Haskins Publications

Number	243
Year	1977
Drawer	4
Entry Date	06/03/1999
Authors	Erickson, D., Mattingly, I. G., & Turvey, M. T.
Contact
Publication	Language and Speech, 20, 384-403.
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL0243.pdf
Abstract	Evidence has shown that phonetic processes operate even when Ss are reading "silently." This study indicates that reading seems to require phonetic short-term storage even if the writing system is logographic. A short-term memory probe paradigm was used to test the ability of Japanese subjects to recall kanji characters. When pairs of characters in a silently read list were homophonous, recall was significantly poorer than when the silently read list included no such pairs, presumably because of confusion in phonetic short-term storage. Since kanji have no overt phonetic structure, it would seem that this kind of storage is involved in reading kanji, not because of the particular structure of the writing system but because of the task's essentially linguistic nature. Evidently, the linguistic process cannot readily dispense with phonetic short-term storage. It is suggested, however, that the design of a writing system does not depend directly on linguistic process but rather on the partial & uneven awareness that the system users have of certain aspects of this process. An appendix provides the study's kanji lists.
Notes