The Role Of Visual Word Segmentation Cues In Tibetan Reading

In reading,low-level visual word segmentation cues can help readers to determine the boundary between words and facilitate word segmentation.For the language with visual word segmentation cues,researchers investigate the role of visual word segmentation cues in reading by deleting or replacing visual word segmentation cues,and the results consistently find that visual word segmentation cues in text can guarantee readers’ normal reading.For languages that do not have visual word segmentation cues,researchers investigate the role of visual word segmentation cues in reading by adding visual word segmentation cues.The results showed that for studies that also use eye movement techniques and target native speakers of college students,there is some controversy over the role of visual word segmentation cues in reading in different languages,and further research is needed.In addition,examining the role of visual word segmentation cues in reading is helpful to solve the problem of basic information processing unit in reading.In languages with visual word segmentation cues,researchers consider words as the basic information processing unit.However,in the language without visual word segmentation cues,the basic information processing unit of reading is controversial.Tibetan is a pinyin script,and at the same time belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family,it is a kind of language with both pinyin characters and ideographic characters,which is not possessed by any other language.In terms of visual word segmentation cues,Tibetan is similar to Chinese,and different from English,there are no visual word segmentation cues in Tibetan text.So what effect will the addition of visual word segmentation cues in Tibetan text have on reading? It cannot be inferred directly at this time.In addition,there are visual character segmentation cues of tshegs in Tibetan text.It is speculated that Tibetan readers are accustomed to relying on tshegs to read character by character,and character may be the basic information processing unit of Tibetan reading.Other studies have found that there is a word frequency effect in Tibetan reading.It is speculated that word may be the basic information processing unit in Tibetan reading.So,are the basic information processing units in Tibetan reading more likely to be characters or words?There are no studies.In conclusion,this study takes Tibetan college students as subjects and uses eye movement technology to investigate the influence of adding visual word segmentation cues to Tibetan text on Tibetan reading and the basic information processing units in Tibetan reading.This study consisted of two experiments.Experiment 1 used the Eye Link 1000 Plus eye tracker as a tool and 72 Tibetan college students as subjects in a single-factor 4-level within-subject experimental design(visual segmentation cues: normal unspaced condition,single character spaced condition,word spaced condition,nonword spaced condition)to investigate the question of the influence of adding word spaces as visual word segmentation cues in Tibetan text on Tibetan reading and the question of the basic information processing unit in Tibetan reading.The addition of spaces in experiment 1 affected the spatial distribution of Tibetan sentences,lengthened the physical length of Tibetan sentences,and reduced the efficiency of readers’ parafoveal processing.Compared with spaces as visual word segmentation cues,alternating-color markers as visual word segmentation cues do not change the spatial distribution of Tibetan sentences,elongate the physical length of Tibetan sentences,nor reduce the efficiency of parafoveal processing.Therefore,Experiment 2used the Eye Link 1000 Plus eye tracker and 72 Tibetan college students as subjects in a one-way,4-level within-subject experimental design(visual segmentation cues: uniform color condition,word alternating-color marker condition,character alternating-color marker condition,nonword alternating-color marker condition)to further investigate the question of the influence of adding alternating-color markers as visual segmentation cues on Tibetan reading and the question of the basic information processing unit in Tibetan reading.Under the conditions of this study,the following main conclusions are drawn:(1)The addition of word spaces as visual word segmentation cues in Tibetan text can promote the Tibetan reading and word recognition of Tibetan college students,and help them select the saccadic target in the process of Tibetan reading.That is,compared with normal sentence conditions,Tibetan college students’ initial landing position in the word spaced condition is further away from the beginning of the word and closer to the word center.(2)The addition of alternating-color markers as visual segmentation cues in the Tibetan text can promote the Tibetan reading and word recognition of Tibetan college students,but it will not affect the saccadic target selection of Tibetan college students in the process of reading Tibetan.(3)For Tibetan college students,compared with characters,words are more likely to be the basic information processing unit in Tibetan reading,and words are more psychologically realistic.