Doctoral Dissertation Research: Psycholinguistic and Neurocognitive Indices of Prediction in Processing Nonliteral and Fixed Expressions

博士论文研究：处理非文字和固定表达时的心理语言学和神经认知预测指数

• 批准号: 1528701
• 负责人: Darren Tanner
• 金额: $ 1.9万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-01 至 2017-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1528701&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Psycholinguistic; Neurocognitive

In its most successful form, language connects people. Through communication, people of different backgrounds are able to share ideas and experiences and ultimately bridge gaps across cultures. A challenge presents itself, however, when communication is not successful and the inability to understand language creates a barrier. Idioms are an excellent example of an environment where misinterpretations can arise. For the average literate adult speaker, a highly familiar idiom, such as "a slap in the face" or "kick the bucket," is one where, once a particular ordering of words is recognized and the surrounding context is informative enough, the nonliteral meaning becomes most probable, and the nonliteral meaning can easily be retrieved. As these expressions communicate more than what is explicitly said, they are often difficult for second-language speakers to master. Further, as many idioms also have a plausible literal interpretation, it can be rather ambiguous for a learner to determine whether the literal interpretation was meant, or whether a nonliteral meaning was intended (e.g. "The man kicked the bucket that was full of water"). While native speakers benefit from their daily exposure to these expressions in conversational speech, second-language learners are disadvantaged due to their lack of exposure, and often interpret idiomatic language literally, or attempt to translate and use idioms from their native language. Under the direction of Drs. Darren Tanner and Kiel Christianson, Nyssa Bulkes will conduct doctoral dissertation research with two primary goals: 1) to identify in closer detail how idioms are processed in real-time during reading, and 2) to understand how second-language learners process formulaic, fixed expressions. This research compares idiomatic expressions to literal collocations (e.g. "watch a movie" or "walk the dog"), both of which are familiar types of language to native speakers, due to their frequent co-occurrence. While more experience with the language facilitates recognition of these types of expressions in native speakers, no research to date has compared how these expressions are read during sentence processing, and whether one type of "chunk-like" expression is processed by the brain any differently. The current project will use measures of eye movements and real-time neural activity during native and nonnative reading in an effort to better compare how these populations process literal and nonliteral language. Specifically, understanding how highly familiar idiomatic expressions (e.g. idioms, "kick the bucket") compare to highly familiar literal expressions (e.g. collocations, "watch a movie") has the potential to illustrate how idiomatic, nonliteral expressions are represented in the minds of native speakers. Additionally, understanding how second-language learners process these different types of fixed expressions during natural reading has the potential to help to inform second-language instruction. By tying language comprehension processes to the cognitive and neural mechanisms supporting them, we are afforded a deeper understanding of what information second-language learners make use of as they comprehend language in real time. This understanding will ultimately better support the formulation of effective teaching interventions, working to promote fluency and successful acquisition in second-language classrooms.

语言以其最成功的形式将人们联系在一起。通过交流，不同背景的人能够分享想法和经验，最终弥合不同文化之间的差距。然而，当沟通不成功，无法理解语言造成障碍时，挑战就会出现。习语是一个很好的例子，说明了可能会出现误解的环境。对于普通识字的成年说话者来说，一个非常熟悉的习语，如“一记耳光”或“踢桶”，是指一旦识别出特定的词序，周围的上下文信息足够丰富，非字面意思就变得最有可能，非字面意思很容易被提取出来。由于这些表达比明确表达的内容更能传达信息，因此第二语言使用者往往很难掌握它们。此外，由于许多习语也有似是而非的字面解释，对于学习者来说，确定字面解释是有意的，还是非字面的意思是有意的，可能是相当含糊的。那个人踢了一脚装满水的水桶。虽然本族语者在日常会话演讲中接触到这些表达方式，但第二语言学习者由于缺乏接触而处于不利地位，他们经常从字面上理解习语，或者试图翻译和使用母语中的习语。在达伦·坦纳博士和基尔·克里斯汀森博士的指导下，Nyssa Bulkes将进行博士论文研究，主要目标有两个：1)更详细地确定习语是如何在阅读过程中实时处理的；2)了解第二语言学习者如何处理程式化的固定表达。这项研究比较了习语表达和字面搭配(例如“看电影”或“遛狗”)，这两者都是母语人士熟悉的语言类型，因为它们经常同时出现。虽然对语言的更多经验有助于识别母语人士的这些类型的表情，但到目前为止，还没有研究比较这些表情在句子处理过程中是如何阅读的，以及大脑是否会以任何不同的方式处理一种类型的“块状”表情。目前的项目将在母语和非母语阅读过程中使用眼球运动和实时神经活动的测量，以努力更好地比较这些人群处理文字和非文字语言的方式。具体地说，理解高度熟悉的习语表达(例如成语，“踢桶”)与高度熟悉的字面表达(例如搭配，“看电影”)相比，有可能说明习语，非字面表达是如何在本族语者的头脑中表现出来的。此外，了解第二语言学习者在自然阅读过程中如何处理这些不同类型的固定表达有助于为第二语言教学提供信息。通过将语言理解过程与支持它们的认知和神经机制联系起来，我们可以更深入地理解第二语言学习者在实时理解语言的过程中利用了什么信息。这一理解最终将更好地支持制定有效的教学干预措施，努力促进第二语言课堂上的流利和成功习得。