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Application of the orthographic depth hypothesis to Chinese-English bilingual word recognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

Thomas W.T. Sim
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tasmania, AUSTRALIA
Frances Martin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tasmania, AUSTRALIA
Peter Ball
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Tasmania, AUSTRALIA

Abstract

This study investigated the nature of bilingual word recognition in English monolinguals and Chinese-English bilinguals. It has been argued that bilinguals have two interdependent language systems and that ability in one language can affect performance in the other according to orthographic depth (Frost & Katz, 1992) of the respective scripts. Reaction time and accuracy were recorded while participants (n=40) completed a continuous recognition task in which the orthographic depth of stimuli were varied. Results indicated that English monolinguals were more accurate than Chinese-English bilinguals at the phonological task, but less accurate at logographic (orthographic) tasks, while both groups performed at the same level with the English real word task. These results suggest that the orthographic depth of a bilingual's original language affects performance in the second language.

Type
Part III. Psycholinguistics
Copyright
Copyright © University of Papua New Guinea and the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Territory University, Australia 1999

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