Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Influence of Orthography on the Development of Functional Phonological Units in Spoken Word Production

处理语音信息(即语言的声音)的能力在语言和识字发展中至关重要。语音加工对识字能力的发展非常重要，反过来，识字经验会促进语音技能的提高。语音提取和编码是语音加工的一个重要组成部分，但很少有人研究识字经验对语音提取和编码的影响。功能语音单位是指说话人用来组织和构建口语词汇的单位，对这一领域的研究可以让研究者了解说话人如何提取和编码语音信息。本研究旨在探讨功能性语音单位的发展及其对识字经验的影响。这项研究的结果可以帮助教育工作者开发教育方法来促进儿童的语言发展，特别是那些有不流利或其他与言语有关的困难的儿童。进行符合语言本质的识字训练可能有助于提高儿童的口语流利性。这项研究将在以普通话为母语的人中进行。在大陆的中国，孩子们在一年级时首先学习一种名为拼音的拼音书写系统，然后开始学习形音节汉字。将招募五组参与者，包括1)4岁的学龄前儿童，2)7岁的1年级儿童，3)8岁的2年级儿童，4)10岁的4年级儿童和5)成年人。对于每组，将进行三个实验。在每个实验中，将进行一项简单的图片命名任务，采用形式准备范式(图片列表的名称可以具有相同的声母、相同的声母音节或没有系统的共同之处)。实验一考察了单音节图片名称的声母准备效应(即当图片名称具有相同的声母时，较快的命名延迟)。实验二考察了双音节图名对声母准备效应的影响。实验3考察了音节准备效应(即，当图片名称共享相同的声母音节时，命名延迟更快)。声母准备效应表明功能语音单位是语段，而音节准备效应则表明音节是功能单位。由于音节是学龄前儿童计划口语时自然获得的单位，因此学龄前儿童选择音节作为语音功能单位。一年级儿童广泛接触拼音，拼音的字母特征会导致他们将功能语音单位从音节转移到音节。高年级儿童和成人直接阅读与音节对应的汉字，因此这些年龄段的功能语音单位可能会变回音节。本研究的结果将有助于我们更科学地理解识字经验对语音表征和加工发展的影响。此外，基于这项研究的结果，教育工作者可能能够通过结合儿童的语音训练和他们的识字经验来开发更有效的教育方法来提高儿童的语音技能的发展。例如，将汉语作为第二语言学习的儿童可能会受益于语言培训，包括强调音节单位的汉字教学。

The ability to process phonological information (i.e., the sounds of one's language) is critical in language and literacy development. Phonological processing is important for literacy development, and in turn, literacy experience promotes phonological skills. Phonological retrieval and encoding in spoken word production is an important component of phonological processing; however, little research has been conducted to examine how literacy experience influences phonological retrieval and encoding. The functional phonological units refer to the units that speakers use to organize and construct a spoken word, and investigation in this area can inform researchers on how speakers retrieve and encode phonological information. This research aims to investigate the development of the functional phonological units and the influence of literacy experience. The results of this research can help educators develop educational methodologies to promote children's language development, particularly those with disfluency or other speech-related difficulties. Involving literacy training that is consistent with the nature of a language may help improve children's speech fluency.This research will be conducted among native Mandarin speakers. In Mainland China, children first study an alphabetic writing system called Pinyin in Grade 1, and begin to study morphosyllabic Chinese characters afterwards. Five groups of participants will be recruited, including 1) preschool children at 4 years of age, 2) Grade 1 children at 7 years, 3) Grade 2 children at 8 years, 4) Grade 4 children at 10 years, and 5) adults. For each group, three experiments will be conducted. In each experiment, a simple picture naming task with the form preparation paradigm (the names of a list of pictures may share the same onset, same initial syllable or nothing systematically in common) will be conducted. Experiment 1 examines the onset preparation effect (i.e., faster naming latency when the picture names share the same onset) using monosyllabic picture names. Experiment 2 examines the onset preparation effect using disyllabic picture names. Experiment 3 examines the syllable preparation effect (i.e., faster naming latency when the picture names share the same initial syllable). An onset preparation effect would suggest that the functional phonological unit is the segment, whereas a syllable preparation effect would suggest that syllable is the functional unit. It is expected that the syllable is the unit preschool children naturally access for planning a spoken word, so preschool children selects the syllable as the functional phonological unit. Grade 1 children are extensively exposed to Pinyin, and the alphabetic characteristic of Pinyin will lead them to shift the functional phonological unit from syllable to segment. Higher-grade children and adults read characters which correspond to syllables directly, so the functional phonological unit for these age groups may change back to syllable. The findings of this research will improve the scientific understanding of the influence of literacy experience on the development of phonological representation and processing. Furthermore, based on the results of this research, educators may be able to develop more efficient educational methodologies to improve children's development of phonological skills by combining children's phonological training and their literacy experience. For example, children who learn Chinese as a second language may benefit from language training involving character instruction that emphasizes the syllabic unit.