Chinese idioms as constructions

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 558-592
Author(s):  
Te-hsin Liu ◽  
Lily I-Wen Su
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Chinese Idioms ◽  
Idiom Processing

Abstract Chinese Quadrisyllabic Idiomatic Expressions (henceforth QIEs) are highly productive in the modern language. They can be used to understand the cognitive processing of structure and meaning during reading comprehension, as in the patterning of [qian-A-wan-B] ‘1k-A-10k-B’ (e.g. one-thousand army ten-thousand horse). However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of QIEs during reading comprehension. Adopting the framework of Construction Grammar, in the present study, we aimed to study the convergence and divergence between native speakers and L2 learners in the processing of Chinese idiomatic constructions. In the present study, twenty-three native university-level Mandarin speakers and twenty-three L2 learners of intermediate and advanced levels of Mandarin, all speakers of the non Sinosphere, participated in the experiment, and were instructed to make a semantic congruency judgment during the presentation of a QIE. Our results showed that, for both native speakers and L2 learners, semantically transparent idiomatic constructions elicited much shorter RTs than semantically opaque idiomatic constructions. Our behavioral results also showed that native speakers processed low frequency QIEs faster than high frequency ones, implying semantic satiation to impede the interpretation of high frequency idioms. For L2 learners, it was semantic transparency, rather than frequency, that played a more prominent role in idiom processing.

scholarly journals Investigation of Native Speaker and Second Language Learner Intuition of Collocation Frequency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Siyanova ◽  
S Spina
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Very Low Frequency ◽  
Second Language Learner ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 And L2

© 2015 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan. Research into frequency intuition has focused primarily on native (L1) and, to a lesser degree, nonnative (L2) speaker intuitions about single word frequency. What remains a largely unexplored area is L1 and L2 intuitions about collocation (i.e., phrasal) frequency. To bridge this gap, the present study aimed to answer the following question: How do L2 learners and native speakers compare against each other and corpora in their subjective judgments of collocation frequency? Native speakers and learners of Italian were asked to judge 80 noun-adjective pairings as one of the following: high frequency, medium frequency, low frequency, very low frequency. Both L1 and L2 intuitions of high frequency collocations correlated strongly with corpus frequency. Neither of the two groups of participants exhibited accurate intuitions of medium and low frequency collocations. With regard to very low frequency pairings, L1 but not L2 intuitions were found to correlate with corpora for the majority of the items. Further, mixed-effects modeling revealed that L2 learners were comparable to native speakers in their judgments of the four frequency bands, although some differences did emerge. Taken together, the study provides new insights into the nature of L1 and L2 intuitions about phrasal frequency.

scholarly journals Investigation of Native Speaker and Second Language Learner Intuition of Collocation Frequency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Siyanova ◽  
S Spina
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Very Low Frequency ◽  
Second Language Learner ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 And L2

© 2015 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan. Research into frequency intuition has focused primarily on native (L1) and, to a lesser degree, nonnative (L2) speaker intuitions about single word frequency. What remains a largely unexplored area is L1 and L2 intuitions about collocation (i.e., phrasal) frequency. To bridge this gap, the present study aimed to answer the following question: How do L2 learners and native speakers compare against each other and corpora in their subjective judgments of collocation frequency? Native speakers and learners of Italian were asked to judge 80 noun-adjective pairings as one of the following: high frequency, medium frequency, low frequency, very low frequency. Both L1 and L2 intuitions of high frequency collocations correlated strongly with corpus frequency. Neither of the two groups of participants exhibited accurate intuitions of medium and low frequency collocations. With regard to very low frequency pairings, L1 but not L2 intuitions were found to correlate with corpora for the majority of the items. Further, mixed-effects modeling revealed that L2 learners were comparable to native speakers in their judgments of the four frequency bands, although some differences did emerge. Taken together, the study provides new insights into the nature of L1 and L2 intuitions about phrasal frequency.

Processing of inflected nouns in late bilinguals

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARJA PORTIN ◽  
MINNA LEHTONEN ◽  
MATTI LAINE
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Full Form ◽  
Late Exposure ◽  
Complex Words

This study investigated the recognition of Swedish inflected nouns in two participant groups. Both groups were Finnish-speaking late learners of Swedish, but the groups differed in regard to their Swedish language proficiency. In a visual lexical decision task, inflected Swedish nouns from three frequency ranges were contrasted with corresponding monomorphemic nouns. The reaction times and error rates suggested morphological decomposition for low-frequency inflected words. Yet, both medium- and high-frequency inflected words appeared to possess full-form representations. Despite an overall advantage for the more proficient participants, this pattern was present in both groups. The results indicate that even late exposure to a language can yield such input representations for morphologically complex words that are typical of native speakers.

Lexical Decisions and Knowledge of Orthographic Structure in Skilled and Less Skilled College Readers

1981 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 959-965
Author(s):  
Delphine Yelen ◽  
Gary B. Forbach
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Skilled Readers ◽  
Lexical Decisions ◽  
College Readers ◽  
High Frequency Words

College students were classified as either skilled or less skilled readers on the basis of reading comprehension scores and were then asked to judge whether high-frequency words, low-frequency words, orthographically legal nonwords, and orthographically illegal nonwords were words or nonwords. Skilled readers were significantly faster than less skilled readers on this task for all stimulus categories, but the largest differences between groups were found for low-frequency words and legal nonwords. Differences between the groups were larger for orthographically illegal nonwords than for high-frequency words. It was concluded that less skilled college readers do not use orthographic structure as an aid in lexical decisions as well as skilled readers and that their ability to decode even high-frequency words is not as automatic as that of the skilled readers.

scholarly journals Levels of Affixation in the Acquisition of English Morphology: A Review of Selected Paper

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-72
Author(s):  
Sikin Nuratika ◽  
Nilam Cahaya Fitri Yanti ◽  
Ester Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Level 1 ◽  
Level 2

In considering word formation in language development, there appear to be two central issues which can broadly be characterized as questions relating to (i) productivity, and (ii) constraints. This paper reviews one of the renowned articles which involving the theory of level-ordering that has three levels  within the lexicon, children, recognize high-frequency words than low-frequency words written by Peter Gordon (1989), entitled "Levels of Affixation in the Acquisition of English Morphology." This study has three untimed lexical-decision experiments which were carried out with 5- through 9-year-olds of native speakers of English and found general support for a systematic relation between productivity and level assignment. The aim of this paper is to make sure the readers would understand what the article's researcher try to explain about the word-formation such as stem, the stem which add affixes of Level 1, stem which adds affixes of Level 2, and stem which add affixes of Level 3. Moreover, this article's references are accurate (valid) and well-argued. This article is highly recommended for word formation in language development because the researcher stated that children might have a significant part in this process. Therefore, this paper seen the word-formation will be rich in language development depends on how often people actively create words, for example, by combining stems and affixes in much the same way that they generate sentences.

scholarly journals Electroacupuncture at Bilateral Zusanli Points (ST36) Protects Intestinal Mucosal Immune Barrier in Sepsis

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-fei Zhu ◽  
Xi Xing ◽  
Shu Lei ◽  
Jian-nong Wu ◽  
Ling-cong Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
Cd8 T Cells ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Intestinal Injury ◽  
High Morbidity ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
High Permeability ◽  
Injury Index ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Sepsis results in high morbidity and mortality. Immunomodulation strategies could be an adjunctive therapy to treat sepsis. Acupuncture has also been used widely for many years in China to treat sepsis. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well-defined. We demonstrated here that EA preconditioning at ST36 obviously ameliorated CLP-induced intestinal injury and high permeability and reduced the mortality of CLP-induced sepsis rats. Moreover, electroacupuncture (EA) pretreatment exerted protective effects on intestinal mucosal immune barrier by increasing the concentration of sIgA and the percentage of CD3+,γ/δ, and CD4+ T cells and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T cells. Although EA at ST36 treatments immediately after closing the abdomen in the CLP procedure with low-frequency or high-frequency could not reduce the mortality of CLP-induced sepsis in rats, these EA treatments could also significantly improve intestinal injury index in rats with sepsis and obviously protected intestinal mucosal immune barrier. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that EA at ST36 could improve intestinal mucosal immune barrier in sepsis induced by CLP, while the precise mechanism underlying the effects needs to be further elucidated.

Effects of verb–construction association on second language constructional generalizations in production and comprehension

2020 ◽  
pp. 026765832093262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Chang Sung ◽  
Hyunwoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Association Strength ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Resultative Constructions ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
L2 Learners

How strongly a verb is associated with a construction plays a crucial role in the learning of argument structure constructions. We examined the effect of verb–construction association strength on second language (L2) constructional generalization by analysing L2 learners’ production and comprehension of two complex constructions (i.e. ditransitive and resultative), comparable in constructional complexity and input frequency but distinctive in verb–construction association. Using a learner corpus study, we found greater verbal usage variability in the production of ditransitive rather than resultative constructions. The results of an acceptability judgment task indicated that L2 learners accepted the ditransitive sentences regardless of whether they contained high-frequency or low-frequency verbs, but learners were more likely to accept the resultative sentences when they read high-frequency rather than low-frequency verbs. These findings suggest that verb–construction association affects the learning of argument structure constructions, supporting its contribution to the constructional generalization.

scholarly journals Statistics and semantics in the acquisition of Spanish word order: Testing two accounts of the retreat from locative overgeneralization errors

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Aguado-Orea ◽  
Nuria Otero ◽  
Ben Ambridge
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Spanish Word ◽  
Syntactic Differences

AbstractNative speakers of Spanish (children aged 6–7, 10–11 and adults) rated grammatical and ungrammatical ground- and figure-locative sentences with high frequency, low frequency and novel verbs (e. g., Lisallenó/forró/nupóla caja con papel; *Lisallenó/forró/nupópapel en la caja, ‘Lisa filled/lined/nupped the box with paper’; ‘Lisa filled/lined/nupped paper into the box’) using a 5-point scale. Echoing the findings of a previous English study (a language with some important syntactic differences relevant to the locative), participants rated errors as least acceptable with high frequency verbs, more acceptable with low frequency verbs, and most acceptable with novel verbs, suggesting that learners retreat from error using statistically-based learning mechanisms regardless of the target language. In support of the semantic verb class hypothesis, adults showed evidence of using the meanings assigned to novel verbs to determine the locative constructions in which they can and cannot appear. However, unlike in the previous English study, the child groups did not. We conclude that the more flexible word order exhibited by Spanish, as compared to English, may make these types of regularities more difficult to discern.

Tensile Fatigue and Life Prediction of a SiC/SiC Composite

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Shi
Keyword(s):  
Fatigue Life ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Life Prediction ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Fatigue Life Prediction ◽  
Test Results ◽  
R Ratio ◽  
Tensile Fatigue ◽  
Stiffness Variation ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

This paper summaries two sets of tension-tension fatigue results. The first set corresponds to low R ratio (0.1) and low frequency (1Hz), whereas the second set covers high R ratio (0.9) and high frequency (10Hz). For the former, detailed analysis of stress strain loops is conducted in connection with the underlying mechanisms that govern fatigue deformation and life. For the latter only stiffness variation with fatigue cycles is discussed. The test results are also examined for their impact on fatigue life prediction.

Word Frequency and Age Effects in Normally Developing Children's Phonological Processing

1996 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1099-1108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary A. Troia ◽  
Froma P. Roth ◽  
Grace H. Yeni-Komshian
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Second Grade ◽  
Confrontation Naming

Eleven kindergarten-age students and 11 second-grade students were asked to perform each of four phonological processing tasks: (a) confrontation naming of object drawings, (b) rapid sequential naming of object drawings and letters, (c) segmentation of words into sounds, and (d) blending sounds to produce words. Response accuracy and, for the picture naming tasks, response latency were measured. In addition, single-word reading ability and silent reading comprehension were evaluated. Results indicated that high-frequency stimuli were named faster and, in one task, more accurately than low-frequency stimuli. Blending sounds to produce high-frequency words was less difficult than blending sounds to produce low-frequency words, but word frequency did not affect sound segmentation performance. Children in second grade generally were faster and more accurate than kindergarten children in naming pictures. They also were able to segment more sounds and correctly blend sounds to produce more target words than kindergarten students. Confrontation naming accuracy, rapid object-and letter-naming latency, and sound segmentation and blending accuracy were intercorrelated and were related to word recognition and to reading comprehension. Serial naming speed was highly related to phonological awareness in kindergarten, whereas confrontation naming accuracy was highly related to phonological awareness in second grade. A limited cognitive resources framework was adopted to interpret these findings.

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