Abstract

Processing unit of Hangul syllables was investigated by manipulating attention tasks to letters and congruity between consonants of Hangul syllables in four experiments. Two types of Hangul syllables, one with a vertical vowel(V) and the other with a horizontal vowel, were used as stimulus displays, where the first and the last letters were cocuonancs(that is, CVC). Response time condensation task was the longest in every experiment, which indicates integral or wholistic processing of Hangul letters is difficult. Regardless of the absence(Exp. 1) or the presence(Exp. 2) of a vowel in the display, Garner and Stroop interferences were observed in identification of C1 and C2. This means C1 and C2 were hard to be processed separably. Exp. 3 asked participanu to judge C1 and/or V, and observed Garner interference only in the display with a vertical vowel and no effett in the display with a horizontal vowel. This result conflicts with the 'syllable core' hypothesis suggesting that C1 and V would be integrated in syllable processing. There was no Garner interference in Exp. 4 requiring judgment of V and/or C2 in the display. This result is negative to the hypothesis suggesting V and C2 as a unit of syllable processing. With all the results, it was condudad Hangul letters in a syllable would be processed neither as an integrated whole nor as separate ones. Problems of stimulus set, conditions of stimulus presentation, and tasks, questions of fiuther study were discussed.