The Influence of Iconicity of Dongba Character-Formation on Semantic Processing

This research utilized a semantic judgment task to comparatively analyze the semantic processing of Dongba pictographs, ideographs, associative compounds, and phono-semantic characters, aiming to uncover the impact of the iconicity of character-forming methods on the semantic processing of Dongba characters. Experiment 1 indicated that the sequence of cognitive processing speed for the four types of Dongba characters, from fastest to slowest, was as follows: pictographs, ideographs, associative compounds, and phono-semantic characters. Experiment 2 revealed that both the degree of iconicity and the mode of iconicity between Dongba characters and their referents influenced the semantic processing of Dongba pictographs. Specifically, overall pictographs were processed semantically the fastest, followed by partial pictographs, and micro-pictographs had the slowest semantic processing speed. Additionally, solid pictographs were processed more rapidly than variant pictographs. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the semantic judgment of Dongba symbol-augmented ideograph-Chinese character pairs was significantly quicker than that of pure symbol-based ideograph-Chinese character pairs.Overall, this research shows that the higher the iconicity of the Dongba character-forming method, the faster the semantic processing, which is consistent with the predictions of the linguistic iconicity theory. Revealing the influence of this resemblance on language processing and thinking processing is of great significance for promoting excellent Chinese culture, establishing cultural confidence, strengthening the construction of a culturally strong country, and consolidating the consciousness of the Chinese nation as a community.