Predicting Unknown Words Through Chinese-japanese Homographs By Japanese Native Speakers Without Chinese Learning Experience

This paper investigates the situation of Japanese speakers without Chinese learning experience who tried to predict Chinese-Japanese common words.Twenty one Japanese speakers(who are living in Japan and without Chinese learning experience)were asked to predict the meaning of Chinese-Japanese homographs using characters with different difficulty level and different semantic categories.This study tries to examine the effect on prediction results of these two variables.The main findings are as follow: firstly,for Japanese native speakers without Chinese learning experience(from here on,Japanese speakers)prediction effect for the four difficulty levels of vocabulary(Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ,Ⅳ,from more difficult to less difficult)followed a decreasing trend,from the easiest characters(levelⅠ)to the hardest(levelⅣ).Secondly,the Japanese speakers show a decreasing trend following different semantic categories,from Same(S),Overlap(O),to Different(D).Comparing these two variables,we can see that the difference according to semantical difference was more acute that of that according to difficulty level difference.Therefore,the semantic category influence over prediction is greater than that of difficulty level difference.Finally,the interaction of Chinese and Japanese homographs in each semantic category was studied further.The prediction is best in the S semantic category,withⅠand Ⅳ levels obtaining the best results.In the O semantic category similar results were found for all levels,with an increasing trend from levelⅠto Ⅲ,except level Ⅳ,which had substantial lower results compared to the rest.In case of the D semantic category the results for each level were similar.This study can also put forward a series of suggestions for future teachingof Chinese language to Japanese students:(1)during Chinese language lessons more homograph knowledge should be given to Japanese students,for example,different semantic categories proportions,which increases their prediction capabilities;(2)previous homograph morpheme knowledge and its teaching method can lead Japanese students to learn other words that have the same homograph morphemes;(3)in Japanese national text books semantic categories can be indicated,homographs can be differentiated,analyzed and explained,so as to help Japanese students to understand the meaning of homographs;(4)the existing standard Chinese teaching list can be combined with an homograph list,indicating each semantic category to help Japanese students to better study and remember.