Survey of Phonological and Morphological Similarities between Korean and Japanese Kanji Compounds

This research was conducted to provide basic data about selecting stimulus words in psycholinguistic experiments about the use of Japanese kanji compounds by Korean learners of Japanese. To examine the processing of words. stimulus words need to be selected in a rigorously controlled manner. In investigating the influence of kanji knowledge on the part of Korean learners in their first language with respect to processing Japanese kanji compounds. it is necessary first to determine the phonological and morphological similarities between kanji compounds in Korean and Japanese. In the present study. I conducted a survey of the phonological and morphological similarities between Korean and Japanese kanji compounds. In the first part of the study. 20 Korean students with no experience of learning Japanese and another 20 Korean students studying in Japan were asked to rate on a seven-point scale the morphological similarity of 654 Japanese kanji compounds between Korean and Japanese. In the second part. 23 Korean students with no experience of learning Japanese and 20 Korean students studying in Japan were similarly asked to rate the phonological similarities between Korean and Japanese of 435 Japanese kanji compounds. The ratings of the data from Korean students with no experience of learning Japanese and those from students studying in Japan were compiled separately

韓国人日本語学習者における日本語漢字単語の処理過程 : 漢字と語彙の習熟度，学習環境の違いに着目して

広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(教育学)Doctor of Philosophy in Educationdoctora

Processing of Japanese Kanji-Words by Korean Learners of Japanese (2) : Effects of shape and phonological similarities in a lexical decision task of 2-kanji words

This research was designed to examine how the knowledge of kanji in their first language influences the processing of Japanese kanji-words for Korean learners. The experiment adopted a lexical decision task in which the learners’ reaction time was measured. Two experiments were conducted with learners of two different proficiency levels. The first involved kanji-words whose written forms are similar in the two languages. The second involved kanjiwords which are similar phonologically. The following results were determined: (1) Highly proficient learners showed a tendency towards shorter reaction times than the less proficient learners, but the reaction times were not dependent on whether the written forms of stimulus kanji-words were similar to those in L1; (2) Highly proficient learners showed shorter reaction times than the less proficient learners, and the reaction times were not dependent on whether the sounds of stimulus kanji-words were similar to those in L1 for learners of both levels. The results of this research differed slightly from an earlier experiment involving a naming task in which reading phonologically similar kanji-words required less time for learners of both levels. In the current experiment, no difference in reaction time was observed between the two levels in this case. This suggests that phonological facilitation in the earlier experiment occurred when the learners had access to voice output in Japanese

Processing of Japanese Kanji-Words by Korean Learners of Japanese : Effects of Shape and Phonological Similarities in a Naming Task of 2-Kanji Words

This research was designed to examine how the knowledge of kanji in their first language influences the processing of Japanese kanji-words for Korean learners. The participants were asked to read Japanese kanji-words, and the reaction time until they actually began to read was measured. Two experiments were conducted with learners of two different proficiency levels. The first involved kanji-words whose written forms are similar in the two languages. The second involved kanji-words which are similar phonologically. The following results were determined: (1) Highly proficient learners showed shorter reaction times than the less proficient learners, but the reaction times were not dependent on whether the written forms of stimulus kanji-words were similar to those in L1; (2) reading kanji-words which are similar phonologically required less time for learners of both levels. The results of this research differed slightly from an earlier experiment using singular kanji where the reading of those kanji characters whose written forms are similar was slower in the case of higher proficiency learners. In the current experiment, no difference in reaction time was observed between the two levels for similarity of form. It was suggested that for Korean learners, in reading Japanese kanji-words, unlike singular kanji characters, the exact form is of less importance, while concrete meaning and sound play a larger role

The Effect of Orthographical Differences in Chinese and Japanese Kanji on Chinese Learners of Japanese

In the present study, we investigated how Chinese learners of Japanese processed kanji that are written differently in Chinese and Japanese. The participants were asked to read Japanese kanji in their native language. The result showed that kanji with a high degree of orthographical difference in Chinese and Japanese were read more slowly than those with similar written forms. The interference of the pronunciation of Japanese kanji was determined through a reading-aloud task. Following the reading-aloud task the participants were asked to rate the degree of difference between the Japanese kanji used in the reading-aloud task and their Chinese equivalents with a 7-point rating scale. The mean ratings differed significantly in the kanji with a strong orthographical difference between the two languages, but not in the kanji with minor differences in written form. These results suggest that in the mental lexicon of Chinese learners of Japanese, the forms of Chinese and Japanese and the pronunciation of Chinese and Japanese have a diff erent connection to the kanji