Modality dependency of familiarity ratings ofjapanese words

Transcription

1 Perceptin & Psychphysics 1995, 57 (5), Mdality dependency f familiarity ratings fjapanese wrds SHIGEAKI AMANa and TADAHISA KONDO NTT Basic Research Labratries, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan and KAZUHIKO KAKEHI Nagya University, Chikusa-Ku, Nagya, Japan ratings fr a large number f aurally and visually presented Japanese wrds were measured fr 11subjects, in rder t investigate the mdality dependency f familiarity. The crrelatin cefficient between auditry and visual ratings was.808, which is lwer than that bserved fr English wrds, suggesting that a substantial prtin f the mental lexicn is mdality dependent.it was shwn that the mdality dependency is greater fr lw-familiarity wrds than it is fr medium- r high-familiarity wrds. This difference between the lw- and the medium- r high-familiarity wrds has a relatinship t rthgraphy. That is, the dependency is larger in wrds cnsisting nly f kanji, which may have multiple prnunciatins and usually represent meaning, than it is in wrds cnsisting nly f hiragana r katakana, which have a single prnunciatin and usually d nt represent meaning. These results indicate that the idisyncratic characteristics f Japanese rthgraphy cntributet the mdality dependency. In additin t wrd frequency (Kucera & Francis, 1967), wrd familiarity is an index fthe relative ease f wrd perceptin. Althugh many studies shw that a wrd's frequency affects its perceptin (e.g., Dupux & Mehler, 1990; Marslen-Wilsn, 1990; Segui, Mehler, Frauenfelder, & Mrtn, 1982), sme studies pint ut that familiarity is a better predictr than frequency fr wrd perceptin (e.g., Gernsbacher, 1984; Grdn, 1985; Kreuz, 1987; Nusbaum, Pisni, & Davis, 1984). Althugh these studies n familiarity dealt nly with printed wrds (i.e., visually presented wrds), the findings may als be applicable t spken wrds (i.e., aurally presentedwrds), since sme studies have shwn that the effect f familiarity n wrd perceptin is nt mdality dependent. Fr example, Cnnine, Mullennix, Shernff, and Yelen (1990) cnducted naming experiments fr auditry and visual stimuli and fund that familiarity affected bth types f stimuli in a similar fashin. Pisni and Garber (Garber & Pisni, 1991; Pisni & Garber, 1990) measured the familiarity ratings f 900 English wrds presented bth aurally and visually. They fund a high crrelatin between familiarity ratings using auditry and visual presentatin (.93), and they suggested that the mental lexicn is amdal. Even ifthere are independent mental lexicns fr auditry and visual wrds, they must be highly similar r clsely cnnected. A questin that remains cncerns whether the findings f Pisni and Garber (Garber & Pisni, 1991; Pisni & Crrespndence shuld be addressed t S. Arnan, NTT Basic Research Labratries, 3-1 Mrinsat Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Pref., , Japan ( aman@av-hp.ntt.jp). Garber, 1990) are universal r language specific. That is, is the high crrelatin between auditry and visual familiarity ratings als bserved in ther languages? It is pssible, fr example, that the high crrelatin fund by Pisni and Garber is due t the relatively cnsistent relatinship between English rthgraphy and prnunciatin. Such a relatinship may result in a high crrelatin between auditry and visual familiarity ratings. If this is crrect, the crrelatin in languages with a mre irregular relatinship between rthgraphy and prnunciatin shuld be lwer than that in English. Fr example, Japanese rthgraphy is quite different frm English rthgraphy and is mre cmplex. It uses three kinds fcharacters: kanji (based n Chinese idegrams), and tw kinds f syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, bth f which are essentially phnetic transcriptins. Fr example, the hiragana fj and the katakana tj are always prnunced /ka!. Kanji, hwever, usually expresses meaning, and may have several different prnunciatins; that is, kanji has n direct relatinship t prnunciatin. Fr example, the kanji., which means evil, is always prnunced /rna/, whereas the kanji 'F, which means dwn, is variusly prnunced as Ika/, Ige/, 101, Isa/, Ikuda!, Imt/, Isim/, and Isita! (Nagasawa, Harada, & Tgawa, 1990). In the latter case (r), the prnunciatin f kanji is decided accrding t the wrd in which the kanji is embedded. There are 83 hiraganas and 84 katakanas, whereas there are mre than 10,000 kanjis. These three kinds fcharacters are used in cmbinatin, making the relatinship between the Japanese rthgraphy and prnunciatin very cmplex. It is als pssible that the number f stimuli used in their familiarity-rating experiments might als serve t Cpyright 1995 Psychnmic Sciety, Inc. 598

2 MODALITY DEPENDENCY OF FAMILIARITY RATINGS 599 limit the generality fpisni and Garber's study (Garber & Pisni, 1991; Pisni & Garber, 1990): A ttal f 900 wrds may be t small t accurately represent a mental lexicn that must have a very large number fwrds. Althugh they selected wrds with varius frequencies, t few stimuli might unexpectedly result in a high crrelatin between auditry and visual ratings. T further investigate these questins, we used a large number fjapanese wrds and examined the crrelatin between familiarity ratings f wrds presented bth aurally and visually. MEmOD Tw main experiments were cnducted. Experiment I emplyed aurally presentedwrds, and Experiment 2 emplyedvisuallypresented wrds. Psttests were cnducted in rder t select thse subjects whse ratings were reliable. Subjects Nineteen native speakers f Japanese (18-26 years ld) participated in the experiments. They were paid fr participating. had graduated frm high schl, and had gd reading skills and nrmal hearing ability. Materials A ttal f 62,001 wrds in the Shin-Meikai Japanese dictinary (Kindaichi, Kindaichi, Kenb, Shibata, & Yamada, 1974) were selected fr use bth in Experiment I and in Experiment 2. Tw subsets f3, I00 wrds each were selected randmly frm the riginal pl, ne fr an auditry psttest and the ther fr a visual psttest. N hetergraphic hmphnes (i.e., wrds having the same prnunciatin as anther wrd but a different rthgraphy) r heterphnic hmgraphs (i.e., wrds having the same rthgraphyas anther wrd but a different prnunciatin) were included in these tw psttest subsets, and the subsets shared n wrds in cmmn. A female native speaker f Japanese prnunced the 62,001 wrds at natural speaking rate. The stimuli fr Experiment I were recrded digitally at a 16-kHz sampling rate with 16-bit AID cnversin. The stimuli were digitally stred in a persnal cmputer (PC). Stimuli fr Experiment 2 were prepared fr presentatin n a cmputer display using the same rthgraphy as the Shin-Meikai Japanese dictinary: 40,794 stimuli were wrds cnsisting nly f kanji, 2,985 stimuli were wrds cnsisting nly f hiragana, and 4,654 stimuli were wrds cnsisting nly f katakana. The remainder were cmbinatins f kanji, hiragana, katakana, and a special character, such as a letter f an alphabet. The visual stimuli were presented using 32 X 32-pixel characters n a 640 X 400 pixel IS-in. cmputer display. They were viewed frm a distance fabut 0.5 m. Prcedure Experiment 1: presentatin. The subjects were tested individually, using a PC. The auditry wrds were ditically presentedat 75 db (SPL) thrugh headphnes (STAX, SR-APRO). A different randm rder was used fr each subject. The subjects were instructed t rate the familiarity f each wrd they heard. They made judgments by using a muse t click a single digit n a seven-pint scale (ranging frm I fr mst unfamiliar t 7 fr mst familiar), which was displayed n the screen f the PC. The subjects were encuraged t use the full range f the scale. Each auditry wrd was successively presented apprximately I sec after the subject's rating fthe previus wrd. If the auditry wrd was a hetergraphic hmphne, all alternative rthgraphies were visually presented n the display after the familiarity judgment had been made. The subjects were asked t select ne fthe rthgraphies, t identify which ne had cme t mind at the time f the initial familiarity rating. The subjects were then asked t rate the familiarity f tile rest f the hetergraphic hmphnes successively. Fr training trials, 200 stimuli frm the riginal pl were randmly selected fr each subject. The subjects participated in 200 training trials befre participating in Experiment 1. They perfrmed apprximately 2,000 judgments per day fr six weeks. Experiment 2: Visual presentatin. As in Experiment I, the subjects were individually tested, using a Pc. They rated the familiarity fthe visually presented wrds in the same manner as in Experiment 1. Ifthe visual wrd was a heterphnic hmgraph, all alternative prnunciatins fr the visual wrd were visually presented n the display in katakana after the familiarity judgment had been made. The subjects were asked t select ne f the prnunciatins, t identify which ne had cme t mind at the time f the initial familiarity rating. They were then asked t rate the familiarity fthe remaining heterphnic hmgraphs successively. Fr training trials, 200 stimuli frm the riginal pl were randmly selected fr each subject. The subjects participated in 200 training trials befre participating in Experiment 2. They perfrmed apprximately 3,000 judgments per day fr fur weeks. Each subject participated in bth Experiments I and 2. Ten subjects perfrmed Experiment I first, and 9 subjects perfrmed Experiment 2 first. Psttests. subjects participated in an auditry and a visual psttest I~3 mnths after the final experimental sessin. The prcedures emplyed fr the psttests were identical t thse perfrmed earlier. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Psttests Eleven f the 19 subjects (6 females and 5 males) were selected fr the fllwing analyses n the basis f their crrelatin cefficients fr familiarity ratings between the psttestand the main experimentbeing higher than.5 bth fr aurally and visually presented wrds. Fr the 11 retained subjects, the mean crrelatin cefficient was.703 (min =:.536, max =.854) fr the aurally presentedwrds, and.738 (min =.570, max =.851) fr the visually presented wrds. Of the 11 retained subjects, 6 perfrmed the auditry task first, and 5 perfrmed the visual task first. The tw tasks were still well cunterbalanced acrss retained subjects. Main Experiments Frequency distributins f familiarity ratings fr the 62,001 auditry and visual wrds are shwn in Figure I. The mean f visual familiarity ratings was 3.91 (N = 62,001, SD = 1.26), and the mean f auditry familiarity ratings was 3.67 (N = 62,001, SD = 1.27). These tw mean values were significantlydifferent [t(62000) = 75.2,p <.0001]. T investigate the effects f mdality n familiarity ratings, hetergraphic hmphnes and heterphnic hmgraphs were excluded frm the analyses. This was dne because hetergraphic hmphnes were rated with their rthgraphies and heterphnic hmgraphs were rated with their prnunciatins represented in kata-

3 600 AMANa, KONDO, AND KAKEHI 12 > u 8 c:: 0> :JC- O> u: 4 xl000 Wrds Figure 1. Frequency distributins f averaged familiarity ratings fr 62,001 aurally and visually presented wrds. kana in rder t identify what the wrds were. This means that hetergraphic hmphnes were rated using dualmdality infrmatin, and that heterphnic hmgraphs were rated using additinal visual infrmatin; therefre the ratings f these wrds might be qualitatively different frm thse f single-slutin wrds, which were rated using a single mdality and with n additinal infrmatin.' After this exclusin frm the ttal f 62,001 wrds, 31,702 single-slutin wrds that had n hetergraphic hmphnes and n heterphnic hmgraphs remained. Ofthese, 16,823 wrds cnsisted nly fkanji, 2,144 wrds cnsisted nly fhiragana, and 3,736 wrds cnsisted nly fkatakana. Fr these 31,702 single-slutin wrds, crrelatin cefficients f familiarity ratings between every pair f the selected 11 subjects were calculated. The mean f the crrelatin cefficients between subjects was as fllws:.549 (N = 55, min =.409, max =.736) fr all the aurally presented wrds;.559 (N = 55, min =.321, max =.731) fr all the visually presented wrds;.556 (N = 55, min =.343, max =.719) fr the visually presented wrds cnsisting nly f kanji;.549 (N = 55, min =.188, max =.774) fr the visually presented wrds cnsisting nly f hiragana; and.627 (N = 55, min =.463, max =.800) fr the visually presented wrds cnsisting nly f katakana. After averaging the familiarity ratings feach wrd ver subjects, the mean f visual familiarity ratings was 3.92 (N = 31,702, SD = 1.30), and the mean fauditry familiarity ratings was 3.74 (N= 31,702, SD = 1.31). These values were significantly different [t(3170 1) = 39.7, P <.0001 J. The crrelatin cefficient between auditry and visual familiarity ratings was.808 (N = 31,702). This is lwer than the crrelatin cefficient f.93 reprted by Pisni and Garber fr English wrds (Garber & Pisni, 1991; Pisni & Garber, 1990). This result shws that the familiarity ratings fr Japanese wrds depend t a Visual Wrds greater extent n the mdality than d the ratings fr English wrds. As t what causes this lwer crrelatin fr Japanese wrds, it might be the characteristic Japanese rthgraphy, which has many relatinships t prnunciatin. The use fkanji mainly cntributes t this cmplex relatinship, because mst kanji characters have multiple prnunciatins. On the ther hand, hiragana and katakana have a ne-t-ne relatinship t prnunciatin, much like English rthgraphy. Accrdingly, it wuld be expected that the crrelatin cefficient fr wrds cnsisting nly fkanji wuld be lwer than that fr wrds cnsisting nly f hiragana r katakana. Such a difference was bserved: The crrelatin cefficient between auditry and visual familiarity ratings fr wrds cnsisting nly f kanji was.767 (N = 16,823), which is much lwer than that f.924 (N = 2,144) fr wrds cnsisting nly fhiragan a [I z I = 26.3, P <.0IJ, and than that f.950 (N = 3,736) fr wrds cnsisting nly fkatakana [lz] = 45.3,p <.01]. Interestingly, the crrelatin cefficients fr wrds cnsisting nly f hiragana r katakana are virtually the same as thse fund fr English wrds (.93). The reasn fr the relatively high crrelatin in English therefre appears t be due t the fact that English rthgraphy has mre fa ne-t-ne relatinship t prnunciatin than des Japanese rthgraphy. A similarly high crrelatin might be bserved fr ther languages that have similar rthgraphic characteristics t English. Pisni and Garber (Garber & Pisni, 1991; Pisni & Garber, 1990) suggested that the mental lexicn is amdal, because the crrelatin between auditry and visual familiarity ratings was high. Hwever, the present results indicate that such a mdality independency is nt necessarily true fr languages ther than English. The lwer crrelatin fr Japanese wrds suggests that a substantial prtin fthe mental lexicn is mdality dependent fr Japanese speakers, and that there may indeed be tw independent mental lexicns, ne auditry and ne visual. These tw systems must be similar, but they are apparently smewhat different. What prtinfthe mental lexicn is mdality dependent? Mre specifically, are lw-familiarity wrds mre mdality dependent than medium- r high-familiarity wrds? T answer this questin, the crrelatin between auditry and visual familiarity ratings was investigated fr high-familiarity wrds, medium-familiarity wrds, and lw-familiarity wrds. There was a general tendency fr the visual familiarity ratings t be higher than the auditry familiarity ratings. This difference between the auditry and visual familiarity ratings, althugh slight, was statistically significant, as described previusly. Fr this reasn, the familiarity ratings were transfrmed t z scres. Highfamiliarity wrds were defined as thse wrds with z scres greater than 1.0. Medium-familiarity wrds were defined as thse wrds with z scres greater than

4 MODALITY DEPENDENCY OF FAMILIARITY RATINGS 601 Table 1 Crrelatin Cefficients (r) Between Averaged s and Averaged Visual s as a Functin f z-scre ( Wrds) [z] $1 I <z Visual Izi $1 I <z r.275 3, , , , , , , , , ,397 Nte v-v, number fwrds cntributing t the crrelatin N 6,361 18,386 6,955 31, and less than 1.0. Lw-familiarity wrds were defined as thse wrds with z scres that were less than Crrelatin cefficients between auditry and visual familiarity ratings as a functin f z scres are shwn in Table 1. Table 1 shws that the crrelatin cefficient f familiarity ratings between the lw auditryz-scre grup and the lw visual z-scre grup (.275) is much lwer than that between the medium auditry z-scre grup and the medium visual z-scre grup [.631; [z] = 24.5, p <.01]. It is als much lwer than the crrelatin cefficient between the high auditry z-scre grup and the high visual z-scre grup [.543; [z] = 14.8, p <.01]. This tendency was als bserved in the crrelatin between the three visual z-scre grups and the all auditry grup, but was nt bserved in the crrelatin between the three auditry z-scre grups and the all visual grup. Hwever, even in the latter case, the crrelatin cefficient between the lw auditry z-scre grup and the all visual grup (.347) was much lwer than that between the medium auditry z-scre grup and the all visual grup [.639; [z] = 27.1, p <.01]. These results indicate that lw-familiarity wrds are mre mdality dependent than medium- r highfamiliarity wrds, and that the mdality dependency fthe mental lexicn is due t the influence flw-familiarity wrds. What relatinships are there between rthgraphy and the mdality dependency f lw-familiarity wrds? T answer this questin, crrelatincefficientsbetween the auditry and visual familiarity ratings fr the three z-scre grups were calculated fr wrds cnsisting nly fkanji (Table 2), fr wrds cnsisting nly fhiragana (Table 3), and fr wrds cnsisting nly fkatakana (Table 4). The crrelatin cefficientbetween the lw auditryzscre grup and the lw visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly f kanji (.153) is much lwer than that between the lw auditry z-scre grup and the lw visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly f hiragan a [.571; Izl = 8.42,p <.01], and is als much lwer than that between the lw auditry z-scre grup and the lw visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly f katakana [.560; [z] = 10.3, p <.01]. In additin, cmparisns amng the z-scre grups within wrds cnsisting nly fkanji shwed that the crrelatin cefficient between the lw auditry z-scre grup and the lw visual z-scre grup (.153) is much lwer than that betweenthe medium auditry z-scre grup and the medium visual z-scre grup [.563; [z] = 16.2, p <.01], and that it is als much lwer than that between the high auditry z scre grup and the high visual z-scre grup [.590; [z] = 15.5,p <.01]. Thesefindings shw that kanji cntributes t the lw crrelatin between auditry and visual wrds in the lw z-scre grup. Hw, then, des kanji cntribute t the verall crrelatin (.808) between aurally and visually presented wrds? The crrelatin cefficient between the high auditry z-scre grup and the high visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly fkanji (.590) is higher than that between the high auditry z-scre grup and the high visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly fhiragan a [.385; [z] = 3.80,p <.01] and fr wrds cnsisting nly Table 2 Crrelatin Cefficients (r) Between Averaged s and Averaged Visual s as a Functin f z-scre (Kanji-Only Wrds) Izl $1 l<z ,313 1, ,830 Visual Izl $1 I <z.136 1, , , , ,357 Nte-i-V, number fwrds cntributing t the crrelatin ,832 10,320 3,671 16,823

5 602 AMANa, KONDO, AND KAKEHI Table 3 Crrelatin Cefficients (r) Between Ave...aged Audit...y s and Averaged Visual Familiar ity s as a Functin f z-sc re (Hir agana-only Wr ds) 1=1 $ I 1<= =< -I Visual 1=1 $ I 1<= I.782 1, , Nte-N, number f wrds cntributing t the crrelatin. Table 4 C...elatin Cefficients (r) Between Averaged s and Averaged Visual s as a Functin fz-scre (Katakana-Only Wrds) z < -I Visual Izi $1 1<z , , Nte-N, number f wrds cntributing t the crrelatin. r N 466 1, ,144 fkatakana [.429; [z] = 4.54,p <.01]. Hwever, the crrelatin cefficient between the medium auditryz-scre grup and the medium visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly fkanji (.563) is lwer than that between the medium auditry z-scre grup and the medium visual z-scre grup fr wrds cnsisting nly fhiragana [.782; [z] = 13.1, P <.01] and fr wrds cnsisting nly fkatakana [.855; Izi = 25.0,p <.01]. Therefre, in the high z-scre grup, kanji makes the verall crrelatin higher, but in the medium and lw z-scre grups, kanji makes it lwer. Hwever, kanji may make the verall crrelatin lwer, because the summed numberfwrds (i.e., 9,493) in the lw z-scregrup (1,313) and medium z-scre grup (8,180) is larger than the numberfwrds in the high z-scre grup (2,607). In additin, the kanji effects that lwer the verall crrelatin can be mre dminant than the effects fhiragana and katakana that heighten the verall crrelatin, because the number f wrds cnsisting nly f kanji (16,823) is much larger than the summed number f wrds cnsisting nly f hiragana (2,144) and katakana (3,766) (i.e., 5,910). These factrs result in the verall crrelatin between auditry and visual familiarity ratings being lwer fr Japanese than fr English. The present results suggest that kanji, which has net-many relatinships between rthgraphy and prnunciatin, may cntribute t the lwer crrelatin f familiarity ratings between aurally and visually presented Japanese wrds. It is pssible, hwever, that the lwer crrelatin fr Japanese wrds may be caused by ther Izi $1 I <z , ,736 characteristics f kanji. In particular, each kanji represents its meaning directly. This may result in a higher familiarity rating fr the visually presented kanjicntaining wrds than fr the crrespndingaurally presented wrds. Hwever, if the kanji is very unfamiliar and therefre nt readable by the subjects, the visually presented kanji-cntaining wrds may have a lwer familiarity rating than the crrespnding aurally presented wrds. These characteristics fkanji may bidirectinally affect familiarity ratings, and hence may tend t lwer the crrelatin between auditry and visual presentatin. Hwever, further investigatin is necessary t cnfirm this hypthesis. In any case, it culd be said that characteristics fjapanese rthgraphy, particularly the special characteristics f kanji, affect wrd familiarity ratings, and that Pisni and Garber's findings (Garber & Pisni, 1991; Pisni & Garber, 1990) cannt be directly applied t ther languages that have different rthgraphic systems. In summary, the present study cmpared familiarity ratings faurally and visually presented Japanese wrds and shwed that the crrelatinbetween auditryand visual familiarity ratings was lwer than that bserved fr English wrds. It is suggested that the mental lexicn has sme mdality dependency, and that the idisyncratic characteristics fjapanese rthgraphy cntribute t the mdality dependency. REFERENCES CONNINE, C. M., MULLENNIX, 1., SHERNOFF, E., & YELEN, J. (1990). Wrd familiarity and frequency in visual and auditry wrd recgnitin. Jurnal fexperimental Psychlgy: Learning, Memry, & Cgnitin, 16, Durux, E., & MEHLER,J. (1990). 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Cmputatinal analysis f present-day American English. Prvidence, RI: Brwn University Press. MARSLEN-WILSON, W. D. (1990). Activatin, cmpetitin, and frequency in lexical access. In G. T. M. Altmann (Ed.), Cgnitive mdels fspeech prcessing: Psychlinguistic and cmputatinal perspectives (pp ). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. NAGASAWA, K, HARADA, T, & TOGAWA, Y. (Eds.) (1990). 'ffiajjm~ 'fpm~ (~4!Wi) [Shin-Meikai Chinese-Japanese dictinary (4th ed.)]. Tky: Sansei-d. NUSBAUM, H. C, PISONI, D. B., & DAVIS, C. K (1984). Sizing up the Hsier mental lexicn: Measuring the familiarity f20,000 wrds.

6 MODALITY DEPENDENCY OF FAMILIARITY RATINGS 603 In Research n speech perceptin (Prg. Rep. N.1 0, pp ). Blmingtn: Indiana University, Speech Research Labratry. PISONI, D. B., & GARBER, E. E. (1990). Lexical memry in visual and auditry mdalities: The case fr a cmmn mental lexicn. In Prceedings fthe 1990 Internatinal Cnference n Spken Language Prcessing (pp ). Kbe, Japan: The Acustical Sciety f Japan. SEGUI, 1.,MEHLER, J., FRAUENFELDER, U., & MORTON, J. (1982). The wrd frequency effect and lexical access. Neurpsychlgica, 20, NOTE I. This study was intended nt nly t investigate the mdality dependency f familiarity but als t develp a familiarity database fr aurally and visually presented Japanese wrds. It was therefre necessary t measure the familiarities f hmphnes and hmgraphs, even if they were nt used fr analyzing the mdality dependency. (Manuscript received July 26, 1994; revisin accepted fr publicatin December 29, 1994.)