Abstract

The present study aims to examine the influence of the first syllable frequency of Korean morphologically complex words, known as Eojeol, on the recognition of spoken Eojeol. Three experiments (Experiment 1 to 3) used 170 pairs of tri-syllabic noun Eojeol and illegal Eojeol. The illegal Eojeols were created by substituting syllables of the target Eojeol in each position. Linear mixed-effect analysis was employed to analyze reaction times and accuracy data collected from each experiment, incorporating variables such as the first phonological syllable frequency, root frequency, Eojeol frequency, and stimuli duration. The results consistently revealed a significant inhibitory effect of the first syllable frequency on Eojeol recognition. However, the effects of root frequency and Eojeol frequency displayed distinct patterns across experiments. Interestingly, these findings contradict previous research indicating a facilitative effect of the first syllable in visual Eojeol recognition. Moreover, these results suggest that the Korean first syllable may hinder the recognition of the target Eojeol, particularly if it functions as a phonological unit. In essence, Korean syllables convey different types of information depending on the modality, and the role of the Korean syllable varies accordingly.