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An ERP Study on the Processing of Chinese Applied-Object Structures

  • Changyin Zhou

    Changyin Zhou is a professor in the School of English Language, Literature and Culture at Beijing International Studies University. His research is in theoretic linguistics and neurocognitive linguistics.

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    and Yuhuan Zhang

    Yuhuan Zhang is now a teacher in Jincheng Education, Shenyang, Liaoning Province. She was a graduate student in the School of English Language, Literature and Culture at Beijing International Studies University. Her research is in neurocognitve linguistics.

Published/Copyright: October 15, 2018
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Abstract

Verb-argument relation is a very important aspect of syntax-semantics interaction in sentence processing. Previous ERP (event related potentials) studies in this field concentrated on the relation between the verb and its core arguments. The present study aims to reveal the ERP pattern of Chinese applied object structures (AOSs), in which a peripheral argument is promoted to occupy the position of the patient object, as compared with the patient object structures (POSs). The ERP data were collected when participants were asked to perform acceptability judgments about Chinese phrases. The result shows that, similar to the previous studies of number-of-argument violations, Chinese AOSs show a bilaterally distributed N400 effect. But different from all the previous studies of verb-argument relations, Chinese AOSs demonstrate a sustained anterior positivity (SAP). This SAP, which is very rare in the studies related to complexity of argument structure operation, reflects the integration difficulty of the newly promoted arguments and the progressive nature of well-formedness checking in the processing of Chinese AOSs which is in accordance with the metonymic mechanism of non-patient objects in the relevant cognitive study. It shows that, in Chinese, which is a paratactic language, semantics (thematic roles) plays a more important role in the syntax-semantics interface than that in hypotactic languages.


* This study is supported Beijing Social Science Fund Project (17YYB024) and The Importation and Development of High-Caliber Talents Project (The Great Wall Scholar Program) of Beijing Municipal Institutions (CIT&TCD20150303).


About the authors

Changyin Zhou

Changyin Zhou is a professor in the School of English Language, Literature and Culture at Beijing International Studies University. His research is in theoretic linguistics and neurocognitive linguistics.

Yuhuan Zhang

Yuhuan Zhang is now a teacher in Jincheng Education, Shenyang, Liaoning Province. She was a graduate student in the School of English Language, Literature and Culture at Beijing International Studies University. Her research is in neurocognitve linguistics.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedbacks on earlier drafts of this article. Special thanks go to Ding Yanren, Duncan Sidwell and other editors of Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics for their diligent work. Special thanks also go to Dr. Bai Chen who gave the authors much help in the design of the experiment.

Published Online: 2018-10-15
Published in Print: 2018-06-26

© 2018 FLTRP, Walter de Gruyter, Cultural and Education Section British Embassy

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