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

汉语施用结构加工的ERP研究（英文）

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.

动词-论元关系是句子加工中句法-语义互动关系的重要方面。该领域现有的研究主要关注句子中动词同其核心论元之间的关系。但是汉语中却存在一种动词非核心论元提升到核心论元位置的施用结构。本文运用事件相关电位技术研究汉语中的施用结构与典型的受事宾语结构在句子加工方面的差异。实验要求被试对汉语中的词组(含干扰性的假词组)进行判断。实验结果显示,本实验在施用结构中发现了分布于双侧脑区的N400效应,与现有研究中论元类型和论元数目违反所导致的N400效应相类似。但与现有的动词-论元关系的ERP研究所不同的是:与典型的受事宾语结构相比,汉语施用结构呈现出一种持续的脑前部正波。这一波形在动词-论元关系加工研究中较为罕见,反映的是新提升论元与动词整合的困难以及汉语施用结构合格性检查的进行性特点,与汉语非受事论元认知研究中发现的转喻机制一致,反映了在汉语这种意合语言中语义(题元角色)在句法-语义界面中会发挥了更大的作用。