.

Research paper thumbnail of Rebounding activation caused by lexical homophony in the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words

Reading and Writing, 2007

The present study investigated the effects of lexical homophony on the processing of Japanese two... more The present study investigated the effects of lexical homophony on the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words. Experiment 1 showed that participants took longer to perform lexical decisions for words with a high degree of lexical homophony than those with no homophony. Interestingly, the same inhibitory trend was found in the naming task of Experiment 2. Participants took longer to name words with a high degree of lexical homophony than those with no homophony. The consistency of an inhibitory effect through the two experiments suggests that during naming and lexical decisions for Japanese two-kanji compound words, an orthographic representation activates the phonological representation, which then leads to a rebounding activation of orthographic representations of homophonic forms.

Research paper thumbnail of Constructing initial phonology in Mandarin Chinese: Syllabic or subsyllabic? A masked priming investigation

Recent research has put forward the idea that Chinese speech production is governed by the syllab... more Recent research has put forward the idea that Chinese speech production is governed by the syllable as the fundamental phonological unit. However, it may be that onset priming might be more difficult to obtain in Mandarin Chinese. Therefore, in this study, the degree of overlap between prime and target was increased from C to CV (i.e., extending beyond the phoneme) as well as whether primes and targets had an overlapping structure (CV vs. CVN). Subsyllabic priming effects were found (i.e., onset + vowel overlap but not purely onset overlap), contrasting with the claim that the syllable is the compulsory building block in the initial construction of Mandarin Chinese phonology.

Research paper thumbnail of Identifying empty subjects by modality information: the case of the Japanese sentence-final particles -yo and -ne

Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 2007

The present study conducted four experiments to investigate how modality information provided thr... more The present study conducted four experiments to investigate how modality information provided through the sentence-final particles -yo and -ne were utilized in identifying an empty subject by native Japanese speakers. Experiment 1 conducted a whole-sentence anomaly decision task, finding that base sentences without -yo and -ne attached were processed more quickly than sentences with either -yo or -ne and that sentences with -yo were processed more quickly than the same sentences with -ne. A delay in processing sentences with -ne was created by the ambiguity of an empty subject identified by -ne as either ‘I’ or ‘you’. In Experiment 2, the auxiliary verb -ou ‘let us’ was added to the base sentence before -yo and -ne, providing a cue to identify the empty subject as ‘we’. Although the base sentences were processed more quickly than those containing the particles -yo and -ne, no other difference resulted from the attachment of these particles. To eliminate the possibility of orthographic-length effects, Experiment 3 compared base sentences with -ou, -ou-yo, and -ou-ne, finding no difference among them (i.e., no ortho- graphic-length effects). Experiment 4 was conducted to further eliminate the possible involvement of discourse-level computation by utilizing base sentences with overt subjects, past tense verbs, and the auxiliary verb -rasii ‘appear to’. Once subjects of sentences were clearly shown, there was no difference among base sentences and those with either -yo or -ne attached (i.e., no discourse-level computation effects). Thus the present study proved that the modality information inherent in the particles -yo and -ne was used for identifying empty subjects.

Research paper thumbnail of The Proximate Phonological Unit of Chinese-English Bilinguals: Proficiency Matters

Plos One, 2013

An essential step to create phonology according to the language production model by Levelt, Roelo... more An essential step to create phonology according to the language production model by Levelt, Roelofs and Meyer is to assemble phonemes into a metrical frame. However, recently, it has been proposed that different languages may rely on different grain sizes of phonological units to construct phonology. For instance, it has been proposed that, instead of phonemes, Mandarin Chinese uses syllables and Japanese uses moras to fill the metrical frame. In this study, we used a masked priming-naming task to investigate how bilinguals assemble their phonology for each language when the two languages differ in grain size. Highly proficient Mandarin Chinese-English bilinguals showed a significant masked onset priming effect in English (L2), and a significant masked syllabic priming effect in Mandarin Chinese (L1). These results suggest that their proximate unit is phonemic in L2 (English), and that bilinguals may use different phonological units depending on the language that is being processed. Additionally, under some conditions, a significant sub-syllabic priming effect was observed even in Mandarin Chinese, which indicates that L2 phonology exerts influences on L1 target processing as a consequence of having a good command of English.

Research paper thumbnail of Phonological involvement in the processing of Japanese at the lexical and sentence levels

Reading and Writing, 2002

The present study examined whether Japanesereaders activate phonological information whenreading ... more The present study examined whether Japanesereaders activate phonological information whenreading kanji compound words and sentences andif so, how they do it. Experiment 1 usedtwo-kanji compound words in a lexical decisiontask to study phonological processing at thelexical level. When nonwords werepseudo-homophones (/roR hi/ in placeof the real word /roR hi/), reactiontimes were longer and more errors occurred thanwith nonwords in the control group(/saku hi/). Experiment 2required participants to detect misspellings(i.e., incorrect kanji combinations) oftwo-kanji compound stimuli embedded insentences. In the detection task of misspelledkanji, no homophonic effect was apparent. Experiment 3 used a semantic decision task. Included in this task were semantically similarbut incorrect kanji compound words used asfillers in sentences (e.g.,meaning `The building you can see over there was facilitated by my friend' instead of designed) as well as the sentences used inExperiment 2. Results from Experiment 3indicated that participants could reject asentence as incorrect more quickly whenpseudo-homophones were embedded in thesentences rather than nonwords. These resultssuggest that readers activate phonologicalinformation of two-kanji compound words whenreading for comprehension but not for simpleproofreading.

Research paper thumbnail of The effects of morphological semantics on the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words

Reading and Writing, 1998

The present study investigated the way in which the activation of semantic representations at the... more The present study investigated the way in which the activation of semantic representations at the morpheme level affects the processing of two-kanji (morpheme) compound words. Three types of Japanese two-kanji compound words were used as stimulus items: (1) words consisting of two kanji representing opposite concepts (e.g., long + short = length), (2) words consisting of two kanji representing similar concepts (e.g., soft + flexible = pliable), and (3) control words consisting of two closely bound kanji (e.g., wild + field = wilderness). Words consisting of kanji of opposite concepts (M = 768 ms for LD and M = 645 ms for naming) were processed more slowly for lexical decision, but not for naming, than words with kanji of similar concepts (M = 743 ms for LD and M = 636 ms for naming), both of which were, furthermore, processed more slowly for lexical decision and naming than the control compound words (M = 716 ms for LD and M = 590 ms for naming). These results were explained in the framework of the multiple-level interactive-activation model as follows. Because kanji morphemes of opposite and similar concepts are semantically activated both as morpheme units and compound word units, semantic representations of the two morphemes and the compound word which they create compete with each other at the concept level, which slows down lexical decision and naming of the compound word.

Research paper thumbnail of On the dynamics of the compounding of Japanese kanji with common and proper nouns∗

Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of The effect of morphemic homophony on the processing of Japanese two-kanji compound words

Reading and Writing, 2005

Two experiments investigated the effect of kanji morphemic homophony on lexical decision and nami... more Two experiments investigated the effect of kanji morphemic homophony on lexical decision and naming. Effects were examined from both the left-hand and right-hand positions of Japanese two-kanji compound words. The number of homophones affected the processing of compound words in the same way for both tasks. For left-hand kanji, fewer morphemic homophones led to faster lexical decision and whole-word naming. For right-hand kanji, the number of morphemic homophones did not affect either lexical decision or naming. This effect of homophonic density suggested that, when a kanji-compound word is to be processed, phonological information of its kanji constituents is automatically activated and reverberates back to generate a series of orthographic representations of kanji morphemic homophones, but not in a completely parallel fashion.

Research paper thumbnail of Factor Structure of the Korean Version of Wong and Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale

Assessment, 2012

This study reports the factor structure of a Korean version of the 16-item Wong and Law Emotional... more This study reports the factor structure of a Korean version of the 16-item Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) for a sample of 161 Korean university students. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-factor model of the WLEIS: (1) self-emotional appraisal, (2) others' emotional appraisal, (3) use of emotion, and (4) regulation of emotion. However, improvement of the model fit after removing three items suggests the need for future research on the crosscultural measurement invariance of the WLEIS.