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A Japanese logographic character frequency list for cognitive science research

Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers volume 32, pages 482–500 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper describes a Japanese logographic character (kanji) frequency list, which is based on an analysis of the largest recently available corpus of Japanese words and characters. This corpus comprised a full year of morning and evening editions of a major newspaper, containing more than 23 million kanji characters and more than 4,000 different kanji characters. This paper lists the 3,000 most frequent kanji characters, as well as an analysis of kanji usage and correlations between the present list and previous Japanese frequency lists. The authors believe that the present list will help researchers more accurately and efficiently control the selection of kanji characters in cognitive science research and interpret related psycholinguistic data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Modern Languages, DePaul University, 802 West Belden Avenue, 60614, Chicago, IL

    Nobuko Chikamatsu

  2. National Language Research Institute of Japan, Tokyo, Japan

    Shoichi Yokoyama

  3. Aichi University of Education, Kariya, Japan

    Hironari Nozaki

  4. National Language Research Institute of Japan, Tokyo, Japan

    Eric Long

  5. Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan

    Sachio Fukuda

Authors
  1. Nobuko Chikamatsu
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  2. Shoichi Yokoyama
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  3. Hironari Nozaki
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  4. Eric Long
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  5. Sachio Fukuda
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Correspondence to Nobuko Chikamatsu.

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The authors thank the reviewers of the paper for their valuable suggestions.

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Chikamatsu, N., Yokoyama, S., Nozaki, H. et al. A Japanese logographic character frequency list for cognitive science research. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 32, 482–500 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200819

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03200819

Keywords

  • Rapid Serial Visual Presentation
  • Present List
  • Japanese Industrial Standard
  • Printable Character
  • Japanese Word