An ERPs Approach To The Possible Feature Abstraction In The Construal Of Chinese Metonymy

In recent years, cognitive linguistics witnesses the thriving of metonymy studies. Cognitive linguistics transfers metonymy from a traditional figure of speech to a way of thinking and a cognitive tool and work on it from diverse aspects. Theoretically, scholars at home and abroad mainly study the nature and the working mechanism of metonymy. Empirically, some researches adopt eye-tracking experiment, f MRI approach and so on to study metonymy. Previous studies have made a solid basis for the understanding of metonymy. However, further efforts still need to be made for the study of construal mechanism of metonymy. In the meantime, no research applying the ERPs technique to the study of Chinese metonymy is found.Liao Qiaoyun(2015) puts forward a Chinese semantic rhetoric construal mechanism, Annotation-Denotation Relevance-Inheritance Model(ADRIM). A new approach for the construal of Chinese metonymy is provided. She holds that a process of possible feature abstraction exists in the construal of Chinese metonymy. Therefore, the research question is the following: Is there any electrophysiological evidence to support the psychological reality of possible feature abstraction in the construal of Chinese metonymy?The experiment is conducted in the Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Foreign Language Learning in SISU, Chongqing. It is a one-factor within-subjects design with three levels(types of critical sentences: metonymic sentences, literal sentences and nonsensical sentences). Materials are made in Chinese and are presented randomly. First, subjects are presented with contexts and critical sentences. They are required to read and understand these materials carefully and thoroughly. Next, subjects are presented with probe words, and are asked to judge the realness of the probe words and press the corresponding buttons on the keyboard. Then, subjects are presented with an assertive sentences. They need to judge whether the meaning of the assertive sentence is in line with the foregoing discourse. The experiment is programmed by using the software E-prime 2.0. The behavioral data are recorded by the computer and the ERPs results are collected, recorded and off-line analyzed by the software Neuroscan4.5. The data are analyzed by statistic software SPSS19.0.The research obtains the following results:(1) The amplitude of N100 witnesses differences between metonymic sentences and literal sentences in the right frontal region [t(17)=-2.069, p=.054<.08]. The amplitude of N100 elicited by metonymic sentences is larger than that elicited by literal sentences.(2) The amplitude of P200 witnesses differences between metonymic sentences and literal sentences in the left frontal region [t(17)=-2.710, p=.015<.05], the right frontal region [t(17)=-3.190, p=.005<.05], the left central region [t(17)=-2.775, p=.013<.05], the right central region [t(17)=-3.804, p=.001<.05] and the right parietal region [t(17)=-2.402, p=.028<.05]. The amplitude of P200 elicited by metonymic sentences is smaller than that elicited by literal sentences.(3) The amplitude of N400 witnesses differences between metonymic sentences and literal sentences in the left frontal region [t(17)=-4.508, p=.000<.05], the left central region [t(17)=-4.562, p=.000<.05], the right central region [t(17)=-2.871, p=.011<.05], the left parietal region [t(17)=-2.217, p=.041<.05] and the right parietal region [t(17)=-2.891, p=.010<.05]. The amplitude of N400 elicited by metonymic sentences is larger than that elicited by literal sentences.On the basis of the above results, the conclusions are summarized as follows:(1) In processing Chinese metonymy there exists the abstraction of possible feature.(2) There are differences between the processing of metonymic sentences and that of literal sentences in frontal, central and parietal region and in left and right hemisphere. The results of the present study provide electrophysiological evidence for psychological reality of the possible feature abstraction and support Chinese semantic rhetoric construal mechanism model(ADRIM) proposed by Liao Qiaoyun.