Table_1_How semantics works in Chinese relative clause processing: insights from eye tracking.XLSX

Recent years have witnessed much research on semantic analysis and syntactic anatomy in ordinary language processing. However, it is still a matter of considerable debate about when and how the semantic integration of single word meanings works and interacts with syntax during on-line comprehension. This study, in an eye-tracking paradigm, took 38 native speakers of Mandarin Chinese as the participants and took Chinese relative clauses as stimuli to figure out the functions of semantics by investigating the conditioning semantic factors influencing and governing the word order variation of Chinese relative clauses during different processing stages. Accordingly, this study manipulated two syntactic variables, i.e., relative clause type and the position of the numeral-classifier sequence (NCL) in the relative clause, as well as a semantic variable, i.e., the abstractness of the head noun that the relative clause modified. Specifically, the study addressed two questions: (1) when semantics is activated and interacts with syntax and (2) how semantics affects syntax during the time course of Chinese relative clause processing. The results indicated that: (1) Semantics was activated and interacted with syntax during the early and late processing stages of Chinese relative clauses, which challenged the sequential order of syntactic and semantic processes, and supported the claims of the Concurrent Processing Model. (2) The syntactic order of the Chinese relative clause was affected by the semantic information of the head noun that the clause modified. Object-extraction relative clauses (ORCs) had a conjunction preference for the order “an object relative clause preceding the numeral-classifier sequence and the head noun.” Instead, the subject-extraction relative clause (SRC) which modified a concrete noun (CN) had a co-occurrence preference for the order “numeral-classifier sequence preceding the subject relative clause and the head noun,” while the subject-extraction relative clause which modified an abstract noun (AN) had a co-occurrence preference for the order “subject relative clause preceding the numeral-classifier sequence and the head noun.” The findings of this study were evaluated in light of the perspectives of truth value semantics of the syntactic components, the semantic compatibility of numeral-classifier sequence and its modified noun as well as the discourse functions of outer modifier nominals and inner modifier nominals.

近年来，普通语言处理领域围绕语义分析与句法解构展开了大量研究。然而，在实时语言理解过程中，单词语义的整合机制及其与句法的交互时机和方式，仍是颇具争议的议题。本研究采用眼动实验范式（eye-tracking paradigm），招募38名汉语母语者作为实验被试，以汉语关系从句（relative clause）为实验刺激材料，通过考察不同加工阶段下制约并支配汉语关系从句词序变化的语义因素，阐明语义的作用机制。据此，本研究操控了两类句法变量：关系从句类型，以及关系从句内数量词短语（numeral-classifier sequence, NCL）的位置；同时操控了一类语义变量：被关系从句修饰的中心名词的抽象性程度。具体而言，本研究旨在解答两个核心问题：其一，在汉语关系从句的加工进程中，语义何时被激活并与句法产生交互；其二，语义如何影响句法加工。研究结果表明：第一，在汉语关系从句的早期与晚期加工阶段，语义均已被激活并与句法产生交互，这一发现挑战了句法与语义加工的序列顺序假说，为并行加工模型（Concurrent Processing Model）的主张提供了支持。第二，汉语关系从句的句法语序受到其所修饰的中心名词的语义信息影响：宾语提取关系从句（Object-extraction relative clauses, ORCs）呈现出“宾语关系从句置于数量词短语与中心名词之前”的共现偏好；与之相对，修饰具体名词（concrete noun, CN）的主语提取关系从句（Subject-extraction relative clauses, SRC）呈现出“数量词短语置于主语关系从句与中心名词之前”的共现偏好，而修饰抽象名词（abstract noun, AN）的主语提取关系从句则呈现出“主语关系从句置于数量词短语与中心名词之前”的共现偏好。本研究的发现可从句法成分的真值语义学（truth value semantics）视角、数量词短语与其修饰名词的语义兼容性，以及外修饰性名词短语与内修饰性名词短语的话语功能等维度进行阐释与验证。