Body and Rime Units in Lexical Decision in Korean Hangul

• In Event: Critical Issues in Literacy Research 1

Abstract

There have been conflicting results in the literature regarding the dominant linguistic unit (body-coda units vs. onset-rime units) in reading Korean Hangul. In attempt to resolve the contradictory views between the phonotactic constraint (support for body-coda) and the universal rime bias (support for onset-rime) in reading, this study examined subunit priming effects on rapid word recognition among native Korean readers. Thirty five university students participated in a lexical decision task in Korean. Results of an LMM showed that both body and rime units played significant roles in response time. Rime primes also affected accuracy of rapid lexical decision. Unlike previous research that showed body primacy, the results indicated that both body and rime units are crucial for reading Korean.

Authors

• Hye K. Pae, University of Cincinnati

• Sungbong Bae, Yeungnam University

• Kwang Oh Yi, Yeungnam University