Is the word the basic processing unit in Chinese sentence reading: An eye movement study

Abstract

This study sets out to explore the basic processing unit in Chinese sentence reading in an eye movement experiment. In the experiment, four analogous conditions were created: normal Chinese sentence with no highlighting, highlighting that marked words, highlighting that marked the unit under slow reading conditions and highlighting that marked the unit under natural reading conditions. All eye movement measures indicated that sentence processing under the word condition was the most difficult. As a result, it was revealed that the word was not a basic processing unit in Chinese sentence reading. The segmented unit, which is the ‘prosodic word’ under the slow reading condition, is the smallest prosodic unit that can be accepted by the readers and within reader's perceptual span, and is thus more likely to be the basic processing unit in Chinese sentence reading. Moreover, the duration of pause is an objective marker of the basic processing unit.