The Stability of Vertical Trend in Processing Mandarin Temporal-Spatial Metaphor

Abstract

Abstract: Previous studies showed that, while the English speakers primarily process the Temporal-Spatial metaphor horizontally, the Chinese speakers are likely to process it vertically. The present study aimed to investigate whether the second language(English)experience can affect the Mandarin Temporal-Spatial metaphor performance. The spatial priming paradigm was applied(with either the vertical or horizontal pictures as the priming incentives)and the Mandarin-English bilinguals were asked to judge the accuracy of three kinds of time questions（vertical, horizontal, and temporal）. In Experiment 1, the Mandarin-English bilinguals who have more than 10 years′ English learning experience in mainland China were enrolled. Results showed that, participants responded faster after vertical priming terms, and had shorter response time and higher accuracy for vertical questions of time, indicating that Mandarin performed better with the vertical spatial information, and that the long-term English learning experience does not affect the vertical-bias of the Temporal-Spatial metaphor. In Experiment 2, we tested the Mandarin-English bilinguals from Hong Kong and Macao who have more English learning experience and higher proficiency of English. Similar results were obtained that the participants responded faster after the vertical priming terms with shorter response time and higher accuracy for the vertical question of time. The findings of the two experiments suggest that, for the unbalanced Mandarin-English bilinguals tested in present study, their English learning experience does not seem to affect vertical-biased processing of Temporal-Spatial metaphor.Key words Mandarin, Temporal-Spatial metaphor, second language experience.

Key words: Mandarin, Temporal-Spatial metaphor, second language experience

摘要： 前人的研究发现，汉语时间-空间隐喻的加工表现出一定的垂直偏向性。本文两个实验采用空间启动的范式，考察汉英双语者二语（英语）经验对汉语时间-空间隐喻加工偏向性的影响。实验1以中国内地汉英双语大学生为被试，结果发现，在垂直空间启动条件下，被试的反应时更快，垂直性时间问题的反应时最短，正确率最高，即表现出时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性，这说明英语经验未影响汉语时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性。实验2采用英语熟练程度更高，来自我国港、澳地区的汉英双语大学生为被试，得到了和实验1类似的结果。两个实验结果表明，对于非平衡的汉英双语者而言，英语经验并未对汉语母语时间-空间隐喻加工的偏向性产生影响，汉语时间-空间隐喻加工的垂直偏向性表现出相当程度的稳固性。

关键词: 汉语, 时间-空间隐喻, 二语经验。

CLC Number:

B842.1

Zhang Yingying, Yu Fangjing, Zhou Zhijin, Chen Baoguo. The Stability of Vertical Trend in Processing Mandarin Temporal-Spatial Metaphor[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2016, 14(4): 446-462.

张颖颖, 于方静, 周治金, 陈宝国. 汉语时间-空间隐喻加工垂直偏向性的稳固性[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2016, 14(4): 446-462.

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