A Comparative Study Of English Semantic Satiation And Chinese Orthographic Satiation From Linguistic Perspective

The thesis is an empirical study on Chinese-oriented Semantic Satiation. Basing upon1)the analysis of the relevant papers of Semantic Satiation carried out by western scholars and Taiwan scholars,2)the researching results of the forerunner scholars, and3)the exploration of the Semantic Satiation of Chinese characters, the thesis reveals three problems on Chinese-oriented Semantic Satiation studies:firstly, what is the possible relation between Semantic Satiation and Orthographic Satiation? Secondly, is there cross-satiation effect among English-Chinese bilinguals? Last, is there cross-satiation between traditional and simplified Chinese characters?In order to solve the precious problems, three experiments have been carried out accordingly in the thesis. The results prove:1) Single-component Chinese characters are also subjected to orthographic satiation;2) There is cross-satiation effect among English-Chinese compound bilinguals;3) No cross-satiation effect appears between traditional and simplified Chinese characters.Two important conclusions about the Semantic Satiation of Chinese characters are drawn through the data collection and the experimental results. The first conclusion is that Orthographic Satiation is the first level of Semantic Satiation. The conclusion is drawn through two foundations:1)the comparative analysis of the causes, stimuli and effect of the two phenomena and2)the discussion of the inseparability of structure and meaning. By applying Hjelmslev’s definition of Signification System, the thesis also provides an explanation for the reason why Taiwan scholars focus on the decomposition of words structure and do not go further to explore of the loss of meaning. The second conclusion, taking Saville&Troike’s (1970) theory of bilingualism as the basis, is devoted to explanations of cross-satiation effect among English-Chinese bilinguals:the repeated stimulation of a Chinese stimulus causes the meaning satiation, which slows down the high-speeded translation process undergoing in the mind of the participants, so a cross-satiation effect is created.