An Eye Tracking Study On The Lexicalization Of Chinese New Words During Reading

Language is constantly changing and developing dynamically,and the replacement of old and new words is a normal state.The lexicalization of new words is a process of development and change from non-word discrete units to fixed phrases to words.In contemporary Chinese,some new words have become words or are developing into words.Therefore,it is not clear to what extent the new words can be lexicalized like words in the Modern Chinese Dictionary(named basic words for short)?Is it different from the degree of lexicalization of basic words?In the present study,two variables of word type(new words vs.basic words)and familiarity(high vs.low)were manipulated.The lexical decision task and eye-movement technology were used to explore the difference of lexicalization degree between new words and basic words under the conditions of high and low familiarity.Experiment 1 was a lexical decision task.Each word was presented separately to investigate differences between the reaction time and the probability of true words(the probability of determining the target word as a true word)among the four conditions.In Experiment 2,a sentence context for each set of tarset words was provided.The eye tracking technology was used to record the eye movement trajectory of readers in natural reading,reflecting the cognitive processing of each word in text reading accurately.The results showed that there was no significant difference between the new words and basic words in reaction time,the true-word probability and the indexes of the early and late processing of eye movements,no matter whether the new words were presented separately or in a specific context.After the Bayesian analysis was supplemented by the main effect of word type,the results of the seven indexes also showed no difference.Compared with low-familiar new words,high-familiar new words had shorter processing time on reaction time,gaze duration,regression time and total fixation duration,and higher probability of true word.In addition,the interaction between word type and familiarity was not significant in the traditional hypothesis test and Bayesian analysis of the seven indexes.The research suggests that some new words have reached the same level as the lexicalization of basic words in the Modem Chinese Dictionary.There is no strict boundary between new words and words,and familiarity plays a major role in the lexicalization of new words.