Effects of a Semantic Pamphlet for Pictogram Chat on Small Talk between Japanese and Chinese Speakers

This paper presents a method of improving semantic expressions in pictogram chat conversations between Japanese and Chinese speakers, through use of a semantic pamphlet. The semantic pamphlet lists the meanings of 335 pictograms in 12 categories and provides 15 examples of functional statements. In the pictogram chat system, users can look through each pictogram category by clicking a button on the interface. They can also learn how to form sentences by looking the functional statements in the semantic pamphlet. Twelve pairs of Japanese and Chinese speakers participated in the experiment. Each pair engaged in two conversations using the pictogram chat system: one with the help of the pamphlet and one without. The experiment results showed that (1) use of the pictogram pamphlet raised the participants´ pictogram comprehension rate, and they made fewer mistakes in communication, (2) use of the pictogram pamphlet increased the participants´ use of tense pictograms and reduced their use of noun pictograms, and (3) when participants used the pictogram chat system the second time, they produced longer sentences with more conjunctions.