Effects of morphological and phonological differences between cross-language in second language word recognition

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K16781
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University (2018); Kwansei Gakuin University (2015-2017)
• Principal Investigator: HAYAKAWA Kyoko 一橋大学, 森有礼高等教育国際流動化機構, 特任講師 (80723543)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 音韻 / 形態 / 語彙処理 / 日中同形語 / 中日バイリンガル / 形態・音韻の相互作用 / 客観的音韻類似性指標

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines the reciprocal effect of word recognition on a second language caused by morphological and phonological differences between cross-language. First, a database of Japanese and Chinese two-kanji compound words was constructed, containing information on each language. Notably, an objective phonological similarity index was developed for phonological information. The index was computed using an algorithm: a generalized Levenshtein distance that treats the transcript sequences as a distance. Second, lexical judgment tasks were carried out for homomorphic words (e.g., 推測), heteromorphic words (e.g., 返却), and inversion words (e.g., 短縮－縮短) between the Chinese and Japanese two-kanji compound. The results revealed that phonological similarity with former kanji is likely to generate false recognition for Chinese-Japanese bilinguals, but not at the word level.

Free Research Field

心理言語学、第二言語習得、日本語教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義は、二字漢字語の形態ならびに音韻の日中間の異同が第二言語である日本語の二字漢字語の聴覚認知にもたらす正と負の影響を、語レベルではなく、書記素レベルで具にした点にある。本研究では漢字語が二つの書記素から成り、形態が分離可能であるという性質に着目し、書記素ごとの音韻類似性による統制を行った結果、言語間音韻類似性による干渉効果は書記素レベルに生じることを見出した。また、開発した客観的な測定指標は、判定者の属性や判定方法の違いによる影響を受けないため、今後より精緻な語彙研究発展に寄与し得るだけでなく、母語を考慮した新たな語彙教育の展開を成す基礎資料としての可能性を示すものである。