Transitional probability between characters as a component of sentence processing in Chinese (2024)

  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics
  4. Volume 11,Issue 1
  5. Article
  • Navigate this Journal
  • About
  • Current issue
  • Previous issues
  • Submit a paper
  • Editorial information

  • ISSN 2213-8706
  • E-ISSN: 2213-8714

GBP

  • Author(s):Tianlin Wang1Transitional probability between characters as a component ofsentence processing inChinese (2), Matthew J. Cooper Borkenhagen2,3Transitional probability between characters as a component ofsentence processing inChinese (3)
  • View AffiliationsHide Affiliations

    Affiliations:

    1University at Albany, SUNY

    2Florida State University

    3The Florida Center for Reading Research

  • Source:International Journal of Chinese Linguistics,Volume 11, Issue 1,Jun 2024,p.5 - 29
  • DOI:https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan
    • Received:29 Dec 2023
    • Accepted:29 Feb 2024
    • Version of Record published :17 Jun 2024
  • Previous Article
  • Table of Contents
  • Next Article

Abstract

Abstract

This study explores the role of transitional probability (TP) insentence processing in Chinese, a writing system that presents unique challengesdue to its character-based structure and lack of word boundaries. The researchinvestigates how the statistical regularities of character meaning, as capturedby TP, aid in word segmentation and impact reading comprehension. Utilizing amoving window task, the study examines the processing speed of characters inhigh versus low TP conditions. Findings reveal that characters in high TP bigramconditions (indicating a consistent semantic association within a bigram) areprocessed more quickly, underscoring the importance of this statistical propertyof characters in Chinese sentence reading. These findings challenge conventionalnotions in Chinese linguistics concerning the relationship between characters,morphemes, and semantics, and suggests an alternative perspective on (and theneed for reevaluation of) character-level semantics. The study also highlightsthe influence of prosodic context on reading speed, indicating that anticipatorylinguistic patterns shape reader processing.

© 2024 John Benjamins Publishing Company

Transitional probability between characters as a component ofsentence processing inChinese (4)

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan

2024-06-17

2024-06-19

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan

    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword

    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution

    10

    5

References

  1. Baayen, R. H., & Milin, P.

    (2010) Analyzingreaction times. International journal ofpsychologicalresearch, 3(2), 12–28. 10.21500/20112084.807

    https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.807[Google Scholar]
  2. Bai, X. J., Tian, J., Yan, G. L., & Wang, T. L.

    (2009) Theeffect of word segmentation on Chinese text reading: Evidence from Americanstudents’ eye movements. NankaiLinguistics, 11, 140–185.

    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bai, X., Yan, G., Liversedge, S. P., Zang, C., & Rayner, K.

    (2008) Readingspaced and unspaced Chinese text: Evidence from eyemovements. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Human Perception andPerformance, 34(5), 1277–1287. 10.1037/0096‑1523.34.5.1277

    https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.34.5.1277[Google Scholar]
  4. Bai, X., Zhang, T., Tian, L., Liang, F., & Wang, T.

    (2010) Effectof word segmentation on American students reading Chinese: Evidence from eyemovements. PsychologicalResearch, 51, 25–30.

    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bloomfield, L.

    (1935) Language. GeorgeAllen & Unwin, London. LinguisticInquiry Monographs.

    [Google Scholar]
  6. Booij, G.

    (2007) Constructionmorphology and the lexicon. Selectedproceedings of the 5thDécembrettes: Morphology inToulouse, 34–44.

    [Google Scholar]
  7. Booij, G.

    (2012) Thegrammar of words: An introduction to linguisticmorphology. Oxford UniversityPress.

    [Google Scholar]
  8. Brown, M., Salverda, A. P., Dilley, L. C., & Tanenhaus, M. K.

    (2011) Expectationsfrom preceding prosody influence segmentation in online sentenceprocessing. Psychonomic Bulletin &Review, 18(6), 1189–1196. 10.3758/s13423‑011‑0167‑9

    https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-011-0167-9[Google Scholar]
  9. Chen, K., Gu, L. & Bai, Q.

    (2023) ProcessingChinese formulaic sequences in sentence context: a comparative study ofnative and non-native speakers. Humanit SocSciCommun101, 622. 10.1057/s41599‑023‑02137‑4

    https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02137-4[Google Scholar]
  10. Conway, C. M., Bauernschmidt, A., Huang, S. S., & Pisoni, D. B.

    (2010) Implicitstatistical learning in language processing: Word predictability is thekey. Cognition, 114(3), 356–371. 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.009

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.009[Google Scholar]
  11. Conway, C. M., & Christiansen, M. H.

    (2005) Modality-constrainedstatistical learning of tactile, visual, and auditorysequences. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Learning, Memory, andCognition, 31(1), 24.

    [Google Scholar]
  12. Conway, C. M., & Pisoni, D. B.

    (2008) Neurocognitivebasis of implicit learning of sequential structure and its relation tolanguage processing. Annals of the New YorkAcademy ofSciences, 1145(1), 113–131. 10.1196/annals.1416.009

    https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1416.009[Google Scholar]
  13. Da, J.

    (2004) Chinesetext computing. Online versionat: lingua.mtsu.edu/chinesecomputing/old-version1/

    [Google Scholar]
  14. Da, J.

    (2004) Acorpus-based study of character and bigram frequencies in Chinese e-textsand its implications for Chinese languageinstruction. InProceedingsof the fourth international conference on new technologies in teaching andlearningChinese (pp.501–11). Beijing: TsinghuaUniversity Press.

    [Google Scholar]
  15. DeFrancis, J.

    (1984) TheChinese language: Fact andfantasy. University of HawaiiPress. 10.1515/9780824840303

    https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824840303[Google Scholar]
  16. Fine, A. B., & Jaeger, T. F.

    (2016) Therole of verb repetition in cumulative structural priming incomprehension. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Learning, Memory, andCognition, 42(9), 1362.

    [Google Scholar]
  17. Fine, A. B., Jaeger, T. F., Farmer, T. A., & Qian, T.

    (2013) Rapidexpectation adaptation during syntacticcomprehension. PloSOne, 8(10), e77661. 10.1371/journal.pone.0077661

    https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0077661[Google Scholar]
  18. Frank, S. L., FernandezMonsalve, I., Thompson, R. L., & Vigliocco, G.

    (2013) Readingtime data for evaluating broad-coverage models of English sentenceprocessing. Behavior researchmethods, 451, 1182–1190. 10.3758/s13428‑012‑0313‑y

    https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0313-y[Google Scholar]
  19. Gao, X. Y., Li, M. F., Chou, T. L., & Wu, J. T.

    (2016) Comparingthe Frequency Effect Between the Lexical Decision and Naming Tasks inChinese. JoVE (Journal of VisualizedExperiments), (110), e53815–e53815.

    [Google Scholar]
  20. GrafEstes, K., Evans, J. L., Alibali, M. W., & Saffran, J. R.

    (2007) Caninfants map meaning to newly segmented words? Statistical segmentation andword learning. Psychologicalscience, 18(3), 254–260. 10.1111/j.1467‑9280.2007.01885.x

    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01885.x[Google Scholar]
  21. Kuo, W. J., Yeh, T. C., Lee, C. Y., Wu, Y. T., Chou, C. C., Ho, L. T., … & Hsieh, J. C.

    (2003) Frequencyeffects of Chinese character processing in the brain: an event-related fMRIstudy. Neuroimage, 18(3), 720–730. 10.1016/S1053‑8119(03)00015‑6

    https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00015-6[Google Scholar]
  22. Leong, C. K.

    (1997) Paradigmaticanalysis of Chinese word reading: Research findings and classroompractices. InCross-languagestudies of learning to read andspell (pp.379–417). SpringerNetherlands. 10.1007/978‑94‑017‑1197‑5_20

    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1197-5_20[Google Scholar]
  23. McBride-Chang, C., Bialystok, E., Chong, K. K., & Li, Y.

    (2004) Levelsof phonological awareness in threecultures. Journal of experimental childpsychology, 89(2), 93–111. 10.1016/j.jecp.2004.05.001

    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2004.05.001[Google Scholar]
  24. Meng, X., Shu, H., & Zhou, X.

    (2000) Therelationship between tasks in Chinese reading developmentalresearch. Psychological Science(China). 23(6), 677–681

    [Google Scholar]
  25. Pacton, S., Perruchet, P., Fayol, M., & Cleeremans, A.

    (2001) Implicitlearning out of the lab: the case of orthographicregularities. Journal of experimentalpsychology:General, 130(3), 401. 10.1037/0096‑3445.130.3.401

    https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.401[Google Scholar]
  26. Patterson, K., Plaut, D. C., Mcclelland, J. L., Seidenberg, M. S., Behrmann, M., & Hodges, J. R.

    (1996) Connectionsand disconnections: A connectionist account of surfacedyslexia. Neural Modeling of Brain andCognitiveDisorders (pp.177–199). 10.1142/9789812819819_0008

    https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812819819_0008[Google Scholar]
  27. Perfetti, C. A., & Zhang, S.

    (1991) Phonologicalprocesses in reading Chinesecharacters. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Learning, Memory, andCognition, 17(4), 633–643.

    [Google Scholar]
  28. Redington, M., & Chater, N.

    (1997) Probabilisticand distributional approaches to languageacquisition. Trends in CognitiveSciences, 1(7), 273–281. 10.1016/S1364‑6613(97)01081‑4

    https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(97)01081-4[Google Scholar]
  29. Rohde, D.

    (2005) Lingerexperiment presentation software. tedlab.mit.edu/~dr/Linger/

    [Google Scholar]
  30. Rueckl, J. G., Paz-Alonso, P. M., Molfese, P. J., Kuo, W. J., Bick, A., Frost, S. J., … & Lee, J. R.

    (2015) Universalbrain signature of proficient reading: Evidence from four contrastinglanguages. Proceedings of the NationalAcademy ofSciences, 112(50), 15510–15515. 10.1073/pnas.1509321112

    https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1509321112[Google Scholar]
  31. Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L.

    (1996) Statisticallearning by 8-month-oldinfants. Science, 2741, 5294. 10.1126/science.274.5294.1926

    https://doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5294.1926[Google Scholar]
  32. Schielzeth, H., Dingemanse, N. J., Nakagawa, S., Westneat, D. F., Allegue, H., Teplitsky, C., … & Araya-Ajoy, Y. G.

    (2020) Robustnessof linear mixed-effects models to violations of distributionalassumptions. Methods in ecology andevolution, 11(9), 1141–1152. 10.1111/2041‑210X.13434

    https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13434[Google Scholar]
  33. Shu, H.

    (2003) Chinesewriting system and learning toread. International Journal ofPsychology, 38(5), 274–285. 10.1080/00207590344000060

    https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590344000060[Google Scholar]
  34. Tan, L. H., Liu, H. L., Perfetti, C. a, Spinks, J. a, Fox, P. T., & Gao, J. H.

    (2001) Theneural system underlying Chinese logographreading. NeuroImage, 13(5), 836–46. 10.1006/nimg.2001.0749

    https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.0749[Google Scholar]
  35. Tan, L. H., Spinks, J. a, Gao, J. H., Liu, H. L., Perfetti, C. a, Xiong, J., … Fox, P. T.

    (2000) Brainactivation in the processing of Chinese characters and words: a functionalMRI study. Human brainmapping, 10(1), 16–27. 10.1002/(SICI)1097‑0193(200005)10:1<16::AID‑HBM30>3.0.CO;2‑M

    https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0193(200005)10:1<16::AID-HBM30>3.0.CO;2-M[Google Scholar]
  36. Wang, T., CooperBorkenhagen, M., Barker, M., & Seidenberg, M. S.

    (2022) Meaningswithin meanings: skilled readers activate irrelevant meanings of radicals inChinese. Reading andWriting, 35(6), 1381–1399. 10.1007/s11145‑022‑10260‑y

    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10260-y[Google Scholar]
  37. Yang, J., Cai, Q., & Tian, X.

    (2020) Howdo we segment text? Two-stage chunking operation inreading. eNeuro, 111, 0425. 10.1523/ENEURO.0425‑19.2020

    https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0425-19.2020[Google Scholar]
  38. Zhou, X., Shu, H., Bi, Y., & Shi, D.

    (1999) Isthere phonologically mediated access to lexical semantics in readingChinese. Reading Chinese Script: A CognitiveAnalysis, 135–171.

    [Google Scholar]

http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan

Transitional probability between characters as a component ofsentence processing inChinese (6)

Transitional probability between characters as a component ofsentence processing inChinese

International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 11, 5 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan

/content/journals/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan

/content/journals/10.1075/ijchl.00020.wan

Transitional probability between characters as a component ofsentence processing inChinese (7)

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type:Research Article

Keyword(s):character-level semantics;reading in Chinese;transitional probability

Most Cited

    • Bi-clausal sluicing approach to dislocation copying in Cantonese

      Author(s):Lawrence Yam-Leung Cheung

    • Pattern substitution in Wuxi tone sandhi and its implication for phonological learning

      Author(s):Hanbo YanandJie Zhang

    • The adjective of quantity duo ‘many/much’ and differential comparatives in Mandarin Chinese

      Author(s):Jo-wang Lin

    • Fragment answers in Mandarin Chinese

      Author(s):Ting-Chi Wei

    • The Bound Variable Hierarchy and Donkey Anaphora in Mandarin Chinese

      Author(s):Haihua PanandYan Jiang

    • Mandarin associative plural -men and NPs with -men

      Author(s):Li Julie Jiang

    • The pragmatics of existential-presentative constructions in Chinese: A discourse-based study

      Author(s):Wendan Li

    • Chinese-style topics as indexicality

      Author(s):Tong Wu

    • Justifying silent elements in syntax

      Author(s):One-Soon Her,Ching-Perng ChenandHui-Chin Tsai

    • Possibility and necessity and the scope of negation in Early Middle Chinese

      Author(s):Barbara Meisterernst

  • More Less
Transitional probability between characters as a component of
sentence processing in Chinese (2024)

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Golda Nolan II

Last Updated:

Views: 5981

Rating: 4.8 / 5 (58 voted)

Reviews: 89% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Golda Nolan II

Birthday: 1998-05-14

Address: Suite 369 9754 Roberts Pines, West Benitaburgh, NM 69180-7958

Phone: +522993866487

Job: Sales Executive

Hobby: Worldbuilding, Shopping, Quilting, Cooking, Homebrewing, Leather crafting, Pet

Introduction: My name is Golda Nolan II, I am a thoughtful, clever, cute, jolly, brave, powerful, splendid person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.