The Influence of Lexical Structure on the Processing of Compound Words by Native Chinese Speakers and Second Language Learners

摘要: Compound words, central to Chinese vocabulary, are a key issue in lexical processing research. The debate on whether they are processed as a whole or decomposed often overlooks the impact of endocentric and exocentric structures on compound word processing. This study investigates how endocentric and exocentric structures impact compound word processing in native and Chinese as a second language (CSL) learners through a character-by-character paradigm. Experiment 1 found no difference in reaction times for native speakers processing exocentric compounds versus monomorphemic words, but endocentric compounds were reacted to faster than monomorphemic words. Conversely, CSL learners reacted faster to both endocentric and exocentric compounds. Experiment 2 explored modifier-head and verb-object endocentric compounds. The results showed faster reaction times for both endocentric types among native speakers and CSL learners compared to monomorphemic words. Native speakers had similar reaction times for modifier-head and verb-object compounds, but CSL learners reacted quicker to verb-object compounds. The findings indicate that native speakers are influenced by whether compounds have an endocentric or exocentric structure, but CSL learners are not. Additionally, the modifier-head and verb-object structure differentially affects CSL learners, not native speakers. This highlights the importance of lexical structure in second language vocabulary teaching.