TY - JOUR
T1 - The processing of homographic morphemes in Chinese
T2 - an ERP study
AU - Wu, Yan
AU - TSANG, Yiu Kei
AU - Wong, Andus Wing Kuen
AU - Chen, Hsuan Chih
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a research grant from National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 31500878] to Yan Wu, a Start-up Grant from Hong Kong Baptist University [No. 38-40-090] and a Faculty Research Grant from Hong Kong Baptist University [No. FRG2/15-16/100] to Yiu-Kei Tsang.
PY - 2017/1/2
Y1 - 2017/1/2
N2 - The processing of homographic morphemes during Chinese word recognition was investigated by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) in a masked priming lexical decision experiment. There were four conditions. In the morpheme condition, the homographic morphemes in primes and targets had the same interpretations (e.g. “公園-public garden/park” and “公眾-public people/the public”). In the homograph condition, they had different interpretations (e.g. “公雞-male chicken/cock”). Semantic-sharing (e.g. “草地-lawn”) and unrelated (e.g. “嗅覺-olfaction”) conditions were also included. Compared to the unrelated condition, the morpheme and homograph primes produced a comparable P200. In contrast, N400 priming was identified only in the morpheme condition. Semantic sharing produced relatively weaker effects. These findings indicate that homographic morphemes are activated during word recognition even though in principle, whole-word processing is more efficient. The results are discussed with reference to morpho-orthographic and morpho-semantic processing.
AB - The processing of homographic morphemes during Chinese word recognition was investigated by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) in a masked priming lexical decision experiment. There were four conditions. In the morpheme condition, the homographic morphemes in primes and targets had the same interpretations (e.g. “公園-public garden/park” and “公眾-public people/the public”). In the homograph condition, they had different interpretations (e.g. “公雞-male chicken/cock”). Semantic-sharing (e.g. “草地-lawn”) and unrelated (e.g. “嗅覺-olfaction”) conditions were also included. Compared to the unrelated condition, the morpheme and homograph primes produced a comparable P200. In contrast, N400 priming was identified only in the morpheme condition. Semantic sharing produced relatively weaker effects. These findings indicate that homographic morphemes are activated during word recognition even though in principle, whole-word processing is more efficient. The results are discussed with reference to morpho-orthographic and morpho-semantic processing.
KW - Chinese
KW - ERP
KW - Homograph
KW - morphological processing
KW - word recognition
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84986222473
U2 - 10.1080/23273798.2016.1227857
DO - 10.1080/23273798.2016.1227857
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84986222473
SN - 2327-3798
VL - 32
SP - 102
EP - 116
JO - Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
JF - Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
IS - 1
ER -
