Exploring the Effect of Morpheme Focus on Opaque and Transparent Two‐Character Compounds in Second‐Language Learning

ABSTRACT For second‐language (L2) learners of Chinese and Japanese, mastering multi‐character compounds is essential yet challenging. Meaning extraction from opaque compounds, where constituent characters do not represent the meaning of the whole word (e.g., 親切 [kind] comprises 親 [parent] and 切 [cut]), is particularly difficult. In contrast, the meaning of transparent compounds (e.g., 最短 [shortest]) can be gleaned through their constituent characters (e.g., 最 [most] and 短 [short]). Since it is unclear whether knowledge of constituent characters facilitates or impedes learning of opaque compounds, this study aimed to investigate the effect of transparent and opaque two‐character compounds training under two conditions: with or without presentation of information about constituent characters. Furthermore, the time that learners spent learning each type of compound was examined, assuming that opaque compounds require more study time than transparent ones due to cognitive demand. Fifty‐six intermediate‐level L2 Japanese learners were the participants in the study; their recognition and meaning production of the target compounds were analyzed while controlling for their existing knowledge of constituent characters. The training analysis results indicated that existing knowledge of constituent characters assisted learners in memorizing new compounds, particularly transparent ones. Regarding the study time for compounds, learners were found to consistently allocate extra time to studying constituent characters regardless of compound transparency. This suggests that in learning new compounds, L2 learners of Japanese focus on constituent characters for concept building rather than establishing semantic connections with the whole two‐character compounds.