The perception of roma-ji in comparison with japanese kana

Abstract

In the present study the legibility of printed letters and words of Roma-ji and Japanese Kana were measured. Method: A 8.5x4.6 cm. white card on which black letter or letters were printed was presented to S in a visibility measuring apparatus, (see Fig. 1) This card was illuminated by a 100 watt Mazda lamp. The voltage of the lamp was varied from 0 to 70 v. by means of a rheostat in the circuit. The relationship between voltage and intensity of illumination was shown in Fig. 3. The exposure time of 10 sec. for one card was obtained by handling a sliding shutter. Sixteed-point type of Old style was used as stimulus in all experiments except Experiment 6, in which 14-point type was used. After 5 minutes of dark adaptation about 20 cards were presented one by one in random order under dim illumination, and S was asked to read the letter; After all cards were presented to S, the intensity of illumination was increased by 1 v. and cards were presented as before. In this way the minimum light intensity necessary for reading letters was measured. Except for Experiment 6. the legibility of each letter was measured twice. The Ss were male undergraduate and graduste students at the University of Tokyo. Results: (1) The capital letter of Roma-ji is the most legible among Kata-kana, Hira-gana, and capital and lower case of Roma-ji through all experiments. (2) The single lower case of Roma-ji representing each vowel is less legible than the single letter of Kata-kana or that of Hira-gana. The values of Table 1 are the pooled means, in voltage, of legibility of letters for 3 Ss. (3) With the exception of vowels, the single letter of Kata-kana and that of Hira-gana are less legiblethan the lower cases of Roma-ji representing the same monosyllable. The values of Table 5 are pooled means for 3 Ss. (4) There is no? relationship between legibility of a syllable and number of letters of which it is constituted. The values of Table 9 are pooled means for 4 Ss. (5) The legibility of letters in Hepburnian system of Roma-ji does not differ from that of Japanese system. The mean values for 4 Ss. are shown in Table 11. (6) The existence of the special sign of pro-nounciation for the Japanese Kanas makes them less legible, when they are shown as a single letter. The values of Tables 13, 15, anb 17 are pooled means for 4 Ss. In Experiment 6 the legibility of words and nonsense syllables were measured only once for 4 Ss. (7) When shown as a meaningful word, lower case of Roma-ji is as legible as Kata-kana but less legible than Hira-gana. When shown as a nonsense syllable lower case is as legible as Hira-gana but more legible than Kata-kana. (8) As a single letter Hira-gana is as legible as Kata-kana, but the former is more legible than the latter when each of them is shown as a word. See Table 21 and 29. (9) There is no significant difference between the legibility of Hira-gana and that of Kata-kana when they represent Japanese words of foreign origin which are usually written in Kata-kana. See Table 35. (10) The existence of the special sign of pro-nounciation disturbs less the legibility of Kanas when they are shown as a meaningful word than when they represent a syllable. (11) There is no significant difference betweep the legibility of Roma-ji of Japanese words and that of English words, in spite of the fact that the former is less familiar to Ss. than the latter. See Table 31. (12) In all cases meaningful words are more legible than nonsense syllables. © 1969, The Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. All rights reserved.