Abstract
In Chinese, when objects are named with their quantity, a numeral classifier must be inserted between the quantifier and the noun to produce a grammatically correct quantifier + classifier + noun phrase. In this study, we adopted the picture-word interference paradigm to examine participants’ naming latencies for multiple objects and their electroencephalogram in four conditions by manipulating two factors, i.e. semantic relatedness and classifier congruency. Results show that in noun phrase production, naming latencies are significantly longer in classifier-incongruent and semantically related conditions than in classifier-congruent and semantically unrelated conditions. Also, an N400-like effect was observed and found to be stronger in classifier-incongruent and semantically unrelated conditions. Together, the behavioral data and event-related potential analyses suggest that the use of classifiers as lexico-syntactic features in Mandarin Chinese takes place via a competitive selection process in noun phrase production.
Highlights
The selection process of close-class items has been a topic of con troversy in experimental linguistics for decades
Of all recorded data entries 6.71% were dropped from the behavioral data analysis because of (a) participants giving incorrect responses or stuttering (5.40%); (b) participants giving correct responses in only one or two out of all eight cases of a target, showing an established association of an unintended classifier with the target item (0.10%); (c) outliers
Instead of the classic repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) test that only submits condition means across either participants or items to analysis, the general mixed effects regression was employed in this study to control for potential random effects of both participants and items simultaneously
Summary
The selection process of close-class items has been a topic of con troversy in experimental linguistics for decades. Studies show that apart from the categorical status of an item, poten tially influential elements such as frequency and semantic relationship can have an impact on the speed of lexical access (see Mahon, Costa, Peterson, Vargas, & Caramazza, 2007). Based on these findings, re searchers proceeded further to explore lexical access of close-class items in word-production scenarios.
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