A Database of Radicals in Written Chinese with Reliable Logographeme Boundaries
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1
Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong, SAR China
Background. Each Chinese character is a compilation of strokes organized in a rectangular construction. Complex characters can usually be broken down into stroke clusters, called logographemes and radicals, that frequently occur in other characters. Previous studies have reported the use of strokes, logographemes and radicals as processing units in Chinese character writing among adults (Han, Zhang, Shu & Bi, 2007; Law & Leung, 2000) and children (Lau, Ha, & Law, 2016). Nevertheless, there is currently a lack of consensus of the definition of logographemes in the literature. Hence, previous studies also highlighted the potential operational problems associated with it (e.g. Chen & Cherng, 2013). One of the major reasons for the lack of consensus is that current available logographeme databases were not validated using behavioural data. As an attempt to solve this issue, the current study collected handwriting data from typical individuals to validate the set of logographemes identified by Lui, Leung, Law & Fung (2010).
Method. A total of 856 radicals extracted from the most frequent 6480 traditional characters occurred in newspapers in Hong Kong ( Leung & Lau, 2010) were selected as stimuli. For each radical, the highest frequency character containing the radical was selected. Handwriting data of the selected characters was obtained from 20 undergraduates (age between 19 to 22 years old, gender balanced, no prior linguistic training or literacy problems reported) over a direct copying task.
Results. In this abstract, preliminary results from data obtained from 212 of the selected characters, 97 non-phonetic compounds (nonPC) and 105 phonetic compounds (PC), that 90% of all participants strictly followed the prescribed stroke sequences were reported. Results of Frequency X Boundary type ANCOVA showed that main effect of Frequency and main effect of Boundary type were significant in both nonPC and PC. Frequency effect showed longer Inter-stroke intervals (ISI) after controlled for inter-stroke distance (ISD) in low frequency condition. Main effect of Boundary type showed longer between-radicals ISIs than between-logographemes ISIs, which were longer than within-logographemes ISIs after controlled for ISD among PC. Similarly, between-logographemes ISIs were longer than within-logographeme ISIs after controlled for ISD among nonPC. Interaction effect between Frequency and Boundary type were also significant in both PC and nonPC. Results of post-hoc analysis showed that the within-logographeme ISIs were comparable in the low and high frequency conditions but the between-radicals ISI and between-logographemes ISI in the low frequency condition were longer than those in the high frequency condition. Figure 1 showed the mean ISIs of different Boundary Types.
Discussion. There are 115 logographemes in the selected 212 radicals. The longer between-units ISIs than within-units ISIs were attributed to the longer time required for preparation or retrieval of successive units in the writing process (Lau, et al. 2016). The longer between-units ISIs in the low frequency condition also suggested that the 115 logographemes and 212 radicals were used by the typical individuals as orthographic units in their writing. Follow up procedures to validate the remaining logographemes in Lui, et al. (2010) and potential application of this database will be discussed.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Start-up Fund from Hong Kong Polytechnic University to Lau, D.K.Y. (Project code: 1-ZE3U).
References
Chen, J. Y., & Cherng, R. J. (2013). The proximate unit in Chinese handwritten character production. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 517.
Han, Z., Zhang, Y., Shu, H., & Bi, Y. (2007). The orthographic buffer in writing Chinese characters: Evidence from a dysgraphic patient. Cognitive neuropsychology, 24(4), 431-450.
Lau, D.K.Y., Ha, W.W.T., & Law, A.H.S. (2016). Functional processing units in writing Chinese – A developmental study. Frontiers in Psychology Conference Abstract: 54th Annual Academy of Aphasia Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2016.68.00008
Law, S. P., & Leung, M. T. (2000). Structural representations of characters in Chinese writing: Evidence from a case of acquired dysgraphia. Psychologia, 43, 67–83.
Leung, M.T. & Lau, D.K.Y. (2010). Hong Kong Corpus of Chinese News-Paper. Unpublished Database. Hong Kong SAR: University of Hong Kong.
Lui, H. M., Leung, M. T., Law, S. P., & Fung, R. S. Y. (2010). A database for investigating the logographeme as a basic unit of writing Chinese. International journal of speech-language pathology, 12(1), 8-18.
Keywords:
handwriting,
Chinese,
Lexical Processing,
database,
Logographemes
Conference:
Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 21 Oct - 23 Oct, 2018.
Presentation Type:
poster presentation
Topic:
not eligible for a student prize
Citation:
Lau
K
(2019). A Database of Radicals in Written Chinese with Reliable Logographeme Boundaries.
Conference Abstract:
Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.228.00046
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Received:
26 Apr 2018;
Published Online:
22 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Kai-Yan Dustin Lau, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China, dustin.lau@polyu.edu.hk