Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T11:41:52.845Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Insight into the structure of compound words among speakers of Chinese and English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 October 2011

JIE ZHANG ,
RICHARD C. ANDERSON ,
QIUYING WANG ,
JEROME PACKARD ,
XINCHUN WU ,
SHAN TANG  and
XIAOLING KE
JIE ZHANG
Affiliation:
Western Kentucky University
RICHARD C. ANDERSON*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
QIUYING WANG
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University
JEROME PACKARD
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
XINCHUN WU
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
SHAN TANG
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University
XIAOLING KE
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Richard C. Anderson, Center for the Study of Reading, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820. E-mail: csrrca@illinois.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Knowledge of compound word structures in Chinese and English was investigated, comparing 435 Chinese and 258 Americans, including second, fourth, and sixth graders, and college undergraduates. As anticipated, the results revealed that Chinese speakers performed better on a word structure analogy task than their English-speaking counterparts. Also, as anticipated, speakers of both languages performed better on noun + noun and verb + particle compounds, which are more productive in their respective languages than noun + verb and verb + noun compounds, which are less productive. Both Chinese and English speakers performed significantly better on novel compounds than on familiar compounds, most likely because familiar compounds are lexicalized and do not invite decomposition into constituents.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 753 - 779
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, R. C., & Li, W. (2005). A cross-language perspective on learning to read. In McKeough, A., Lupart, J. L., Phillips, L., & Timmons, V. (Eds.), Understanding literacy development: A global view (pp. 65–91). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Baayen, R. H., Piepenbrock, R., & Gulikers, L. (1995). The CELEX lexical database [CD]. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Linguistic Data Consortium.Google Scholar
Bartlett, M. S. (1936). The square root transformation in analysis of variance. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 3, 68–78.Google Scholar
Bauer, L. (1987). English word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Bauer, L. (2001). Morphological productivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauer, L., & Renouf, A. (2001). A corpus-based study of compounding in English. Journal of English Linguistics, 29, 101–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berko, J. (1958). The child's learning of English morphology. Word, 14, 150–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, I., Urland, G. R., & Ma, J. E. (2002). Using Internet search engines to estimate word frequency. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 34, 286–290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlisle, J. F. (1988). Knowledge of derivational morphology and spelling ability in fourth, sixth, and eighth graders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 9, 247–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlisle, J. F. (1995). Morphological awareness and early reading achievement. In Feldman, L. B. (Ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 189–209). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Carlisle, J. F. (2000). Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: Impact on reading. Reading and Writing, 12, 169–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlisle, J. F., & Nomanbhoy, D. M. (1993). Phonological and morphological awareness in first graders. Applied Psycholinguistics, 14, 177–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, J. B., Davies, P., & Richman, B. (1971). The American heritage word frequency book. New York: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1981). Lexical innovations: How children learn to create new words. In Deutsch, W. (Ed.), The child's construction of language (pp. 299–328). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Clark, E. V. (1993). The lexicon in acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, E. V., & Berman, R. (1984). Structure and use in the acquisition of word-formation. Language, 60, 547–590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, E. V., & Berman, R. (1987). Types of linguistic knowledge: Interpreting and producing compound nouns. Journal of Child Language, 14, 547–569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, E. V., Gelman, S. A., & Lane, N. M. (1985). Noun compounds and category structure in young children. Child Development, 56, 84–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fowler, A., Feldman, L. B., Andjelkovic, D., & Oney, B. (2003). Morphological and phonological analysis by beginning readers: Evidence from Serbo-Croatian and Turkish. In Assink, E. & Sandra, D. (Eds.), Reading complex words: Neuropsychology and cognition. Amsterdam: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Gottfried, G. M. (1997). Comprehending compounds: Evidence for metaphoric skill? Journal of Child Language, 24, 163–186.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hao, M. (2003). Development of morphological awareness in Chinese. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Beijing Normal University, Beijing.Google Scholar
Hsu, C. F., Tzeng, O. J. L., Hung, D. L., & Tai, J. H. Y. (1998). Syntactic effects at sublexical level of word recognition in Chinese. Paper presented at the First International Workshop on Written Language Processing, New South Wales University, Australia.Google Scholar
Huang, S. (1997). Chinese as a headless language in compounding morphology. In Packard, J. (Ed.), New approaches to Chinese word formation: Morphology, phonology and the lexicon in modern and ancient Chinese. Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 105. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Janssen, N., Bi, Y., & Caramazza, A. (2008). A tale of two frequencies: Determining the speed of lexical access for Mandarin Chinese and English compounds. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 1191–1223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krott, A., & Nicholadis, E. (2005). Large constituent families help children parse compounds. Journal of Child Language, 32, 139–158.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ku, Y., & Anderson, R. C. (2003). Development of morphological awareness in Chinese and English. Reading and Writing, 16, 399–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kučera, H., & Francis, W. N. (1967). Computational analysis of present day American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.Google Scholar
Kuo, L., & Anderson, R. C. (2006). Morphological awareness and learning to read: A cross-language perspective. Educational Psychologist, 41, 161–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuperman, V., Schreuder, R., Bertran, R., & Baayen, R. H. (2009). Reading polymorphemic Dutch compounds: Toward a multiple route of model of lexical processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 876–895.Google Scholar
Li, W., Anderson, R. C., Nagy, W., & Zhang, H. (2002). Facets of metalinguistic awareness that contribute to Chinese literacy. In Li, W., Gaffney, J. S., & Packard, J. L. (Eds.), Chinese language acquisition: Theoretical and pedagogical issues (pp. 59–86). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Mahony, D., Singson, M., & Mann, V. (2000). Reading ability and sensitivity to morphological relations. Reading and Writing, 12, 191–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBride-Chang, C., Liu, H., Wagner, R., Shu, H., Zhou, A., Cheuk, C. S.-M., et al. (2005). Changing models across cultures: Associations of phonological and morphological awareness to reading in Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea, and America. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92, 140–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., Zhou, A., Wat, C. P., & Wagner, R. K. (2003). Morphological awareness uniquely predicts young children's Chinese character recognition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 743–751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W. E., & Anderson, R. C. (1984). How many words are there in printed school English? Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 304–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W. E., & Anderson, R. C. (1998). Metalinguistic awareness and the acquisition of literacy in different languages. In Wagner, D., Venezky, R., & Street, B. (Eds.), Literacy: An international handbook. Westminster, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Nagy, W. E., Berninger, V. W., & Abbott, R.C. (2006). Contributions of morphology beyond phonology to literacy outcomes of upper elementary and middle-school students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 134–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W. E., Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. C., Vaughan, K., & Vermeulen, K. (2003). Relationship of morphology and other language skills to literacy skills in at-risk second-grade readers and at-risk fourth-grade writers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 730–742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicoladis, E. (2003). What compound nouns mean to preschool children. Brain and Language, 84, 38–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Packard, J. L. (2000). The morphology of Chinese: A linguistic and cognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Packard, J. L., Chen, X., Li, W., Wu, X., Gaffney, J. S., Li, H., et al. (2006). Explicit instruction in orthographic structure and word morphology helps Chinese children learn to write characters. Reading and Writing, 19.5, 457–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandra, D. (1990). On the representation and processing of compound words: Automatic access to constituent morphemes does not occur. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 42, 529–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selkirk, E. (1982). The syntax of words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Shu, H., McBride-Chang, C., Wu, S., & Liu, H. (2006). Understanding Chinese developmental dyslexia: Morphological awareness as a core cognitive construct. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 122–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taft, M., & Zhu, X. (1995).The representation of bound morphemes in the lexicon: A Chinese study. In Feldman, L. B. (Ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 293–316). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Tyler, A., & Nagy, W. E. (1989). The acquisition of English derivational morphology. Journal of Memory and Language, 28, 649–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyler, A., & Nagy, W. E. (1990). Use of derivational morphology during reading. Cognition, 36, 17–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Jaarsveld, H. J., & Rattink, G. E. (1988). Frequency effects in the processing of lexicalized and novel nominal compounds. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 17, 447–473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Cheng, C., & Chen, S. W. (2006). Contribution of morphological awareness to Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 542–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, T. G., Power, M. A., & White, S. (1989). Morphological analysis: Implication for teaching and understanding vocabulary growth. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 283–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, X., Anderson, R., Li, W., Wu, X., Li, H., Zhang, J., et al. (2009). Morphological awareness and Chinese children's literacy development: An intervention study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 26–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuan, C., & Huang, C. (1998). Chinese morpheme and morphology study based on morpheme database. Yu Yan Wen Zi Ying Yong, 3, 83–88.Google Scholar
Zhang, B. Y., & Peng, D. L. (1992). Decomposed storage in the Chinese lexicon. In Chen, H.-C. & Tzeng, O. J. L. (Eds.), Language processing in Chinese (pp. 131–148). Amsterdam: North-Holland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J. (2004). Development and intervention of morphological awareness in Chinese. Unpublished master's thesis, Beijing Normal University.Google Scholar
Zhang, J., Anderson, R. C., Packard, J., Wu, X., & Tang, S. (2007). Development of knowledge about compound word structures in Chinese and English. Champaign, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.Google Scholar
Zhang, J., Anderson, R. C., Li, H., Dong, Q., Wu, X., & Zhang, Y. (2010). Cross-language transfer of insight into the structure of compound words. Reading and Writing, 23, 311–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar