Orthographic sensitivity in differentiating Chinese characters: An ERP study of L1 and L2 Chinese readers

Abstract

Radicals are sub-character units specific to the Chinese orthography. Second language (L2) Chinese reading requires learning orthographic rules related to radical position and form. This study identified the processing differences between first language (L1) Chinese readers (n = 23) and L2 Chinese learners with alphabetic L1 (n = 21) in four stimuli types that varied in orthographic legality-- real Chinese characters, pseudo-characters, items with illegal radical position, and items with illegal radical form (Table 1). Each group’s ERP responses in a one-back repetition detection task were submitted to linear mixed-effects regression models. For L1 readers, items with illegal position elicited stronger P100 at left-hemisphere electrodes than pseudo-characters. A similar effect occurred at the N170 for L2 readers. Items with illegal radical form produced stronger N270 than pseudo-characters at right-hemisphere electrodes in L1 readers, but not in L2 readers. Real characters elicited a larger posterior N270 than all non-existing stimuli types in L1 readers, while real characters were not differentiated from pseudo-characters for L2 readers at the N270. Results suggested that while violation of radical position was detected very early, minor violation of radical form was tolerated prior to lexical access. Neural responses to orthographic violations and subsequent lexical access were delayed in L2 readers relative to L1 readers, highlighting the importance of efficient orthographic processing in Chinese reading.