| Pun, as a special rhetoric device, means the same expression can convey two or more meanings by means of homograph or homophone between words. Therefore, scholars are interested in it and have done series of researches on it. Many researchers have made a definition and classification of pun from the perspective of rhetorics and semantics; besides, lots of scholars have made an interpretation on the construal mechanism of pun from the angle of cognitive semantics and cognitive pragmatics, and have made some achievements. From the perspective of empirical study, three ways---reaction time, event-related potentials and fMRI are used to study pun. Scholars find that both meanings of pun are activated in both hemispheres and the left hemisphere has a higher speed in processing pun. They also point out that the different probes related to the different meanings of pun elicit different N400 and LPC component. Although the predecessors have done some researches, lying down the foundation for the empirical study on pun, the construal mechanism behind the ERPs data is rarely illustrated. Therefore, this study will explore the neuro-cognitive mechanism of the construal of Chinese pun from the perspective of empirical study.With the development of scientific techniques, ERPs(Event-Related Potentials) technique provides a new way for the empirical study of language cognition process. Therefore, this study will test the Annotation-Denotation Relevance-Inheritance Model proposed by Liao Qiaoyun(2015) with ERPs technique. And the research question is the following: Does the psychological reality of the extraction of the possible features exist during Chinese pun comprehension?The present experiment finishes in the Key Lab of Cognitive Neuro-science and Foreign Language Learning in SISU, Chongqing with 24 postgraduates of SISU participating in the experiment. The present experiment adopts the within subjects' design of 2(probe types) × 3(controls). All the materials are Chinese and are presented randomly. The subjects' task is to read and understand the sentences within fixed time, and then judge the probes presented after the sentences as true or false with corresponding buttons(F – true; J – false). The software E-prime is used to present the materials in the experiment, and computer is used to record the response and the response time, and results are collected and recorded by the software Neuroscan 4.5. Then, the ERPs data are treated by the off-line analysis and the outcomes are analyzed by statistic software SPSS 19.0.The research obtains the following results:(1) The significant differences of N400 between highly related probes with related puns and “highly” unrelated probes with unrelated puns are found at left and right frontal [p=0.000<0.05, p=0.000<0.05], right central [p=0.005<0.05],and left and right parietal area [p=0.010<0.05, p=0.001<0.05], and N400 amplitude elicited by highly related probes with related puns(frontal area, M=-8.469?V) is smaller than “highly” unrelated probes with unrelated puns(frontal area, M=-10.118?V). The differences of LPC between them are significant at right frontal area [p=0.027<0.05], and highly related probes with related puns elicit larger LPC(M=0.213?V) than “highly” unrelated probes with unrelated puns(M=-1.761?V).(2) The significant differences of N400 between moderately related probes with related puns and “moderately” unrelated probes with unrelated puns are found at left and right frontal [p=0.003<0.05, p=0.002<0.05], right central [p=0.002<0.05],and left and right parietal area [p=0.010<0.05, p=0.042<0.05], and N400 amplitude elicited by moderately related probes with related puns(frontal area, M=-8.169?V) is smaller than “moderately” unrelated probes with unrelated puns(frontal area, M=-10.567?V). The differences of LPC between them are significant at left frontal [p=0.006<0.05] and right central area [p=0.037<0.05], and moderately related probes with related puns(frontal area, M=-0.036?V) elicit larger LPC than “moderately” unrelated probes with unrelated puns(frontal area, M=-2.434?V).(3) The significant differences of the mean amplitude of the ERPS between highly related probes with related puns minus “highly” unrelated probes with unrelated puns and moderately related probes with related puns minus “moderately” unrelated probes with unrelated puns are found at the middle of central area [p=0.049<0.05], and the amount of variation of highly related probes minus “highly” unrelated probes(FZ electrode, M=0.673?V) is smaller than that of moderately related probes minus “moderately” unrelated probes(FZ electrode, M=3.094?V).The results of the present study illustrate the following points:(1) both meanings of pun are activated in both hemispheres, and the activation of the unconventional meaning exactly proves the existence of the psychological reality of the extraction of possible features during Chinese pun comprehension;(2) the construal of the unconventional meaning of Chinese pun needs more efforts at the middle of central area. The results support the Annotation-Denotation Relevance-Inheritance Model proposed by Liao Qiaoyun(2015), and provide scientific evidences for the construal mechanism of Chinese pun. |
PDF Full Text Request