| Idioms are fixed phrases and have a unified meaning.Idioms have attracted the attention of researchers because of their uniqueness.There are two main structures of idioms:verbobject(VO)and modifier-noun(MN)structures.Idioms with a VO structure are comprised of a verb and an object(i.e.,泼+冷水).Idioms with an MN structure are comprised of a modifier and a noun(i.e.,乌纱+帽).Idioms with an MN structure have two forms:2-character modifier and 1-character noun(2+1MN)(i.e.,乌纱+帽)and 1-character modifier and 2-character noun(1+2MN)(i.e.,铁+公鸡).The idioms with an MN structure differ from those with a VO structure in terms of morpheme connection,lexicalization and morpheme function.Based on the previous studies conducted in alphabetic languages,researchers put forward three different views to explain the processing and comprehension of idioms.Previous studies mainly concentrated on the idioms with a VO structure.However,the idioms with an MN structure commonly exist in Chinese and the lexical characteristics differ from those with a VO structure.It is unclear how readers process and comprehend the idioms with an MN structure.Idioms with an MN structure are perfect materials for testing the Multi-Constituent Unit(MCU)hypothesis.The MCU hypothesis provided a new perspective for developing current eye movement models.According to the MCU hypothesis,idioms can be represented lexically as single representations both foveally and parafoveally during Chinese reading.A previous study revealed that Chinese idioms with a VO structure are processed foveally,but not parafoveally,as a single lexical unit,probably because the verb only loosely constrains object identity.By contrast,Chinese idioms with an MN structure are more likely MCU candidates due to significant modifier constraints over the subsequent noun.It is unclear whether idioms with an MN structure are processed,both fovealy and parafoveally,as single unit.Therefore,the present study was conducted to explore how readers process and comprehend MN structure idioms,which has vital implications for developing the theories of idioms and testing the MCU hypothesis.We conducted three studies,including 11 experiments.Study 1 investigated whether and how the structure of idioms influences the processing and comprehension of idioms,including experiment 1,experiment 2a and experiment 2b.Experiment 1 investigated how the structure of idioms modulated the processing of idioms adopting the boundary paradigm.We manipulated structure type(MN,VO),phrase type(idioms,phrases)and preview type(consistent,inconsistent).The results showed that the idioms with an MN structure were associated with shorter time and greater preview benefit than those with a VO structure.The results demonstrated that the structure of idioms affects the processing of idioms.Experiment 2a and Experiment 2b investigated the effect of structure on idiom comprehension in short processing time(SOA=300ms)and long processing time(SOA=800ms)by using a semantic priming task.We manipulated the structure of priming idioms(MN,VO)and the type of target words(literally related words,figuratively related words,unrelated words).The results showed that the reaction time of target words primed by the idioms with an MN structure was significantly shorter than that primed by the idioms with a VO structure.The effect was found both in short processing and long processing time.The results demonstrated that the structure of idioms affects the comprehension of idioms.Study 2 examined the processing of the idioms with an MN structure,including experiment 3a,experiment 3b,experiment 3c,experiment 4a,experiment 4b and experiment4 c.In experiment 3a,experiment 3b and experiment 3c,we investigated the processing of 2+1MN structure idioms which most likely to be processed as single units.In experiment 4a,experiment 4a and experiment 4c,we investigated the processing of 1+2 MN structure idioms which are less constraints from modifer over noun compared with 2+1 MN structure idioms.Experiment 3a investigated the processing of 2+1 MN structure idioms using the boundary paradigm.We manipulated phrase type(idioms,phrases)and preview type(identity,unrelated character,pseudocharacter).The results showed that 2+1 MN structure idioms were processed faster and associated with greater parafoveal preview than phrases.Furthermore,different preview baselines did not modulate these effects.The results illustrated that the idioms with a2+1 MN structure have processing advantages over phrases in both fovea and parafovea.Experiment 3b investigated how the preview of modifier affects the preview of the noun in 2+1 MN structure idioms using the boundary paradigm.In Experiment 3b,the preview of modifier and noun of idioms and phrases(consistent,inconsistent)were orthogonally.The results showed that readers obtained the preview from the noun only when the preview of the modifier was an identity rather than it was pseudocharacter.The effect was more pronounced for idioms than for phrases.The results suggested that idioms with a 2+1 MN structure are both fovealy and parafoveally processed as single representations.Experiment 3c explored the processing of idioms with a 2+1 MN structure using the word segment paradigm.Idioms and phrases with 2+1MN structure were presented as normal text,highlighting as a whole unit,highlighting according to their structure or highlighting inconsistent with their structure in the sentences.The results showed that the fixation time of whole unit segmentation was shorter than that of no segmentation and non-morpheme segmentation,the fixation time of morpheme segmentation was shorter than that of nonmorpheme segmentation.The whole unit segmentation associated with shorter time than morpheme segmentation.The findings demonstrated that both whole unit and morpheme processing exist in the 2+1 MN structure idioms,but the whole unit has a large priority.Experiment 4a,experiment 4a and experiment 4c adopted the similar paradigms as experiment 3a,experiment 3a and experiment 3c to investigate how readers process 1+2 MN structure idioms.Experiment 4a found that 1+2 MN structure idioms have processing advantages over phrases in both fovea and parafovea.Experiment 4b showed that 1+2 MN structure idioms are both fovealy and parafoveally processed as single representations.Finally,experiment 4c showed that whole unit processing exists in the 1+2 MN structure idioms,and whole unit has a large priority during the processing of 1+2 MN structure idioms.Study 3 investigated the comprehension of the idioms with an MN structure,including experiment 5a and experiment 5b.Experiment 5a and Experiment 5b investigated the comprehension of the idioms with an MN structure in short processing time(SOA=300ms)and long processing time(SOA=800ms)using a semantic priming task.We manipulated the type of priming idioms(1+2MN,2+1MN)and the type of target words(literally related words,figuratively related words,unrelated words).There was no effect of the prime type in both short processing time and long processing time.In short processing time,both literally related words and figuratively related words associated with shorter reaction time than unrelated target words.Furthermore,the reaction time of literally related words was longer than figuratively related words.In long processing time,the reaction time of literally related words was shorter than unrelated words.The findings demonstrated that there is no difference in the comprehension of the two forms of MN structure idioms.The literal and figurative meanings of MN idioms are activated when the processing time is short and the activation of literal meaning is stronger than figurative meaning.The literal meaning of MN structure idioms was activated when the processing time is long.The following conclusions can be drawn in our study:(1)The structure of idioms affects the processing and comprehension of idioms,this is,MN structure idioms are easier to process than VO structure idioms;(2)MN structure idioms have both whole unit and morpheme processing,which supports the hybrid model;(3)MN structure idioms activated both literal and figurative and the activation of literal meaning is stronger than figurative meaning,which supports the hybrid model;(4)MN structure idioms can be processed as lexical units both foveally and parafoveally,demonstrating there are MCUs in Chinese reading. |
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