The processing and representation of ambiguous words

In three experiments, we used eye tracking to investigate whether the representation and processing of polysemy and homonymy in Chinese reading were similar or different. Readers read sentences containing homonymous words (Experiment 1), polysemous words (Experiment 2), or both (Experiment 3). The contexts of text preceding the target words were manipulated to bias the subject toward reading the ambiguous words according to their dominant, subordinate, or neutral meanings. Similarly, disambiguating regions following the target words were also manipulated to favor either the dominant or subordinate meanings of ambiguous words. The results of these three experiments showed that there were similar patterns in eye movements when Chinese subjects read sentences containing homonymous and polysemous words. The study also found that subjects took longer to read the target word and the disambiguating text following it when the prior context and disambiguating regions favored divergent meanings rather than the same meaning. These results suggested that homonymy and polysemy are represented similarly in the mental lexicon when a particular meaning (sense) is fully specified by disambiguating information. Furthermore, multiple meanings (senses) are represented in Chinese reading as separate lexical entries in the mental lexicon.