Sub-lexical phonological and semantic processing of semantic radicals: a primed naming study

Abstract Most sinograms (i.e., Chinese characters) are phonograms (phonetic compounds). A phonogram is composed of a semantic radical and a phonetic rad-ical, with the former usually implying the meaning of the phonogram, and the latter providing cues to its pronunciation. This study focused on the sub-lexical processing of semantic radicals which are themselves free standing sinograms. Two primed naming experiments were carried out to examine whether the meanings and pro-nunciations of the semantic radicals embedded in phonograms were activated or no