An Experimental Study On The Lexical Access In Chinese Characters

Centered on foreign learners studying Chinese as second language, this study tests the couplings of graphic, phonetic and semantic codes and, using the data collected, investigates the process and the cognitive strategies involved in the optical lexical access. The subjects taken for this study are 24 native English speakers with an advanced knowledge of Chinese, while the variables are word frequency and word formation of Chinese characters.The result from the experiments has shown that the character frequency impacts the lexical access:a closer connection between form, sound and meaning takes place in high-frequency characters while a looser connection in low-frequency characters. The other result from the experiments is that character formation affects the lexical access of low-frequency characters, among which phonograms own a closer connection between form and meaning, while non-phonograms own a closer connection between form between sound and meaning.Based on the discussion of the results, this study identified three routes in the lexical access of Chinese characters. The first is the mental lexicon route, in which the graphic code of high-frequency characters connects both to semantics and to phonetics. The second is the direct route, in which the graphic code directly links to semantics with no phonetic help. The third is the phonetically mediated route, in which the graphic code of non-phonogramic low frequency characters require a phonetic assistance to access semantics.This paper also gets to the conclusion that processing the graphic code is the preferred cognitive strategy in lexical access, which is notably influenced both by the frequency and by the formation of Chinese characters. The frequency affects the lexical access, since high frequency characters embed a closer connection of form, sound and meaning than low-frequency characters. In low-frequency characters the formation also affects the lexical access:phonograms show a closer connection of form and meaning, while non-phonograms depend on a closer connection of sound and meaning.