The Orthographic and Phonological Syllable in Reading Hangul Words

Kwangoh Yi, Ph.D
Department of Psychology, Yeungnam University , Gyeongsan, Korea

Abstract:
The speech error data and the word games in Korean have suggested the body-coda (CV/C) structure of Korean syllable, which is different from other languages such as English. In English, plenty of evidence for the rime-coda (C/VC) structure of syllable has been put forward. A series of Korean studies by the present author supported the body-coda structure of Korean syllable. For example, in the phoneme and grapheme exchange tasks, onsets were harder to be removed and re-assembled than codas, which contrasted with the results from English. In addition, recognition of written syllables with the high-frequency body was faster than ones with the low-frequency body. The body-coda structure of Korean syllable was also supported by studies using disyllabic Sino-Korean words as stimuli. Using the priming paradigm, the author found an orthographic inhibition effect when a prime and its target share an orthographic-phonological syllable at the same position. This is in sharp contrast with the results from other languages such as English, Japanese, and Chinese. Further studies showed that the orthographic syllable, not the phonological one, is critical for the effect, suggesting the primary role of orthography over phonology in reading Korean words. Also, the pattern of results for the phonological syllable condition was significantly different from that for the orthographic condition, suggesting a neighborhood effect. Subsequent studies showed that the neighborhood effect was due to the orthographic syllable and body. In sum, the Korean studies suggest the primacy of orthography over phonology, the dominant role of syllable, and the body-coda structure in processing monosyllabic and disyllabic Korean words.