Cover not available

Article In: The Mental Lexicon: Online-First Articles

Chinese compound word production in typing-to-dictation

ORCiD logo with link | Université de Montréal | Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal
ORCiD logo with link | University of Aizu | McMaster University
ORCiD logo with link | Brock University | Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal
 | Université de Montréal | Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Chinese morphemes typically correspond to one character and one syllable. This one-to-one alignment makes Chinese a critical contrast to languages with more complex morpho-phonological structures for investigating the universality of morpheme activation in compound production. This study measures interkeystroke intervals (IKIs), the latencies between consecutive keystrokes, in Pinyin typing (Romanization input method), to clarify the timing of compound production. Gallant, J., Chen, Y., & Li, S. (2026). Understanding the processing of Chinese compounds: Insights from Pinyin typing. In Winskel, H., & Pae, H. (Eds.), Handbook of nonlinear writing systems. Springer. [URL] found longer IKIs at character boundaries when participants typed Pinyin to transcribe visually presented two-character Chinese words. The present study used the same stimuli in the auditory modality, ensuring that characters were neither seen nor produced. We replicated the character-boundary IKI lengthening and the interaction between initial-character frequency and morphological type, demonstrating that the effects in Gallant, J., Chen, Y., & Li, S. (2026). Understanding the processing of Chinese compounds: Insights from Pinyin typing. In Winskel, H., & Pae, H. (Eds.), Handbook of nonlinear writing systems. Springer. [URL] cannot be attributed solely to visual segmentation cues and providing converging evidence that characters function as cross-modal planning units in Pinyin typing. Crucially, we report a new pattern in which IKIs at character boundaries are shorter in compounds than in monomorphemic words, suggesting that morpheme activation can modulate motor execution even in a language where morphemes and syllables overlap closely. These findings further support Pinyin typing as a sensitive paradigm for investigating Chinese compound production.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Compound processing across languages
    • Typing as a window onto compound processing
    • Chinese compound word production in pinyin transcription
  • The current study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Procedure
    • Data analysis
    • Model fitting
  • Results
    • Character boundary effect
    • Morphological complexity effect
    • Character frequency effects
  • Discussion
    • Replication of Gallant et al. (2026): Character-Boundary Effect in Typing-to-Dictation
    • Replication of Gallant et al. (2026): Characters as Cross-Modal Planning Units
    • New observation: Evidence consistent with dual-route processing of Chinese compounds
    • Additional considerations on the interpretation of character-level effects
    • Future directions
  • Conclusion
  • Author Note
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (73)
References
Afonso, O., & Álvarez, C. J. (2019). Constituent frequency effects in the written production of Spanish compound words. Memory & Cognition, 47(7), 1284–1296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alzahrani, A. (2025). The acceptability and validity of AI-generated psycholinguistic stimuli. Heliyon, 11(2), e42083. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baayen, H., Kuperman, V., & Bertram, R. (2010). Frequency effects in compound processing. In S. Scalise & I. Vogel (Eds.), Cross-disciplinary issues in compounding (pp. 257–270). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baayen, H., & Schreuder, R. (1999). War and peace: Morphemes and full forms in a noninteractive activation parallel dual-route model. Brain and Language, 68(1–2), 27–32. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, D. M., Mächler, M., Bolker, B. M., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bertram, R., Baayen, R. H., & Schreuder, R. (2000). Effects of family size for complex words. Journal of Memory and Language, 42(3), 390–405. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bertram, R., Tønnessen, F. E., Strömqvist, S., Hyönä, J., & Niemi, P. (2015). Cascaded processing in written compound word production. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 91. [URL].
Bien, H., Levelt, W. J. M., & Baayen, R. H. (2005). Frequency effects in compound production. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(49), 17876–17881. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2025). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.4.46, retrieved 20 October 2025 from [URL]
Ceccagno, A., & Basciano, B. (2007). Compound headedness in Chinese: An analysis of neologisms. Morphology, 17(2), 207–231. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, J.-Y., & Chen, T.-M. (2007). Form encoding in Chinese word production does not involve morphemes. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(7), 1001–1020. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, T.-M., & Chen, J.-Y. (2006). Morphological encoding in the production of compound words in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Memory and Language, 54(4), 491–514. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cui, L., Drieghe, D., Yan, G., Bai, X., Chi, H., & Liversedge, S. P. (2013). Parafoveal processing across different lexical constituents in Chinese reading. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66(2), 403–416. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cui, L., Häikiö, T., Zhang, W., Zheng, Y., & Hyönä, J. (2017). Reading monomorphemic and compound words in Chinese. Mental Lexicon, 12(1), 1–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cui, L., Wang, J., Zhang, Y., Cong, F., Zhang, W., & Hyönä, J. (2021). Compound word frequency modifies the effect of character frequency in reading Chinese. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74(4), 610–633. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeFrancis, J. (1984). The Chinese language: Fact and fantasy. University of Hawaii Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dressler, W. U. (2006). Compound types. In G. Libben & G. Jarema (Eds.), The representation and processing of compound words (pp. 23–44). Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duanmu, S. (2007). The phonology of standard Chinese. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gagné, C. L., & Spalding, T. L. (2014). Typing time as an index of morphological and semantic effects during English compound processing. Lingue e Linguaggio, 21, 241–262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Effects of morphology and semantic transparency on typing latencies in English compound and pseudocompound words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(9), 1489–1495. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gallant, J., Chen, Y., & Li, S. (2026). Understanding the processing of Chinese compounds: Insights from Pinyin typing. In Winskel, H., & Pae, H. (Eds.), Handbook of nonlinear writing systems. Springer. [URL]
Gallant, J., Feldman, L. B., & Libben, G. (under review). Constituent family effects in typed compound word production.
Hsieh, C.-Y., Marelli, M., & Rastle, K. (2024). Beyond quantity of experience: Exploring the role of semantic consistency in Chinese character knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(5), 819–832. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, H.-W., Lee, C.-Y., Tsai, J.-L., Lee, C.-L., Hung, D. L., & Tzeng, O. J.-L. (2006). Orthographic neighborhood effects in reading Chinese two-character words. NeuroReport, 17(10), 1061–1065. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janssen, N., Bi, Y., & Caramazza, A. (2008). A tale of two frequencies: Determining the speed of lexical access for Mandarin Chinese and English compounds. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23(7–8), 1191–1223. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janssen, N., Pajtas, P. E., & Caramazza, A. (2014). Task influences on the production and comprehension of compound words. Memory & Cognition, 42(5), 780–793. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jarema, G. (2006). Compound representation and processing: A cross-language perspective. In G. Libben & G. Jarema (Eds.), The representation and processing of compound words (pp. 45–70). Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kandel, S. (2023). Written production: The APOMI model of word writing: Anticipatory processing of orthographic and motor information. In R. J. Hartsuiker & K. Strijkers (Eds.), Language production (pp. 209–232). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kandel, S., Peereman, R., Grosjacques, G., & Fayol, M. (2011). For a psycholinguistic model of handwriting production: Testing the syllable-bigram controversy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37(4), 1310–1322. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuperman, V., Schreuder, R., Bertram, R., & Baayen, R. H. (2009). Reading polymorphemic Dutch compounds: Toward a multiple route model of lexical processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35(3), 876–895. Google Scholar logo with link to 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). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lenth, R. V. (2025). emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means (R package version 1.11.2–8). [URL]
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. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, M.-F., Lin, W.-C., Chou, T.-L., Yang, F.-L., & Wu, J.-T. (2015). The role of orthographic neighborhood size effects in Chinese word recognition. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 44(3), 219–236. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Q.-L., Bi, H.-Y., Wei, T.-Q., & Chen, B.-G. (2011). Orthographic neighborhood size effect in Chinese character naming: Orthographic and phonological activations. Acta Psychologica, 136(1), 35–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Zhang, S., Zhang, Y., Diao, J., Cheng, Q., Gao, R., & Mo, L. (2023). Study of the orthographic neighborhood frequency effect on Chinese compound characters. Reading and Writing, 36(10), 2717–2738. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Libben, G., & Jarema, G. (2004). Conceptions and questions concerning morphological processing. Brain and Language, 90(1), 2–8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Libben, G., & Weber, S. (2014). Semantic transparency, compounding, and the nature of independent variables. In F. Rainer, F. Gardani, H. C. Luschützky, & W. U. Dressler (Eds.), Morphology and meaning: Selected papers from the 15th International Morphology Meeting, Vienna, February 2012 (pp. 205–221). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lorenz, A., & Zwitserlood, P. (2016). Semantically transparent and opaque compounds in German noun-phrase production: Evidence for morphemes in speaking. Frontiers in Psychology, 71. [URL].
Milne, A. E., Bianco, R., Poole, K. C., Zhao, S., Oxenham, A. J., Billig, A. J., & Chait, M. (2021). An online headphone screening test based on dichotic pitch. Behavior Research Methods, 53(4), 1551–1562. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2013). 通用规范汉字表 [List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters]. [URL]
Moscoso del Prado Martín, F., Bertram, R., Häikiö, T., Schreuder, R., & Baayen, R. H. (2004). Morphological family size in a morphologically rich language: The case of Finnish compared with Dutch and Hebrew. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30(6), 1271–1278. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moskovitz, C., Hall, S., & Pemberton, M. (2023). Common misconceptions about text recycling in scientific writing. BioScience, 73(1), 6–8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers, J. (2010). Chinese as a natural experiment. The Mental Lexicon, 5(3), 421–435. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nozari, N., Pinet, S., & Muylle, M. (2025). What can typing tell us about language production? Annual Review of Linguistics, 121, 10.1–10.18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peirce, J., Gray, J. R., Simpson, S., MacAskill, M., Höchenberger, R., Sogo, H., Kastman, E., & Lindeløv, J. K. (2019). PsychoPy2: Experiments in behavior made easy. Behavior Research Methods, 51(1), 195–203. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pinet, S. (2025). The missing link between response selection and execution in language production. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 741, 101246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Qu, Q., & Damian, M. F. (2019). Orthographic effects in Mandarin spoken language production. Memory & Cognition, 47(2), 326–334. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
R Core Team. (2025). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. [URL]
Rapp, B., & Fischer-Baum, S. (2014). Representation of orthographic knowledge. In M. Goldrick, V. S. Ferreira, & M. Miozzo (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language production (pp. 338–357). Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rastle, K., & Davis, M. H. (2008). Morphological decomposition based on the analysis of orthography. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23(7–8), 942–971. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rastle, K., Davis, M. H., & New, B. (2004). The broth in my brother’s brothel: Morpho-orthographic segmentation in visual word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(6), 1090–1098. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roelofs, A. (1996). Serial order in planning the production of successive morphemes of a word. Journal of Memory and Language, 35(6), 854–876. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scaltritti, M., Arfé, B., Torrance, M., & Peressotti, F. (2016). Typing pictures: Linguistic processing cascades into finger movements. Cognition, 1561, 16–29. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schreuder, R., & Baayen, R. H. (1997). How complex simplex words can be. Journal of Memory and Language, 37(1), 118–139. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sun, C. C., Hendrix, P., Ma, J., & Baayen, R. H. (2018). Chinese lexical database (CLD). Behavior Research Methods, 50(6), 2606–2629. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taft, M., & Zhu, X. (1995). The representation of bound morphemes in the lexicon: A Chinese study. In L. B. Feldman (Ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 293–316). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tse, C.-S., Chan, Y.-L., Yap, M. J., & Tsang, H. C. (2023). The Chinese Lexicon Project II: A megastudy of speeded naming performance for 25,000+ traditional Chinese two-character words. Behavior Research Methods. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tse, C.-S., Yap, M. J., & Chan, Y.-L. (2024). Neighborhood in Chinese lexicon: A megastudy analysis of lexical decision and naming of two-character Chinese words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(9), 1489–1515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Galen, G. P. (1991). Handwriting: Issues for a psychomotor theory. Human Movement Science, 10(2), 165–191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, J., Schiller, N. O., & Verdonschot, R. G. (2024). Word and morpheme frequency effects in naming Mandarin Chinese compounds: More than a replication. Brain and Language, 2591, 105496. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, M., Shao, Z., Verdonschot, R. G., Chen, Y., & Schiller, N. O. (2023). Orthography influences spoken word production in blocked cyclic naming. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30(1), 383–392. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weingarten, R., Nottbusch, G., & Will, U. (2004). Morphemes, syllables and graphemes in written word production. In T. Pechmann & C. Habel (Eds.), Multidisciplinary approaches to language production (pp. 529–572). De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wickham, H., Averick, M., Bryan, J., Chang, W., McGowan, L. D., François, R., Grolemund, G., Hayes, A., Henry, L., Hester, J., Kuhn, M., Pedersen, T. L., Miller, E., Bache, S. M., Müller, K., Ooms, J., Robinson, D., Seidel, D. P., Spinu, V., … Yutani, H. (2019). Welcome to the Tidyverse. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(43), 1686. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Will, U., Nottbusch, G., & Weingarten, R. (2006). Linguistic units in word typing: Effects of word presentation modes and typing delay. Written Language & Literacy, 9(1), 153–176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xiao, R., McEnery, T., & Rayson, P. (2009). A frequency dictionary of Mandarin Chinese: Core vocabulary for learners. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xing, J. Z. (2006). Teaching and learning Chinese as a foreign language: A pedagogical grammar. Hong Kong University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yousefzadeh, B., Libben, G., & Segalowitz, S. J. (2024). Persian compounds in the mental lexicon. Frontiers in Communication, 91. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, Q., Wu, J., Reichle, E. D., & Li, X. (2026). What roles do constituents play in the identification of Chinese compound words? A meta-analytic review. Journal of Memory and Language, 1481, 104743. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhou, X., & Marslen-Wilson, W. (1994). Words, morphemes and syllables in the Chinese mental lexicon. Language and Cognitive Processes, 9(3), 393–422. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zwitserlood, P. (1994). The role of semantic transparency in the processing and representation of Dutch compounds. Language and Cognitive Processes, 9(3), 341–368. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue