Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Facilitation effect of token syllable frequency in Chinese spoken word production

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Syllable frequency effects in spoken word production have been interpreted as evidence that speakers store syllable-sized motor programmes for phonetic encoding in alphabetic languages such as English or Dutch. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying the syllable frequency effect in Chinese spoken word production remains unknown. To investigate the locus of the syllable frequency effect in spoken Chinese, this study used a picture–word interference (PWI) task in which participants were asked to name the picture while ignoring the distractor word. The design included two variables: the syllable frequency of the target words (high vs. low) and the phonological relationships between distractor and target words (shared atonic syllable or not; related vs. unrelated). We manipulated mixed token and type syllable frequency in Experiment 1, and token syllable frequency but controlled type syllable frequency in Experiment 2. The results showed a facilitation effect of mixed syllable frequency and a similar facilitation effect of token syllable frequency. Importantly, the syllable frequency effect was found to be independent of the phonological facilitation effect. These results suggest that token syllable frequency played a dominant role in the observed facilitation effect, providing evidence that the syllable frequency effect arises in the phonetic encoding of Chinese spoken word production.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The data, code, and materials are available at https://osf.io/4quzr/.

Notes

  1. We conducted a power analysis using the SIMR package (Green & MacLeod, 2016) based on previous studies (Yang & Zhang, 2015; Zhang & Wang, 2014). We modified the effect size of syllable frequency based on the study by Zhang and Wang (2014), reducing the effect size of syllable frequency to 80% of the original effect. The power analysis showed that with 37 participants, the estimated power was 82.70% (95% CI [80.21%, 85.00%] in 1,000 simulations) to detect the main effect of syllable frequency, with 12 participants, the estimated power was 100 % (95% CI [99.63%, 100%] in 1000 simulations) to detect the main effect of phonological relatedness, and with 25 participants, the estimated power was 93.5% (95% CI [91.79%, 94.95%] in 1000 simulations) to detect the syllable frequency and phonological relatedness interaction. Sensitivity analysis showed that with 41 participants, the present study had sufficient statistical power of 80% to detect an effect size of β = −0.038 for the two-way interaction between syllable frequency and phonological relatedness, and had sufficient statistical power of 80% to detect an effect size of β = −0.129 for syllable frequency, and had sufficient statistical power of 80% to detect an effect size of β = −0.037 for phonological relatedness.

  2. We calculated syllable frequency regardless of tones (see also studies in Chinese, Liu & Wiener, 2021; Yang & Zhang, 2015; Zhang & Wang, 2014, for a similar manipulation). However, to investigate the tonal influence, we analyzed the influence of syllable frequency considering tone simultaneously in Experiment 1, results showed that neither the fixed effect of token syllable frequency with tone nor the type syllable frequency effect was significant (see supplementary document for details).

References

  • Aichert, I., & Ziegler, W. (2008). Learning a syllable from its parts: Cross-syllabic generalisation effects in patients with apraxia of speech. Aphasiology, 22(11), 1216–1229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alario, F.-X., Ferrand, L., Laganaro, M., New, B., Frauenfelder, U. H., & Segui, J. (2004). Predictors of picture naming speed. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36(1), 140–155.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alario, F.-X., Goslin, J., Michel, V., & Laganaro, M. (2010). The functional origin of the foreign accent: Evidence from the syllable-frequency effect in bilingual speakers. Psychological Science, 21(1), 15–20.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alderete, J., Baese-Berk, M., Leung, K., & Goldrick, M. (2021). Cascading activation in phonological planning and articulation: Evidence from spontaneous speech errors. Cognition, 210, 104577.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Álvarez, C. J., Carreiras, M., & Taft, M. (2001). Syllables and morphemes: Contrasting frequency effects in Spanish. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory & Cognition, 27(2), 545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, S. (1997). The effect of orthographic similarity on lexical retrieval: Resolving neighborhood conflicts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4(4), 439–461.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 390–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(3), 255–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonin, P., Laroche, B., & Perret, C. (2016). Locus of word frequency effects in spelling to dictation: Still at the orthographic level! Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(11), 1814–1820.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brand, M., Rey, A., Peereman, R., & Spieler, D. (2002). Naming bisyllabic words: A large scale study. Psychonomic Society, 7, 94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breining, B., Nozari, N., & Rapp, B. (2016). Does segmental overlap help or hurt? Evidence from blocked cyclic naming in spoken and written production. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23(2), 500–506.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burki, A., Cheneval, P. P., & Laganaro, M. (2015). Do speakers have access to a mental syllabary? ERP comparison of high frequency and novel syllable production. Brain and Language, 150, 90–102.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cai, X., Yin, Y., & Zhang, Q. (2020). The roles of syllables and phonemes during phonological encoding in Chinese spoken word production: A topographic ERP study. Neuropsychologia, 140, 107382.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carreiras, M., & Perea, M. (2004). Naming pseudowords in Spanish: Effects of syllable frequency. Brain & Language, 90(1/3), 393–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J.-Y. (2000). Syllable errors from naturalistic slips of the tongue in Mandarin Chinese. Psychologia, 43(1), 15–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J.-Y., Chen, T.-M., & Dell, G. S. (2002). Word-form encoding in Mandarin Chinese as assessed by the implicit priming task. Journal of Memory and Language, 46(4), 751–781.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J.-Y., Lin, W.-C., & Ferrand, L. (2003). Masked priming of the syllable in Mandarin Chinese speech production. Chinese Journal of Psychology, 45(1), 107–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J.-Y., O’Seaghdha, P. G., & Chen, T.-M. (2016). The primacy of abstract syllables in Chinese word production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 42(5), 825–836.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chetail, F., & Mathey, S. (2011). Effect of syllabic neighbourhood as a function of syllabic neighbour length. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(5), 951–957.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cholin, J., & Levelt, W. (2009). Effects of syllable preparation and syllable frequency in speech production: Further evidence for syllabic units at a post-lexical level. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(5), 662–684.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cholin, J., Dell, G. S., & Levelt, W. J. (2011). Planning and articulation in incremental word production: Syllable-frequency effects in English. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(1), 109–122.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cholin, J., Levelt, W. J., & Schiller, N. O. (2006). Effects of syllable frequency in speech production. Cognition, 99(2), 205–235.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1992). Statistical power analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(3), 98–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, M., & Jacobs, A. (2004). Replicating syllable frequency effects in Spanish in German: One more challenge to computational models of visual word recognition. Language and Cognitive Processes, 19(3), 369–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, M., Carreiras, M., & Jacobs, A. M. (2008). Contrasting effects of token and type syllable frequency in lexical decision. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23(2), 296–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., & Sebastian-Gallés, N. (1998). Abstract phonological structure in language production: Evidence from Spanish. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24(4), 886–903.

    Google Scholar 

  • Croot, K., Lalas, G., Biedermann, B., Rastle, K., Jones, K., & Cholin, J. (2017). Syllable frequency effects in immediate but not delayed syllable naming in English. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 32(9), 1119–1132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damian, M. F., & Martin, R. C. (1999). Semantic and phonological codes interact in single word production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 25(2), 345–361.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dell, G. S. (1986). A spreading-activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review, 93(3), 283–321.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dell, G. S. (1988). The retrieval of phonological forms in production: Tests of predictions from a connectionist model. Journal of Memory and Language, 27(2), 124–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feng, C., Yue, Y., & Zhang, Q. (2019). Syllables are retrieved before segments in the spoken production of Mandarin Chinese: An ERP Study. Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 11773.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., & Segui, J. (1998). The syllable’s role in speech production: Are syllables chunks, schemas, or both? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 5(2), 253–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., Segui, J., & Grainger, J. (1996). Masked priming of word and picture naming: The role of syllabic units. Journal of Memory and Language, 35(5), 708–723.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrand, L., Segui, J., & Humphreys, G. W. (1997). The syllable’s role in word naming. Memory & Cognition, 25(4), 458–470.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaser, W. R., & Düngelhoff, F.-J. (1984). The time course of picture–word interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 10(5), 640–654.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldrick, M., & Blumstein, S. E. (2006). Cascading activation from phonological planning to articulatory processes: Evidence from tongue twisters. Language and Cognitive Processes, 21(6), 649–683.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, P., & MacLeod, C. J. (2016). Simr: An r package for power analysis of generalized linear mixed models by simulation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 7(4), 493–498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeffreys, H. (1961). Theory of probability ((3rd ed.) ed.). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jescheniak, J. D., & Levelt, W. J. M. (1994). Word frequency effects in speech production: Retrieval of syntactic information and of phonological form. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Language, Memory, and Cognition, 20(4), 824–843.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch, I., Poljac, E., Muller, H., & Kiesel, A. (2018). Cognitive structure, flexibility, and plasticity in human multitasking-An integrative review of dual-task and task-switching research. Psychological Bulletin, 144(6), 557–583.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B. (2017). lmerTest Package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13). https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i13

  • Kwon, Y. (2014). The syllable type and token frequency effect in naming task. Korean Journal of Cognitive Science, 25(2), 91–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laganaro, M. (2019). Phonetic encoding in utterance production: a review of open issues from 1989 to 2018. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 34(9), 1193–1201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laganaro, M., & Alario, F. X. (2006). On the locus of the syllable frequency effect in speech production. Journal of Memory and Language, 55(2), 178–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M. (2001). Spoken word production: A theory of lexical access. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 98(23), 13464–13471. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3057110

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M., & Wheeldon, L. (1994). Do speakers have access to a mental syllabary? Cognition, 50(1/3), 239–269.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M., Roelofs, A., & Meyer, A. S. (1999). A theory of lexical access in speech production. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(1), 1–38.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J., & Wiener, S. (2021). CFL learners’ Mandarin syllable-tone word production: Effects of task and prior phonological and lexical learning. Chinese as a Second Language Research, 10(1), 31–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y., Hao, M., Li, P., & Shu, H. (2011). Timed picture naming norms for Mandarin Chinese. PLOS ONE, 6(1), Artice e16505.

  • Luque, J. L., Álvarez, C. J., Bordoy, S., Giménez, A., López-Pérez, P. J., & López-Zamora, M. (2020). Inhibitory effect of positional syllable frequency in Spanish 2nd and 4th grade readers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 42(1), 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, J. L. (1979). On the time relations of mental processes: An examination of systems of processes in cascade. Psychological Review, 86(4), 287–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehl, M. R., Vazire, S., Ramirez-Esparza, N., Slatcher, R. B., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2007). Are women really more talkative than men? Science, 317(5843), 82.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Modern Chinese Frequency Dictionary. (1986). Beijing Language Institute Publisher. (in Chinese)

  • Morey, R. D., Rouder, J. N., Jamil, T., Urbanek, S., Forner, K., & Ly, A. (2022). BayesFactor: Computation of Bayes factors for common designs (Version 0.9.12-4.4). http://cran.at.r-project.org/web/packages/BayesFactor/index.html. Accessed June 2023

  • Nozari, N., Freund, M., Breining, B., Rapp, B., & Gordon, B. (2016). Cognitive control during selection and repair in word production. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(7), 886–903.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Nozari, N., & Pinet, S. (2020). A critical review of the behavioral, neuroimaging, and electrophysiological studies of co-activation of representations during word production. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 53, 100875.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, R. C., & Wingfield, A. (1965). Response latencies in naming objects. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 17, 273–281.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Seaghdha, P. G., Chen, J. Y., & Chen, T. M. (2010). Proximate units in word production: Phonological encoding begins with syllables in Mandarin Chinese but with segments in English. Cognition, 115(2), 282–302.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • O’Seaghdha, P. G., & Frazer, A. K. (2014). The exception does not rule: attention constrains form preparation in word production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(3), 797–810.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peramunage, D., Blumstein, S. E., Myers, E. B., Goldrick, M., & Baese-Berk, M. (2011). Phonological neighborhood effects in spoken word production: An fMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(3), 593–603.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perea, M., & Carreiras, M. (1998). Effects of syllable frequency and syllable neighbourhood frequency in visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(1), 134–144.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perret, C., Bonin, P., & Méot, A. (2006). Syllabic priming effects in picture naming in French: Lost in the sea! Experimental Psychology, 53(2), 95–104.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Perret, C., Schneider, L., Dayer, G., & Laganaro, M. (2014). Convergences and divergences between neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic data in the study of phonological and phonetic encoding: A parallel investigation of syllable frequency effects in brain-damaged and healthy speakers. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29(6), 714–727.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qu, Q., Feng, C., Hou, F., & Damian, M. F. (2020). Syllables and phonemes as planning units in Mandarin Chinese spoken word production: Evidence from ERPs. Neuropsychologia, 146, 107559.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Qu, Q., Zhang, Q., & Damian, M. F. (2016). Tracking the time course of lexical access in orthographic production: An event-related potential study of word frequency effects in written picture naming. Brain and Language, 159, 118–126.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team. (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

  • Roelofs, A. (1997). The WEAVER model of word-form encoding in speech production. Cognition, 65, 249–284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roelofs, A. (2015). Modeling of phonological encoding in spoken word production: From Germanic languages to Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. Japanese Psychological Research, 57(1), 22–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rumelhart, D. E., Hinton, G. E., & McClelland, J. L. (1986). A general framework for parallel distributed processing. In D. E. Rumelhart & J. L. McClelland (Eds.), Parallel distributed processing: Explorations in the microstructure of cognition: Foundations (pp. 45–76). MIT Press. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6302935

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, A. F. (1998). Elements of human performance: Reaction processes and attention in human skill. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203774250

  • Schiller, N. O. (1998). The effect of visually masked syllable primes on the naming latencies of words and pictures. Journal of Memory and Language, 39(3), 484–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiller, N. O., & Costa, A. (2006). Different selection principles of free-standing and bound morphemes in language production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 32(5), 1201–1207.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schriefers, H., Meyer, A. S., & Levelt, W. J. (1990). Exploring the time course of lexical access in language production: Picture–word interference studies. Journal of Memory and Language, 29(1), 86–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sevald, C. A., Dell, G. S., & Cole, J. S. (1995). Syllable structure in speech production: Are syllables chunks or schemas? Journal of Memory and Language, 34, 807–820.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., & Klatt, D. H. (1979). The limited use of distinctive features and markedness in speech production: Evidence from speech error data. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18(1), 41–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stafford, T., & Gurney, K. N. (2011). Additive factors do not imply discrete processing stages: A worked example using models of the Stroop task. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 287.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Staiger, A., & Ziegler, W. (2008). Syllable frequency and syllable structure in the spontaneous speech production of patients with apraxia of speech. Aphasiology, 22(11), 1201–1215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starreveld, P. A., & La Heij, W. (1995). Semantic interference, orthographic facilitation, and their interaction in naming tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21(3), 686–698.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starreveld, P. A., & La Heij, W. (1996). The locus of orthographic-phonological facilitation: Reply to Roelofs, Meyer, and Levelt (1996). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22(1), 252–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, S. (1969). The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders’ method. Acta Psychologica, 30, 276–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg, S. (2001). Separate modifiability, mental modules, and the use of pure and composite measures to reveal them. Acta Psychologica, 106(1), 147–246.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sulpizio, S., Spinelli, G., & Burani, C. (2017). STRESYL: An Italian Stress-in-Syllables database for reading research. Written Language & Literacy, 20(1), 80–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdonschot, R. G., Lai, J., Feng, C., Tamaoka, K., & Schiller, N. O. (2015). Constructing initial phonology in Mandarin Chinese: Syllabic or subsyllabic? A masked priming investigation. Japanese Psychological Research, 57(1), 61–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdonschot, R. G., Nakayama, M., Zhang, Q. F., Tamaoka, K., & Schiller, N. O. (2013). The proximate phonological unit of Chinese-English bilinguals: Proficiency matters. PLOS ONE, 8(4), 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitevitch, M. S. (1997). The neighborhood characteristics of malapropisms. Language and Speech, 40(3), 211–228.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vitevitch, M. S. (2002). The influence of phonological similarity neighborhoods on speech production. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28(4), 735–747.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C., & Zhang, Q. (2015). Phonological codes constrain output of orthographic codes via sublexical and lexical routes in Chinese written production. PLOS ONE, 10(4), 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C., & Zhang, Q. (2021). Word frequency effect in written production: Evidence from ERPs and neural oscillations. Psychophysiology, 58(5), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J., Wong, A. W., & Chen, H. C. (2018). Time course of syllabic and subsyllabic processing in Mandarin word production: Evidence from the picture–word interference paradigm. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(3), 1147–1152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J., Wong, A. W., Wang, S., & Chen, H.-C. (2017). Primary phonological planning units in spoken word production are language-specific: Evidence from an ERP study, Scientific Reports, 7(1), 5815.

  • Wong, A. W. K., & Chen, H.-C. (2015). Processing segmental and prosodic information in spoken word planning: Further evidence from Cantonese Chinese. Japanese Psychological Research, 57(1), 69–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, A. W. K., Huang, J., & Chen, H.-C. (2012). Phonological units in spoken word production: Insights from Cantonese. PLOS ONE, 7(11), e48776.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, A. W. K., Wang, J., Ng, T. Y., & Chen, H.-C. (2016). Syllabic encoding during overt speech production in Cantonese: Evidence from temporal brain responses. Brain Research, 1648, 101–109.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, A. W.-K., & Chen, H.-C. (2008). Processing segmental and prosodic information in Cantonese word production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 1172–1190.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, A. W.-K., & Chen, H.-C. (2009). What are effective phonological units in Cantonese spoken word planning? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 888–892.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, Q., & Zhang, Q. (2015). Aging of word frequency, syllable frequency and phonological facilitation effects in Chinese speech production. Journal of Psychological Science, 38(06), 1303–1310.

    Google Scholar 

  • You, W., Zhang, Q., & Verdonschot, R. G. (2012). Masked syllable priming effects in word and picture naming in Chinese. PLOS ONE, 7(10), e46595.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yue, Y., & Zhang, Q. (2015). Syllable and segments effects in Mandarin Chinese spoken word production. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 47(3), Article 319. https://doi.org/10.3724/sp.j.1041.2015.00319

  • Zhang, Q., & Damian, F. M. (2019). Syllables constitute proximate units for Mandarin speakers: Electrophysiological evidence from a masked priming task. Psychophysiology, 56(4), e13317.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Q., & Wang, C. (2014). Syllable frequency and word frequency effects in spoken and written word production in a non-alphabetic script. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 120.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Q., & Yang, Y. (2003). The determiners of picture-naming latency. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 35(04), 447–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, X., Damian, F., & Zhang, Q. (2015). Seriality of semantic and phonological processes during overt speech in Mandarin as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Brain and Language, 144, 16–25.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, X., Zhang, Q., & Damian, M. F. (2016). Additivity of semantic and phonological effects: Evidence from speech production in Mandarin. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69(11), 2285–2304.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Open Practice

None of the experiments was preregistered.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32171055); the foundation of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (Grant No. 21YJA190011); and the Key Project from National Language Commissions (Grant No. ZDI145-6) granted to Qingfang Zhang.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100872, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiyun Wang, YuChen Jiang & Qingfang Zhang

Authors
  1. Zhiyun Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. YuChen Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Qingfang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Zhiyun Wang: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Validation, Writing—original draft.

Yuchen Jiang: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Software.

Qingfang Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing—Original draft, Writing—Review & editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qingfang Zhang.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The methodology for this study was approved by the Independent Ethics Committee of the Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

No identifying information of any participants is included in this manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

ESM 1

(DOCX 45 kb)

ESM 2

(DOCX 19 kb)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, Z., Jiang, Y. & Zhang, Q. Facilitation effect of token syllable frequency in Chinese spoken word production. Psychon Bull Rev 31, 721–733 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-023-02374-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-023-02374-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation