A Comparative Study On Embodied Semantic Effect Of English-chinese Abstract Vs Concrete Nouns Processing Of Chinese EFL Learners

In phenomenology,Husserl believes that the body is extensive and thus occupies a certain space and is causally associated with other objects.Spatial cognition is the basis of human cognition,and it can help us recognize and understand the world.Although previous studies have used corpus research methods to explore the embodied semantic effects of lexical processing,there have been few researches on the differences between Chinese and English vocabularies from the perspective of behavioral experiments.This thesis further enriches the materials on the basis of previous research,and refines the word class of noun for comparison.Based on the theory of embodied language cognition,and using the Corpus Center of Beijing Language and Culture University(BCC)and the British National Corpus(BNC)as data sources,adopting RT technique,this paper analyzes the differences in the mental representation of abstract words and concrete word space concepts in Chinese and English and to find out the reasons behind the differences in the embodied semantic processing of Chinese and English words.Therefore,this study adopts the technique of reaction time to explore the differences in the mental representation of space concepts in the processing of Chinese and English abstract words and concrete words.The specific research questions are:(1)Is there an embodied semantic effect in the processing of English abstract words and concrete words?(2)Is there an embodied semantic effect in the processing of Chinese abstract words and concrete words?(3)Does word abstraction affects the embodied semantic effect of second language learners’ English and Chinese word processing? If it does,then what kind of effect there is?This study is divided into two experiments: one in English(Experiment 1)and one in Chinese(Experiment 2),both of which use the formula of 2(prime word-target stimulus spatial orientation consistency: consistent,inconsistent)X 2(lexical abstraction: abstract words,concrete words).33 graduate students majoring in English from Sichuan International Studies University were chosen as subjects for the experiment,and their accuracy rate and response time when completing the semantic matching assignment were recorded.The experimental program was written in EPrime software,and the entire experiment was carried out at Sichuan International Studies University’s Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neurology for Foreign Language Learning.SPSS16.0 was used to analyze the experimental data,and the results are as follows:The English experiment(Experiment 1)demonstrates that there is a main effect of word abstraction in English word processing(F=90.632,p=.000),and there is a main effect of orientational consistency(F=366.007,p=.000),but there was no interaction effect between the two(F=3.206,p=.073);whether the input is abstract or concrete,the processing of the upper word in the upper space is always faster than that of the lower word in the lower area.Lower words are always processed faster in the lower space than in the higher space,and it is significant;whether or not the semantic and spatial orientations are consistent,Chinese EFL learners absorb concrete words faster than abstract terms,and this is significant.This demonstrates that there are disparities in the processing of mental representations of English lexical space notions by Chinese EFL learners.The Chinese experiment(Experiment 2)demonstrates through data processing of response time: there is main effect of word abstraction(F=6.550,p=.001)and main effect of orientation consistency(F=262.722,p=.000),but there is no interaction effect between the two(F=.459,p=.498).whether it is an abstract word or a concrete word,the processing of the upper word in the upper space is always faster than in the lower space,the lower words are always processed faster in the lower space than in the upper space,and it is significant;no matter whether the semantic and spatial orientations are consistent or not,Chinese EFL learners process concrete words faster than abstract words,and this is significant.This demonstrates that Chinese EFL learners perceive the mental representation of Chinese lexical space notions differently.In summary,The conclusions of this study highlight the embodied semantic effect of lexical processing,and it will provide a more adequate explanation for the research on embodied language cognition and spatial metaphor.