Distinctive effects of regularity and consistency in orthography-phonology mapping in a logographic writing system: an ERP study

Abstract

In alphabetic scripts, phonological regularity and consistency of print-to-sound mapping are not clearly separable. In contrast, these variables are operationally distinct in Chinese. About 80% of Chinese characters are phonograms, containing a semantic radical that provides a clue to the meaning of the character and a phonetic radical providing a clue to the pronunciation (e.g. 趾 zi2 ‘toe’ has a semantic radical 足meaning ‘foot’ and a phonetic radical 止 zi2). The orthographyphonology mapping in Chinese can be characterized in terms of regularity defined as the congruence between the pronunciation of a phonogram and that of its phonetic radical, and ...