The When, Where, and How of Morphological Processing in the Human Brain

This book examines the behavioral and neural bases of morphological processing with evidence from Mandarin Chinese. While the role of morphology in alphabetic language processing has been widely explored, how the human brain encodes morphological information in Mandarin Chinese remains unclear. The book investigates when and where morphological processing occurs in the brain and how different aspects, such as storage units, constraint encoding, structural effects, and cross-language transfer, are represented. By mapping both the timing and brain localization of these processes, it highlights morphology as a fundamental component of the mental lexicon, essential for vocabulary learning and second language development. The findings not only advance theoretical understanding but also underscore the importance of incorporating morphological insights into language learning, education, and research.