Abstract
A language’s writing system offers a complex lens through which to explore its lexicon. Korean’s bi-scriptal lexicon comprising its native script Hangul and Chinese Hanja, enables a unique window into what is and is not permissible in the language, as well as a chance to investigate how properties of the written form are reflected in the mental representation of the language. Through a novel priming paradigm, we investigated the effects of Hanja on visual word recognition in Hangul. In particular, we examined the effects of neighborhood size and syllable position of individual Sino-Korean morphemes. Although Hangul is the primary script, literate native Korean speakers are sensitive to the effects of Hanja; they are confronted with a lexicon written primarily in one (Hangul), but deeply influenced by another that is much less visible and commonly used (Hanja). We show that the contributions of Hanja are simply part and parcel of Sino-Korean lexical processing despite the asymmetry in use.
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Data Availability
The stimuli used in the study are provided in the Appendix, and the raw data will be made available by the authors without undue reservation.
Notes
This excludes certain CVCs and all CVCCS; the total number of possible distinct syllables is 11,172.
Although not directly, the one-way ANOVA that is reported later in the section which revealed no significant differences in word frequency between the selected words for the stimuli does in part corroborate our prediction that despite the difference in word-origin, the frequency of the words is consistent across both Sino-Korean and pure-Korean words.
RT ~ PRIME TYPE + (1 | TARGET) + (1 | PARTICIPANT).
RT ~ SYLL POS * PRIME TYPE + (1 | TARGET) + (1 | PARTICIPANT).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the members of the Language and Brain Laboratory in Oxford for their assistance and support; in particular, we would like to thank Colin Brooks for his help with the programming of the experiments. We would also like to thank Jongwon Choe, Junyoung Heo, and Yunmo Chung for helping with the organization of the experiments at Sookmyung Women's University, Hansung University, and Kyung Hee University, respectively. We thank Laurel Brehm, Adam Roberts, and Emily Darley for their invaluable assistance with statistical modelling and data visualization as well as comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. Additionally, we thank Antje Meyer and the members of the Psychology of Language Department for their helpful comments on preliminary findings that formed the basis for the present research.
Funding
This research was supported by the Clarendon Fund, the Scatcherd European Scholarship, the Basant Kumar and Sarala Birla Graduate Studentship, and the Wolfson College Travel Grant. Aditi Lahiri's research is also supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant agreement number: 695481). Yoolim Kim’s research is also supported by funding from the Korea Foundation. The funding sources were not involved in the conduct of the research and the preparation of the article.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by YK Supervision was provided by SK and AL The first draft of the manuscript was written by YK, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Appendix
Appendix
Stimuli used in the study; the Sino-Korean morpheme of interest is presented in bold.
Target | Directly related prime | Indirectly related prime | Unrelated prime |
|---|---|---|---|
그림 (‘picture’) | 도화 (‘drawing’) | 도로 (‘road’) | 치약 (‘toothpaste’) |
눈병 (‘eye infection’) | 안정 (‘ophthalmology’) | 안정(‘stability’) | 감자 (‘potatoes’) |
슬픔 (‘sadness) | 애도 (‘mourning’) | 애교 (‘loveliness’) | 합성(‘agreement’) |
철회 (‘withdrawal’) | 무효 (‘invalidity’) | 무용 (‘dance’) | 소풍 (‘outing’) |
꽃밭 (‘garden’) | 화분 (‘flowerpot’) | 화색 (‘glow’) | 우유 (‘milk’) |
구름 (‘cloud’) | 운무 (‘fog’) | 운행 (‘run’) | 회사 (‘office’) |
아내 (‘wife’) | 처가 (‘in-laws’) | 출처 (‘origin’) | 호흡 (‘breathing’) |
확실 (‘certainty’) | 명백 (‘clarity’) | 명단 (‘directory’) | 허파 (‘lung’) |
높음 (‘height’) | 고급(‘high quality’) | 고려 (‘consideration’) | 수박 (‘watermelon’) |
울림 (‘echo’) | 음향 (‘sound’) | 향기 (‘scent’) | 설탕 (‘sugar’) |
사이 (‘relationship’) | 중간 (‘middle’) | 간편 (‘convenience’) | 영화 (‘film’) |
벌레 (‘bug’) | 곤충 (‘insect’) | 충격 (‘shock’) | 거울 (‘mirror’) |
말씀 (‘words’) | 면담 (‘in-person talk’) | 냉담 (‘apathy’) | 기린 (‘giraffe’) |
소원 (‘wish’) | 희망 (‘hope’) | 희박 (‘rarity’) | 직각 (‘right angle’) |
먼저 (‘first’) | 선배 (‘senior’) | 선거 (‘election’) | 단어 (‘word’) |
마당 (‘garden’) | 농장 (‘farm’) | 장벽 (‘long wall’) | 규격 (‘standard’) |
맺음 (‘conclusion’) | 결론 (‘conclusion’) | 순결 (‘purity’) | 만두 (‘dumping’) |
임금 (‘monarch’) | 주군 (‘master’) | 육군 (‘army’) | 방청 (‘attend’) |
머슴 (‘servant’) | 노비 (‘servant’) | 분노 (‘anger’) | 썰물 (‘ebb’) |
시초 (‘root’) | 원조 (‘original’) | 숙원 (‘ambition’) | 실내 (‘interior’) |
보리 (‘barley’) | 맥주 (‘beer’) | 산맥 (‘sierra’) | 여분 (‘remainder’) |
엄마 (‘mother’) | 모친 (‘mother’) | 모방 (‘imitation’) | 통행 (‘pass’) |
벼슬 (‘gov’t post’) | 법관 (‘judge’) | 외관 (‘exterior’) | 삼촌 (‘uncle’) |
다툼 (‘quarrel’) | 논쟁 (‘debate’) | 쟁쟁 (‘outstanding’) | 응용 (‘application’) |
미리 (‘in advance’) | 예비 (‘reserve’) | 예의 (‘etiquette’) | 겨울 (‘winter’) |
저녁 (‘dinner’) | 석양 (‘sunset’) | 좌석 (‘seat’) | 폭포 (‘waterfall’) |
걸음 (‘step’) | 보폭 (‘stride’) | 보건 (‘hygiene’) | 후추 (‘pepper’) |
우측 (‘the right-side’) | 동해 (‘East sea’) | 자동 (‘automatic’) | 끄덕 (‘nod’) |
고요 (‘silence’) | 적막 (‘stillness’) | 유적 (‘ruins’) | 피망 (‘pepper’) |
부처 (‘Buddha’) | 불상 (‘Buddha statue’) | 불변 (‘constant’) | 참새 (‘sparrow’) |
소년 (‘boy’) | 남성 (‘masculine’) | 남용 (‘abuse’) | 숙직 (‘night duty’) |
새싹 (‘sprout’) | 발아 (‘germination’) | 아동 (‘child’) | 완료 (‘completion’) |
화합 (‘harmony’) | 타협 (‘compromise’) | 협공 (‘crossfire’) | 늑대 (‘wolf’) |
터짐 (‘tear’) | 폭죽 (‘firecracker’) | 폭설 (‘heavy snow’) | 스님 (‘monk’) |
구슬 (‘bead’) | 옥석 (‘jade’) | 옥토 (‘rich soil’) | 마늘 (‘garlic’) |
소리 (‘noise’) | 음악 (‘music’) | 음영 (‘shadow’) | 얼룩 (‘stain’) |
Nonword targets
Prime | Target |
|---|---|
특수 (‘special’) | 짐거 |
묵다 (‘stay’) | 궁잠 |
버섯 (‘mushroom’) | 남마 |
국립 (‘national’) | 서잔 |
소득 (‘income’) | 팡시 |
모래 (‘sand’) | 잡함 |
주름 (‘wrinkle’) | 거앙 |
양념 (‘seasoning’) | 디보 |
방학 (‘vacation’) | 보순 |
국수 (‘noodle’) | 정퍼 |
매콤 (‘hot, spicy’) | 설잔 |
항공 (‘aviation’) | 도삼 |
친절 (‘kindness’) | 안번 |
홍차 (‘tea’) | 미박 |
소질 (‘talent’) | 간분 |
토론 (‘discussion’) | 위벙 |
현장 (‘scene’) | 송섬 |
사냥 (‘hunting’) | 마서 |
기타 (‘other’) | 갸인 |
온돌 (‘floor heating’) | 피먼 |
힘껏 (‘one’s best’) | 동둥 |
악동 (‘rascal’) | 헉정 |
혼수 (‘marriage expenses’) | 청친 |
관찰 (‘observation’) | 폼후 |
늦다 (‘tardy’) | 작겅 |
서명 (‘signature’) | 상곤 |
손등 (‘back of one’s hand’) | 주잡 |
자취 (‘living alone’) | 둠더 |
적성 (‘aptitude’) | 단뭉 |
상품 (‘goods’) | 몽보 |
속도 (‘speed’) | 근바 |
탈락 (‘elimination’) | 버자 |
영업 (‘business’) | 송잔 |
바퀴 (‘wheel’) | 두누 |
식탁 (‘table’) | 하숭 |
퇴장 (‘walkout’) | 영앙 |
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Kim, Y., Kotzor, S. & Lahiri, A. Disambiguating Effects of Syllable Position and Neighborhood Size: Contributions of Hanja During Sino-Korean Processing. J Psycholinguist Res 52, 631–651 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-022-09913-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-022-09913-4