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13฀ Biscriptal฀Reading฀in฀Chinese฀ Agnes฀S. ฀L ฀Lam฀ The Chines e languag e offer s unusua l opportunitie s fo r explorin g th e psycholinguistic effect s i n readin g tw o closel y relate d linguisti c system s because th e sam e writin g scrip t ca n b e rea d i n differen t dialecta l pronunciations. A t th e sam e time , two script s ca n b e read wit h a singl e pronunciation. Earlie r wor k (Lam , Perfett i & Bell , 1991 ) ha s alread y obtained interestin g effect s concernin g automati c phoneti c transfe r fo r bidialectal readers . Reader s fluen t i n bot h Putonghu a an d Cantones e cannot suppress the pronunciation o f their first dialec t when asked to rea d only i n their secon d dialect . Th e presen t stud y focuse s o n th e effect s o f reading tw o script s wit h on e pronunciation . Th e tw o script s are : th e traditional scrip t (comple x characters , sometime s referre d t o a s complicated characters ) an d th e newer scrip t (simplifie d characters) . Th e investigation pertain s t o th e eas e o r difficult y tha t Hon g Kon g learner s may have in acquiring biscripta l ability or the ability to read two differen t scripts with on e pronunciation (i n their case, Cantonese). The difficultie s that learner s who ar e alread y familia r wit h the simplifie d script , suc h a s those educated i n Beijing, may have in reading the complex script are also given som e consideration . Two areas of research ar e especially relevant fo r thi s study: the wor k on the development and analysis of the Chinese script and the investigatio n into model s o f wor d recognitio n an d tex t comprehension . 248฀AGNE S฀S฀L ฀LA M฀ C? Th e Chines e Scrip t The Chines e scrip t i s estimated t o have about 60,00 0 character s (Cheng , 1991, p . 26) . However , th e numbe r o f character s neede d fo r readin g general material s i s estimate d t o b e abou t 3,00 0 characters . Mor e specialized need s requir e a larger vocabulary . Fo r example , according t o a character lis t published b y the Beijing Scientific Standard s Press in 1981, a total o f 6,76 3 character s ar e in use, with 3,75 5 identifie d a s Frequentl y Used Character s an d 3,00 8 character s liste d a s Les s Frequentl y Use d Characters (Cheng , 1991 , p. 30). Character simplificatio n Estimated t o b e a t leas t 3,00 0 year s ol d (Norman , 1988 , p . 58) , th e Chinese scrip t ha s inevitabl y undergon e muc h development . Characte r simplification int o th e form s i n curren t use , however , too k plac e fro m the mid-1950 s t o th e mid-1980 s an d wa s par t o f a national initiativ e t o promote literacy after th e People's Republic of China was established. Th e First Characte r Simplificatio n Schem e wa s publicize d i n 195 6 an d expanded o n i n 1964 . Th e 196 4 lis t wa s reprinte d i n 1986 . The lis t o f simplified character s i n curren t use , a total o f 2,23 6 character s (Cheng , 1991, p . 76) i s base d o n th e 198 6 list . (Ramse y (1987 , p. 146 ) note s a total o f 2,23 8 character s whil e th e Curriculu m Developmen t Counci l i n Hong Kon g (1996 , p . 31 ) record s th e tota l a s 2,23 5 characters , th e difference i n numbe r owin g t o th e repetitio n o f a few characters. ) Several system s hav e bee n develope d t o categoriz e th e processe s i n character simplification . Th e Curriculu...

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