Application Research On The Dual Process Theory In Chinese Noun-Noun Conceptual Combinations

In cognitive science, including cognitive psychology and linguistics, conceptual combination is a very important project. The process of conceptual combination and its interpretation is a demanding job of attention and effort, especially the N+N conceptual combination.Based on the large quantity of Chinese N+N compounds, the paper finds that there is another type of combinations ?fusion, besides the four types classified by Wisniewski: property mapping, relation linking, hybrid and other. The fusion is more common in Chinese than in other languages, and its understanding mechanism is very different from that of the other four types.Among many competing theories which attempt to account for how concepts combine and are interpreted, the paper takes Wisniewski's dual process theory as its starting point. The paper validates the correctness and universalism of the dual process theory in its applicability in explaining Chinese data by way of experiments, meanwhile finds the inadequacy and gives useful supplement for the dual process theory. As the research shows, the dual process theory cannot offer an adequate explanation to fusions, a very common type of combinations besides the four types found by scholars in the field, because of the differences in word structure between Chinese and English and the rich meaning of Chinese words, such as: glass ceiling, stone joss.In the experiment, we examined how people understand noun-noun conceptual combination and determined the similarity degree of each combination, and how the similarity of component nouns is related to the occurrence of emergent properties and the forms of interpretations. Our findings run against Downing's last resort hypothesis and confirm Wisniewski's prediction: the emergent property tends to appear in the dissimilar combinations; the interpretations for similar combinations tend to map the properties of one constituent onto the other, viz property mapping interpretation; whereas the interpretations for dissimilar combinations tend to select a thematic relation between the two constituents, namely relation linking interpretation. The detailed analysis of three fusions: electricity heroin, information highway and apron husband within the four mental space model of conceptual integration theory demonstrates the great complexity and creativeness of conceptual combinations.