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Is the consonant primacy script-universal or script-specific? Evidence from non-Roman script Korean Hangul

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Abstract

Given the well-documented consonant primacy established in Roman script, this study examined the role of consonants and vowels in lexical decision of Korean Hangul among skilled Korean readers in order to identify whether the salient role of consonants over vowels would be script-universal or script-specific. Three experiments were carried out to investigate how consonant primes facilitated word recognition using related and unrelated consonant primes (e.g., ㅇㄴㅅㅁ –인삼 vs. ㅈㅎㅂㄱ– 인삼, respectively; Experiment 1), consonant and vowel primes in linearity (e.g.,ㅅㄴㅂㄹ – 손발 vs. ㅜㅗ – 운동, respectively; Experiment 2), and consonant and vowel primes in syllabic blocks (e.g., – 침술, – 불법, respectively; Experiment 3). Results showed that significant consonant priming effects were not found, in comparison to those of vowels, in either linear or block formats. Taken together, the findings suggest that the consonant primacy effect may not apply to non-Roman script Hangul recognition and may be script-specific.

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Notes

  1. This designation of alphasyllabary is based on the interface of orthography and phonology in Korean. About 70% of the Korean vocabulary is Sino-Korean words that have Chinese origin but use Korean pronunciation. If morphology is taken into consideration, Korean Hangul can be categorized as a morphosyllabic alphabet.

  2. This subject pool of adult students was consistent with participants in the related literature, who were university students. In addition, the sample size of the three experiments was deemed adequate for the analysis employed in this study as there were 8576 observations in Experiment 1 and similar observations in the other experiments.

  3. This rule was applied to Experiments 2 and 3 as well.

  4. There was no gender difference in the performance of lexical decision in Experiments 1, 2, and 3. Hence, the test statistics were not reported.

  5. The formula was as follows: RT = Xβ + Zγ + e, where X is the fixed-effects (Condition) design matrix, β is a vector of Condition parameters, Z is the design matrix of random effects (Subject), γ is a vector of Subject parameters, and e is a vector of residual errors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the 2011 Yeungnam University research grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, USA

    Hye K. Pae

  2. Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea

    Sungbong Bae & Kwangoh Yi

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  1. Hye K. Pae
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Correspondence to Hye K. Pae.

Appendix

Appendix

Experiment 1

Words:

만족, 순금, 창틀, 눈총, 발신, 양말, 곡선, 능률, 맹신, 낙인, 민첩, 분할, 면담, 법칙, 감명, 학문, 선봉, 선동, 전국, 정면, 악령, 욕설, 석공, 논술, 산물, 납골, 콩팥, 분장, 둔갑, 납득, 톱날, 콩알, 연통, 학설, 속담, 침공, 넉살, 검증, 통역, 졸음, 눈빛, 종착, 궁합, 컴맹, 형식, 당신, 직업, 당첨, 연필, 냇물, 특출, 탕약, 행실, 민족, 동질, 복장, 착공, 콧물, 범인, 전등, 침낭, 친정, 곤장, 번영, 캠핑, 혈압, 눈병, 성립, 갈증, 인삼, 망신, 민중, 단식, 협상, 산불, 석궁, 생일, 눈발, 명분, 족발, 캡틴, 정글, 클릭, 탈옥, 한글, 연속, 순직, 발송, 협동, 명작, 본능, 특징, 당선, 경찰, 열정, 할증 (96 words).

Nonwords:

운음, 단할, 정살, 일립, 전연, 적력, 불업, 약장, 목잠, 혈품, 말셈, 변격, 발감, 동술, 축렬, 핵근, 잡옷, 살산, 동발, 숙산, 통심, 필쿨, 역질, 득장, 남점, 턱밀, 담학, 전명, 등송, 남집, 불승, 믿송, 성쟁, 협군, 택백, 알등, 일빛, 통극, 낙션, 맹일, 낮속, 흔짓, 톱들, 국만, 찬질, 풀멸, 침송, 낮핍, 열박, 콩동, 필갑, 송일, 견번, 철성, 탈성, 전낭, 컴불, 선울, 캡죽, 당급, 낙력, 달신, 할렬, 풀성, 독산 탯동, 낙경, 극정, 졸적, 헌편, 넝장, 등연, 변단, 팝달, 샌줄, 덧달, 검굽, 납잎, 적략, 행심, 맨심, 통등, 급곡, 멍점, 전발, 절발, 안선, 눈선, 면약, 풍법, 분안, 전잔, 벌인, 반선, 친장, 숙통 (96 nonwords).

Experiment 2

Words:

자리, 나무, 초보, 사고, 기자, 나라, 두부, 다리, 우유, 나라, 고무, 가지, 머리, 소리, 호수, 아이, 마루, 나이, 오리, 상점, 선생, 학생, 골목, 손발, 운동, 동심, 책상, 작품, 행동, 눈물, 교사, 놀림, 동산, 동물, 인형, 강물, 동작, 물건, 입학, 상장 (40 words).

Nonwords:

고뮤, 가저, 교사, 며리, 소러, 고누, 다이, 라루, 나디, 오비, 넌물, 놀롬, 당샨, 둥물, 안형, 상울, 온작, 물넌, 인학, 상낭 (20 words).

Experiment 3

Words:

강물, 극장, 단팥, 동참, 반찬, 벌집, 생일, 압축, 연못, 옥상, 존엄, 총탄, 침입, 특강, 학업, 견학, 낙엽, 달님, 등불, 발탁, 북극, 손톱, 약국, 연필, 운행, 중립, 출장, 탐험, 특급, 핵심, 곶감, 낙찰, 당첨, 면담, 밥솥, 불법, 솔잎, 언덕, 열량, 입금, 직선, 친절, 통근, 평일, 행군, 군복, 논점, 돌풍, 밀렵, 방울, 살균, 순찰, 언행, 염색, 입실, 책장, 침술, 통역, 필통, 협력 (60 words).

Nonwords:

철국, 국송, 긴점, 달쿨, 독굴, 말실, 면별, 밀동, 박언, 복진, 속품, 실석, 웅학, 장분, 집짓, 강억, 건틀, 국설, 난입, 민진, 색검, 융금, 입변, 축녹, 콩착, 탄본, 판복, 폭림, 합통, 헌낙, 골전, 근양, 낙격, 답용, 동냉, 맹탄, 몰전, 밑인, 방격, 성륙, 식즙, 압피, 율립, 준입, 착빈, 객민, 결줄, 눈장, 만북, 분능, 식실, 졸약, 철압, 출난, 탄밭, 털용, 폭근, 필탁, 합발, 훈변 (60 nonwords).

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Pae, H.K., Bae, S. & Yi, K. Is the consonant primacy script-universal or script-specific? Evidence from non-Roman script Korean Hangul. Read Writ 32, 1085–1106 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9896-8

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