Neurological Mechanisms of Word Formation: An Empirical Study by Collaboration of Theoretical Linguistics and Neurolinguistics

我们采用所谓的双重机制模型作为工作假说，认为词的加工涉及记忆和计算两种不同的心理/神经机制，并进行了事件相关电位实验，从神经水平上考察了日语复杂谓词的加工过程。我们的研究结果如下：我们使用了两种使役结构，词汇使役结构(LC)和致使结构(SC)，并观察了受试者对不可接受句子的事件相关电位反应(ULC：^*Kansei-o narab-e-ru‘安排喜悦的喊声’，USC：^*ryoori-o narab-ase-ru‘让菜肴排队’)与可接受的句子(ALC：ryoori-o narab-e-ru‘安排菜肴’，ASC：Senshu-o narab-ase-ru‘Make Plans Up’)的反应。ULC句子引出了一个典型的N400，我们将其解释为反映了语义选择的违反。相比之下，南加州大学的句子引发了一个AN(前置否定)，后面跟着一个N400。AN可以被用来反映检测USC句子的格式错误所涉及的计算过程，而下面的N400是语义违规的反映。此外，当比较两种可接受的句子类型(ALC和ASC)时，我们观察到ASC引发了P600，我们将其解释为反映了加工SC句子的双子句结构所涉及的句法计算成本。因此，我们的研究结果基本上支持双重机制理论，即基于记忆加工的致使结构，而基于句法计算的致使结构。我们还进行了另一项实验，希望积累日语语言加工的基本事件相关电位数据，探索在案例违规时观察到的事件相关事件相关成分。我们观察到N400违反了动词的词汇指定格排列(^*kodomo-ni shikaru‘责骂孩子’，^*hito-o busukaru‘打人’)。

We have employed the so-called Dual Mechanism Model as our working hypothesis, which claims that two different mental/neurological mechanisms of memory and computation are involved in the processing of words, and conducted an ERP (Event-Related Potentials) experiment to investigate the processing of Japanese complex predicates at the neurological level. Our findings are as follows.We used two types of causative constructions, lexical causative (LC) and sase-causative (SC), and observed the ERP responses to unacceptable sentences (ULC:^*kansei-o narab-e-ru 'arrange shouts of joy', USC:^*ryoori-o narab-ase-ru 'make dishes line up') in comparison to the acceptable counterparts (ALC: ryoori-o narab-e-ru 'arrange dishes', ASC: senshu-o narab-ase-ru 'make players line up'). The ULC sentences elicited a typical N400, which we interpret to reflect the semantic selectional violations. In contrast, the USC sentences elicited an AN (anterior negativity) followed by an N400. The AN can be taken to reflect the computational process involved in detecting the ill-formedness of the USC sentences, while the following N400 is a reflection of the semantic violation. In addition, when the two acceptable sentence types (ALC and ASC) were compared, it was observed that the ASC elicited a P600, which we interpret to reflect the cost of syntactic computation involved in processing the bi-clausal structure of SC sentences. Thus our results basically support the Dual Mechanism approach to causative constructions, LC involving memory-based processing while SC being processed by syntactic computation.We have conducted another experiment, in the hope of accumulating basic ERP data on language processing in Japanese, exploring what ERP components are observed in case violations. We observed N400 for the violation of lexically specified case array of verbs (^*kodomo-ni shikaru 'scold a child', ^*hito-o butsukaru 'hit a person').