Abstract
Understanding what linguistic components (e.g., phonological, semantic, and orthographic systems) modulate Chinese handwriting at the character, radical, and stroke levels remains an important yet understudied topic. Additionally, there is a lack of comprehensive tools for capturing and batch-processing fine-grained handwriting data. To address these issues, we constructed a large-scale handwriting database in which 42 Chinese speakers for each handwriting 1200 characters in a handwriting-to-dictation task. Additionally, we enhanced the existing handwriting package and provided comprehensive documentation for the upgraded OpenHandWrite_Toolbox, which can easily modify the experimental design, capture the stroke-level handwriting trajectory, and batch-process handwriting measurements (e.g., latency, duration, and pen-pressure). In analysing our large-scale database, multiple regression results show that orthographic predictors impact handwriting preparation and execution across character, radical, and stroke levels. Phonological factors also influence execution at all three levels. Importantly, these lexical effects demonstrate hierarchical attenuation - they were most pronounced at the character level, followed by the radical, and were weakest at the stroke levels. These findings demonstrate that handwriting preparation and execution at the radical and stroke levels are closely intertwined with linguistic components. This database and toolbox offer valuable resources for future psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research on the handwriting of characters and sub-characters across different languages.
Abstract (translated)
理解哪些语言成分（例如，音位、语义和正字法系统）在字符、偏旁和笔画级别上调节中文手写仍然是一个重要的但研究不足的话题。此外，缺乏捕捉和批量处理精细手写数据的全面工具。为解决这些问题，我们构建了一个大规模的手写数据库，在该数据库中42名中国参与者每人完成了1200个汉字的手写至听写任务。另外，我们改进了现有的手写软件包，并提供了详细的文档来升级OpenHandWrite_Toolbox，这个升级后的工具有助于轻松修改实验设计、捕捉笔画级手写轨迹以及批量处理手写测量（例如延迟时间、持续时间和笔压）。在分析我们的大规模数据库时，多重回归结果显示正字法预测因子对手写准备和执行在字符、偏旁和笔画级别上均有影响。音位因素也对所有三个级别的执行有影响。尤为重要的是，这些词汇效应表现出层次递减——它们在字符层面上最为明显，在偏旁层面上次之，在笔画层面上最弱。这些发现表明手写准备和执行在偏旁和笔划层面与语言成分密切相关。该数据库和工具包为未来跨不同语言的汉字及字部件的心理语言学和神经语言学研究提供了宝贵的资源。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.05335
