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10. Psycho-Geometric Analysis of Commonly Used Chinese Characters
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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10 Psycho-GeometricAnalysisof CommonlyUsedChinese Characters Ding-GuoGao and HenryS.Ft. Kao Although ther e ar e almos t on e hundre d thousan d Chines e characters , which have been used across different historica l periods (se e Wan & Hsia , 1957; Zhou , 1999) , there ar e onl y aroun d 5,00 0 characters , whic h ar e in active usage in modern Chines e language (e.g. , Ann, 1986 ; Suen, 1986 ; Wang & Chang , 1986) . According t o Ann , 3,50 0 mos t frequentl y use d characters i n Hong Kong cover 99.80 % o f the common usag e of Chines e characters. Generally , a person would o n the averag e be able to read 99. 80% o f al l the characters containe d i n selected texts in a 1,000-characte r article if she or he masters these 3,500 characters . Wang and Chang (1986 ) found simila r results for the characters used in the Chinese mainland. They showed that 3,500 character s occupy 99.87% of usage and with a skewed distribution o f frequenc y o f usag e as summarize d i n Table 1 . As a result, it is important t o analys e the perceptual o r orthographi c features o f these commonly used Chinese characters in order to help people learn Chinese . A i (1948/1965 ) argue d i n hi s boo k Issues in Chinese Characters tha t character s wit h symmetric , closed , and/o r linea r (horizontal and/o r vertical lines) features o r with les s than ten strokes ar e recognized mor e easil y than thos e with othe r configurations . Ka o (2000 ) has developed a psycho-geometrical theory of reading and writing Chines e characters, in which characters with balance , closure and holes , linearity , centre o f gravity , orientation , connectivity , symmetry , an d parallelis m should b e recognized an d learne d faste r and/o r easier . 196DING-GU OGAOANDHENRYS.RKAO Table1 TheSkewedDistributionof the FrequencyofUsage ofChineseCharacters(in DescendingOrderofFrequency) Characters First 10 20 50 100 116 500 1000 Cumulative frequency(% ) 15.85 23.10 35.08 47.70 50.24 79.76 91.37 Characters First 1619 2000 3000 3156 3500 4000 4574 Cumulative frequency(% ) 96.60 98.07 99.63 99.73 99.87 99.96 100 (Source:Wang&Chang,1986) A conceptua l framewor k i s advance d t o highligh t th e abov e observations withi n a systemati c analysi s o f th e component s i n eac h Chinese character. Th e main point s i n the psycho-geometric approac h t o Chinese characte r readin g ar e presented below . At the body-character interface , som e visual-spatial patterns ar e mor e salient o r importan t tha n others . The y ar e thos e closel y reflectin g o r conforming t o basi c topologica l propertie s o f visua l perception . Fundamentally, a Chines e characte r shoul d b e see n t o portra y a n imaginary o r visible rigid square , although moder n form s ma y be writte n within a rectangular shape . A square i s the perfec t geometri c patter n a s it incorporates hole , linearity, symmetry, parallelism, connectivit y and/o r orientation. Wit h a n implie d correspondenc e betwee n th e shap e o f th e square and the symbol, characters may vary in terms of the extent to which they posses s th e geometri c propertie s o f th e square . Cognitive change s associate d wit h th e geometri c variation s o f th e characters includ e clerica l spee d an d accuracy , spatia l ability , abstrac t reasoning, digit span, short-term memory , picture memory, an d cognitiv e reaction tim e an d accuracy . Stylistic variations o f Chines e characters reflec t individualize d form s of stroke s organizatio n i n the character . Th e pattern s o f geometricit y i n the characte r ma y include : Shape , e.g. , A (triangle) , • (square) , • (rectangle); size; balance (e.g. , IS 'friend') ; closur e an d hole s (singula r o r plural...