Cover not available
Part of
Integrating Chinese Linguistic Research and Language Teaching and Learning
Edited by Hongyin Tao
[Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse 7] 2016
► pp. 59–80

An ERP study of the processing of Mandarin classifiers

| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
| University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Comprehension of Mandarin classifier-noun sequences was examined by comparing event-related brain potential (ERP) responses to classifier-noun matches (一张纸; a sheet of paper) and mismatches (一张咖啡; a sheet of coffee). One goal was to determine which ERP components are sensitive to such matches, as a clue about the nature of the underlying combinatorial processes. Another goal was to examine effects of classifier constraint strength (a piece of … vs a sheet of …) on anticipation of the subsequent noun. Results showed that nouns evoked larger N400 in mismatching classifier-noun sequences, suggesting that combinatorial processing was primarily semantic. General classifiers evoked a larger sustained frontal negativity than specific classifiers, reflecting effects of constraint strength on anticipation of the upcoming noun. In addition, classifier presence was manipulated. The classifier-absent condition evoked a P600 in the first half of the experiment and an Anterior Negativity in the second half, suggesting that readers changed processing strategy over time.

Keywords: classifier, ERP, N400, P600, psycholinguistics, sentence processing
Published online: 3 October 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scld.7.04qia
References

REFERENCES

Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y
2000 “Classifiers: A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices.” In Studies in Typology and Linguistic Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Altmann, Gerry TM and Yuki Kamide
1999 “Incremental Interpretation at Verbs: Restricting the Domain of Subsequent Reference.” Cognition 73 (3): 247-264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arai, Manabu and Frank Keller
2013 “The Use of Verb-Specific Information for Prediction in Sentence Processing.” Language and Cognitive Processes 28(4): 525-560. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cai, Qing and Marc Brysbaert
2010 “SUBTLEX-CH: Chinese Word and Character Frequencies Based on Film Subtitles.” PLoS One 5 (6). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Catena, Andrés, José C. Perales, Alberto Megias, Antonio Candido, Elvia Jara, and Antonio Maldonado
2012 “The Brain Network of Expectancy and Uncertainty Processing.” PLoS One 7 (2012): e40252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chatrian, G.E, E. Lettich, and P.L. Nelson
1985 “Ten Percent Electrode System for Topographic Studies of Spontaneous and Evoked EEG Activity.” American Journal Electroencephalograph Technology 25 (2): 83-92.Google Scholar
Cheng, Lisa Lai-Shen and Rint Sybesma
1999 “Bare and Not-So-Bare Nouns and the Structure of NP.” Linguistic Inquiry 30 (4): 509-542. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 “Classifiers in Four Varieties of Chinese.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax, ed. by Guglielmo Cinque and Richard Kayne, 259-292. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro
1998 Plurality of Mass Nouns and the Notion of “Semantic Parameter”. Springer Netherlands. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chou, Chia-Ju, Hsu-Wen Huang, Chia-Lin Lee, and Chia-Ying Lee
2014 “Effects of Semantic Constraint and Cloze Probability on Chinese Classifier-Noun Agreement.” Journal of Neurolinguistics 31:42-54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Croft, William
1994 “Semantic Universals in Classifier Systems.” Word 45(2): 145-171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
DeLong, Katherine A, Thomas P. Urbach, and Marta Kutas
2005 “Probabilistic Word Pre-Activation During Language Comprehension Inferred from Electrical Brain Activity.” Nature Neuroscience 8 (8): 1117-1121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erbaugh, Mary S
1986 “Taking Stock: The Development of Chinese Noun Classifiers Historically and in Young Children.” Noun Classes and Categorization 399-436. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, Lewis
2011 “Classifiers Are Functional.” Linguistic Inquiry 42(1): 125-130. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph
1972 “Numeral Classifiers and Substantive Number: Problems in the Genesis of a Linguistic Type.” Working Papers on Language Universals 9: 1-39.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, Samuel and Seymour Geisser
1959 “On Methods in the Analysis of Profile Data.” Psychometrika 24 (2): 95-112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hagoort, Peter
2003 “How the Brain Solves the Binding Problem for Language: A Neurocomputational Model of Syntactic Processing.” Neuroimage Supplement 20 (1): 18-29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hagoort, Peter, Colin Brown, and Jolanda Groothusen
1993 “The Syntactic Positive Shift (SPS) as an ERP Measure of Syntactic Processing.” Language and Cognitive Processes 8 (4): 439-483. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsu, Chun-Chieh, Shu-Hua Tsai, Chin-Lung Yang, and Jenn-Yeu Chen
2014 “Processing Classifier–Noun Agreement in a Long Distance: An ERP Study on Mandarin Chinese.” Brain and language 137:14-28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Huang, Chu-Ren and Kathleen Ahrens
2003 “Individuals, Kinds and Events: Classifier Coercion of Nouns.” Language Sciences 25 (4): 353-373. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, Song
2011 “Cong hanyu liangci de tiyanxing jichu kan liangci de xide yu jiaoxue [From the embodiment of Chinese classifiers to classifier acquisition and teaching].” In Chinese Language Globalization and Pedagogy, ed. by Y. Wu and L. Mu, 322-331. Beijing: China Minzu University Press.Google Scholar
Kaan, Edith and Evan Carlisle
2014 “ERP Indices of Stimulus Prediction in Letter Sequences.” Brain Sciences 4 (4):509-531. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Klein, Natalie, Greg Carlson, Renjie Li, Florian Jaeger, and Michael Tanenhaus
2012 "Classifying and Massifying Incrementally in Chinese Language Comprehension." In Count and Mass across Language (Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 42), 261-282. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kluender, Robert and Marta Kutas
1993 “Bridging the Gap: Evidence from ERPs on the Processing of Unbounded Dependencies.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 5 (2): 196-214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krifka, Manfred
1995 “The Semantics and Pragmatics of Polarity Items.” Linguistic Analysis 25 (3-4): 209-257.Google Scholar
Kutas, Marta and Kara D. Federmeier
2011 “Thirty Years and Counting: Finding Meaning in the N400 Component of the Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP).” Annual Review of Psychology 62: 621-647. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kutas, Marta and Steven Hillyard
1980 “Reading Senseless Sentences: Brain Potentials Reflect Semantic Incongruity.” Science 207 (4427): 203-205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lehman, Frederic
1979 “Aspects of a Formal Theory of Noun Classifiers.” Studies in Language 3: 153-180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson
1981 Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Luzi, Eleonora and Chiara Romagnoli
2013 “Classifiers in CFL Classroom: The Case of Italian Learners.” Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata 42 (2): 337-353.Google Scholar
Mueller, Jutta, Anja Hahne, Yugo Fujii, and Angela D. Friederici
2005 “Native and Nonnative Speakers' Processing of a Miniature Version of Japanese as Revealed by ERPs.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 17 (8):1229-1244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Osterhout, Lee and Phillip Holcomb
1992 “Event-Related Brain Potentials Elicited by Syntactic Anomaly.” Journal of Memory and Language 31 (6):785-806. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Osterhout, Lee, Phillip Holcomb, and David Swinney
1994 “Brain Potentials Elicited by Garden-Path Sentences: Evidence of the Application of Verb Information During Parsing.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 20 (4): 786-803. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qian, Zhiying and Susan Garnsey
Cross-Linguistic Comparison of the Processing of Classifiers in Mandarin and English.” Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting for the Cognitive Neuroscience Society . San Francisco, California, March 28-31, 2015.
2016 “A Sheet of Coffee: An Event-related Potential Study on the Processing Of Classifier-Noun Sequences in English and Mandarin.” Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, William C
1971 “On the Analysis of Surface Nouns.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 4 (1): 1-16.Google Scholar
Sakai, Y, K. Iwata, J. Riera, X. Wan, S. Yokoyama, Y. Shimoda, R. Kawashima, K. Yoshimoto, and M. Koizumi
2006 “An ERP Study of the Integration Process between a Noun and a Numeral Classifier: Semantic or Morphosyntactic.” Cognitive Studies 13: 443-454.Google Scholar
Sun, Chaofen
1988 “The Discourse Function of the Numeral Classifiers in Mandarin Chinese.” Journal of Chinese Linguistics 16 (2): 298-322.Google Scholar
Tanner, Darren and Janet Van Hell
2014 “ERPs Reveal Individual Differenes in Morphosyntactic Processing.” Neuropsychologia 56: 289-301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wlotko, Edward and Kara Federmeier
2011 “Flexible Implementation of Anticipatory Language Comprehension Mechanisms.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience Supplement 23: 233.Google Scholar
Wu, Yicheng, and Adams Bodomo
2009 “Classifiers≠ Determiners.” Linguistic Inquiry 40 (3): 487-503. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Yaxu, Jinlu Zhang, and Baoquan Min
2012 “Neural Dynamics of Animacy Processing in Language Comprehension: ERP Evidence from the Interpretation of Classifier–Noun Combinations.” Brain and Language 120 (3): 321-331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Xiaolin, Xiaoming Jiang, Zheng Ye, Yaxu Zhang, Kaiyang Lou, and Weidong Zhan
2010 “Semantic Integration Processes at Different Levels of Syntactic Hierarchy During Sentence Comprehension: An ERP Study.” Neuropsychologia 48 (6): 1551-1562. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

Chan, Shiao-hui
2022. Dynamics of nominal classification systems in language processing. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 37:6 ► pp. 671 ff. DOI logo
Li, Jiaxuan, Jinghua Ou & Ming Xiang
2023. Context-specific effects of violated expectations: ERP evidence. Cognition 241 ► pp. 105628 ff. DOI logo
Wu, Fuyun, Jun Lyu & Yanan Sheng
2021. Effects of L1 Transfer Are Profound, Yet Native-Like Processing Strategy Is Attainable: Evidence From Advanced Learners’ Production of Complex L2 Chinese Structures. Frontiers in Psychology 12 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.