Character encoding strategies by non-native Mandarin speakers

Abstract

This study examines the Chinese pseudo-character encoding process among two groups of Cantonese-speaking participants under a Mandarin context, attempting to find out their differences in sensitivity towards phonological and semantic information within a character. Twenty-four Cantonese-speaking adults and twenty Cantonese-speaking children participated in a picture – symbol mapping task under the no cue, semantic cue (description on the feature given) and phonetic cue (pronunciation given in Mandarin) condition. Results showed that both Cantonese groups achieved similar scores and used more phonetic than semantic strategy under no cue condition. The adults showed more phonetic strategy use under phonetic cue condition while the children used more semantic strategy under the semantic condition. The result supports that the development of semantic radical awareness precedes the development of phonetic radical awareness. While children as young as primary 3 already possess knowledge of phonetic radical, the use of such knowledge in guiding character encoding is still under development.