Compounding is one of the most productive methods to construct words in different
languages, e.g. joining the words “super” and “man” gives the compound word
“superman”. For decades, researchers are interested to know how compound words are
stored and retrieved in the lexicon. Different theories of lexical storage and retrieval of
compound words were proposed to explain the compound word processing observed in
both normal and abnormal adult subjects. However, little studies have attempted to apply
these theories to explain the developmental pattern of storage and retrieval of compound
words. To fill the gap, the major aim of the current study is to investigate the power of
different theories of lexical storage and retrieval of compound words in explaining the
typical and atypical development of compound word processing in Chinese children.
Altogether, 20 grade 2 children, 22 grade 4 children, and 17 grade 6 children
screened to have normal non-verbal intelligence and reading abilities were recruited from
a local mainstream school. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the existence
of the holistic representations of compound words and the representations of their
constituent morphemes in the lexicon, and their involvement during the compound word
retrieval processes across different grade levels.
Results show that grade 4 and grade 6 children demonstrate significant whole-word
frequency, morphological family size and semantic transparency effects in all three
experiments, a pattern which resembles that observed in normal adult subjects. The grade
2 children, however, only demonstrate significant whole-word frequency effect but not
the morphological family size and the semantic transparency effect. The results indicate
that grade 4 and grade 6 children adopt the partial-decomposed approach of compound
word storage and retrieval (e.g. Taft, 2003). As for the grade 2 children, it is hypothesized
that their performances represent a developing stage of the partial-decomposed approach,
where networks of morphological relations between family members were underdeveloped
in their lexicon.
Further investigation of the compatibility of the partial-decomposed approach in
explaining the compound word storage and retrieval pattern resulted from atypical
development was conducted. The three experiments mentioned above were administered
on 16 poor readers (PR), 16 reading-level-matched (RL) peers and 16 chronological-agematched
(CA) peers. Interestingly, the PR group’s performances resemble that of the RL
and CA group in experiments of whole-word frequency and morphological family size
but not in experiment of semantic transparency. The PR group’s performances can be
explained by assuming a deficit in identifying shared semantic features between
compound words and their constituents in the partial-decomposed approach. It is
proposed that the PR group identifies frequently occurring morphemes as salient
orthographic reading units without recognizing the shared semantic features between
compound words and their constituents.
In summary, results of the current study support the partial-decomposed approach of
lexical storage and retrieval of compound words. The current study further proposes (i) a
developing stage of the partial-decomposed approach to explain the compound word
processing within an under-developed lexicon and (ii) a deviated partial-decomposed
approach to explain the compound word processing of children with reading difficulties. / published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:HKU/oai:hub.hku.hk:10722/146141 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Lau, Kai-yan, Dustin., 劉啟欣. |
| Publisher | The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) |
| Source Sets | Hong Kong University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | PG_Thesis |
| Source | http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B47249675 |
| Rights | The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works., Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License |
| Relation | HKU Theses Online (HKUTO) |
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