Abstract
In the current study, we used eye tracking to investigate whether senses of polysemous words and meanings of homonymous words are represented and processed similarly or differently in Chinese reading. Readers read sentences containing target words which was either homonymous words or polysemous words. The contexts of text preceding the target words were manipulated to bias the participants 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 showed that there were similar eye movement patterns when Chinese participants read sentences containing homonymous and polysemous words. The study also found that participants 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 as separate entries in the mental lexicon.
Highlights
Lexical ambiguity is one of several types of ambiguities and is widespread in human languages
The current study investigated whether the processing and representation of homonymous words and polysemous words are similar or different in Chinese reading
When the prior context and the disambiguating region created bias toward divergent meanings, longer total times on the target word and disambiguating regions, and more regressionouts were observed in the disambiguating region, as indicated by significant interaction between context and disambiguation
Summary
Lexical ambiguity is one of several types of ambiguities and is widespread in human languages. There are two types of lexical ambiguities: homonymy and polysemy (Lyons, 1977). A homonymy is a word that has two or more distinctly semantic unrelated meanings. The lexical item bank carries two completely unrelated meanings: a financial institution and the slope of land beside a body of water. Polysemy describes a word having two or more closely related senses. The lexical item paper has multiple related senses (i.e., writing material, essay, or newspaper). According to relative meaning frequency, ambiguous words can be either balanced or unbalanced. Balanced ambiguous words have multiple meanings of relatively equal frequency, while unbalanced ambiguous words have one high frequency meaning (i.e., the dominant meaning)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
