中-英双语者的惯用语理解:语义分解性的作用

Chinese- English Bilinguals' Idioms Understanding:The Effect of Semantic Decomposability

通过两个实验,探讨语义分解性对中-英双语者理解汉语惯用语和英语惯用语的影响。实验1考察中-英双语者对汉语惯用语的理解;实验2考察中-英双语者对英语惯用语的理解。结果显示:(1)语义分解性影响中-英双语者对汉语惯用语和英语惯用语的理解,语义可分解的惯用语理解速度快,错误率低;(2)个体对语义不可分解的惯用语的理解更加依赖于个体的文化知识。

In two experiments,the present study investigated the problem whether semantic decomposability affects two kinds of idioms＇ understanding through semantic priming task. Experiment 1 investigates the Chinese idioms＇ understanding of Chinese- English bilinguals. Experiment 2 tests the English unfamiliar idioms understanding of Chinese- English bilinguals. The results show that the decomposition of idioms affect semantic activation patterns in idiom processing. Response times and error rates indicate that participants were able to interpret unfamiliar（ e. g.,other languages＇） idioms depending largely on the degree to which they were analyzable,and that different forms of processing were used both within and between languages depending on this analyzability. Results support arguments for a continuum of analyzability,along which figurative speech ranges from reflecting general conceptual structures to specific cultural and historical references.