The Influence of Japanese Language on the Phonological Processing of Chinese Words in Chinese Students Learning Japanese as a Second Language : Operating the Orthographical and Phonological Similarities of Kanji-Words

The role of orthographical and phonological similarities of Kanji-word in native word recognition was examined by using a naming task. In three experiments, Chinese native speakers, an intermediate and an advanced class of Japanese learners of Chinese students were asked to read aloud Kanji-words in their native language. The facilitation effects of orthographical similarity and the inhibition effects of phonological similarity were observed in Japanese learners of Chinese, but not in native speakers. The results provide the evidence that the lexical representation of Japanese is activated when Japanese learners of Chinese process Kanji-words in their native language. These results also suggested that the effects of orthographical and phonological similarities of Kanji-words are caused according to the proficiency in their second language. The present paper shows that the orthographical and phonological similarities of Kanji-words affect on both native and non-native phonological processing