声调信息在单词视觉识别中的作用

The Role of Tonal Information in Visual Word Recognition

在汉语词汇识别中,超音段信息所起的作用一直存有争议,且当前关于超音段信息的研究集中于听觉范式下单个词汇或语句研究,较少涉及视觉识别以及复合词的加工。针对这一现象,本研究通过控制首、尾字,基于两个实验探究视觉范式下超音段信息在汉语复合词识别与语义整合加工中的作用。实验采用掩蔽启动范式,2 (音段)×2 (声调)设计,共4个条件:音段声调完全匹配(S+T+)、音段匹配声调不匹配(S+T-)、声调匹配音段不匹配(S-T+)、音段声调完全不匹配(S-T-)。实验1结果显示在首字启动条件下,与声调匹配音段不匹配(S-T+)条件相比,被试在完全匹配(S+T+)条件下反应显著更快;与完全不匹配(S-T-)条件相比,被试在声调匹配音段不匹配(S-T+)条件下反应显著更慢,表明声调匹配信息在汉语复合词视觉识别中起抑制作用。实验2结果显示在尾字条件下,声调和音段加工没有发现任何显著差异,表明被试对声调和音段信息两者都不敏感。实验1和实验2表明声调信息参与了汉语复合词的视觉识别过程,且发挥比音段更为重要的作用;但这一作用更多体现于单词识别阶段,无论处于首字或尾字位置,声调信息的影响较为类似。

The role of suprasegmental information in Chinese word recognition has been controversial.Also the current research mainly focuses on the suprasegmental information processing within a single word or sentence in an auditory paradigm;little has been done on the visual recognition of compounds.Two experiments were conducted in this study to explore the role of suprasegmental information in the visual recognition and semantic integration of Chinese disyllabic compounds by controlling the initial and final characters.A masking priming paradigm and 2(segment)×2(tone)design were adopted,leading to the following four conditions with the selected target word in disyllabic compounds being replaced with segment and tone matching(S+T+),segment mismatching but tone matching(S+T-),segment mismatching but tone matching(S-T+),and segment and tone completely mismatching(S-T-).Experiment 1 showed that the response for completely matching(S+T+)condition was significantly faster than tone matching but segment mismatching(S-T+)condition;meanwhile,the response for tone matching but segment mismatching(S-T+)condition was significantly slower than segment and tone completely mismatching(S-T-)condition,suggesting that tone information played an inhibitory role in visual recognition of Chinese compounds under the condition of initial word priming.However,no significant difference was observed in Experiment 2,suggesting that subjects were not sensitive to both tone and segment information under the condition of final word priming.Together,the results of both experiments indicated that tonal information was not only engaged in visual recognition of Chinese compounds,but also played a more important role than segment,a role which was mainly reflected in the stage of word recognition,regardless of whether it was located in the initial or final position of a compound.