Lexical cue and perceptual clue to the interpretation of animal-monster hybrids: Classifier selection as a probing stimulant

Abstract

We explored how label cue and body structure impacted the mental construal of animal-monster hybrids through the choice of Chinese classifiers. Taking Chinese classifiers zhi and ge as the probe, we manipulated label cue and perceptual input from monster structure and detected how these two factors influenced the interpretation of the hybrids. Our rationale is that if the choice of zhi is indicative of animal analogousness, and, conversely, that of ge is indexical of non-animal likeness, the difference of effect between using zhi and ge for monstrous animal hybrids should reflect the variation in their animacy interpretation. We found that the effect difference between zhi and ge across the higher- and lower-animacy monsters was remarkable in the unlabeled situation but, on the contrary, was attenuated in the labeled situation. In a word, linguistic cuing lumped the monster figures into the same category and biased them toward non-animate construal.