The Effect of Implicit Prosody and Context on the Disambiguation of Chinese Balanced Ambiguous Structure

doi:10.12139/j.1672-0628.2022.06.004

Abstract

Abstract:

In order to explore the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis, the present study conducted an eye movement experiment to explore the effect of implicit prosody boundary and context on processing the balanced “V+N1+de+N2” ambiguous structure. The results showed that in the narrative-object context, the total fixation durations were shorter and the regressions-in proportion was lower when the prosodic boundary was located behind the “verb” (the meaning of prosodic boundary guidance is consistent with the context) than when the prosodic boundary was located behind “de” (the meaning of prosodic boundary guidance is inconsistent with the context). This suggests that ambiguous structure is easier to be processed when its meaning guided by prosodic boundary is consistent with the context than when it is inconsistent with the context. These findings provide evidence from Chinese for the universality of the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis.

Key words: implicit prosody, context, balanced“V+N1+de+N2”ambiguous structure, ambiguity resolution

摘要：

为检验内隐韵律假说，采用眼动技术探讨了韵律边界及语境信息对汉语均衡型“V+N1+de+N2”歧义结构歧义消解的作用。结果发现，在动宾语境下，韵律边界位于“动词”后（韵律边界引导的意义与语境一致）与韵律边界位于“的”后（韵律边界引导的意义与语境不一致）相比，兴趣区的总注视时间更短，回视入比率更低。这表明，韵律边界与语境一致比不一致时加工更容易，韵律边界与语境一致时促进了歧义结构的歧义消解。研究结论为内隐韵律假说的普遍性提供了汉语的证据。

关键词: 内隐韵律, 语境, 均衡型“V+N1+de+N2”歧义结构, 歧义消解

CLC Number:

B842

Miao YU, Simin ZHOU, Jiaxin LONG. The Effect of Implicit Prosody and Context on the Disambiguation of Chinese Balanced Ambiguous Structure[J]. Studies of Psychology and Behavior, 2022, 20(6): 739-746.

于秒, 周思敏, 龙佳欣. 内隐韵律与语境对汉语均衡型歧义结构歧义消解的作用[J]. 心理与行为研究, 2022, 20(6): 739-746.

Figures/Tables 3

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韵律边界	语境	句例
动词后	动宾语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章之后，主任建议大家都读一下。
“的”后	动宾语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章之后，主任建议大家都读一下。
动词后	定中语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章不多，主任建议大家去查一下。
“的”后	定中语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章不多，主任建议大家去查一下。

韵律边界	语境	句例
动词后	动宾语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章之后，主任建议大家都读一下。
“的”后	动宾语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章之后，主任建议大家都读一下。
动词后	定中语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章不多，主任建议大家去查一下。
“的”后	定中语境	小刘说，赞扬小王的文章不多，主任建议大家去查一下。

眼动指标	韵律边界	动宾语境	定中语境
首次注视时间（ms）	动词后	230（70）	234（76）
首次注视时间（ms）	“的”后	223（65）	226（72）
凝视时间（ms）	动词后	260（98）	263（107）
凝视时间（ms）	“的”后	247（87）	253（96）
回视路径时间（ms）	动词后	402（274）	454（348）
回视路径时间（ms）	“的”后	433（325）	470（356）
总注视时间（ms）	动词后	615（360）	745（413）
总注视时间（ms）	“的”后	680（380）	757（374）
回视入比率	动词后	0.37（0.47）	0.44（0.50）
回视入比率	“的”后	0.50（0.47）	0.48（0.47）
回视出比率	动词后	0.26（0.42）	0.26（0.42）
回视出比率	“的”后	0.29（0.42）	0.31（0.44）

眼动指标	韵律边界	动宾语境	定中语境
首次注视时间（ms）	动词后	230（70）	234（76）
首次注视时间（ms）	“的”后	223（65）	226（72）
凝视时间（ms）	动词后	260（98）	263（107）
凝视时间（ms）	“的”后	247（87）	253（96）
回视路径时间（ms）	动词后	402（274）	454（348）
回视路径时间（ms）	“的”后	433（325）	470（356）
总注视时间（ms）	动词后	615（360）	745（413）
总注视时间（ms）	“的”后	680（380）	757（374）
回视入比率	动词后	0.37（0.47）	0.44（0.50）
回视入比率	“的”后	0.50（0.47）	0.48（0.47）
回视出比率	动词后	0.26（0.42）	0.26（0.42）
回视出比率	“的”后	0.29（0.42）	0.31（0.44）

眼动指标	韵律边界	动宾语境	定中语境
第一遍注视时间（ms）	动词后	763（381）	843（430）
第一遍注视时间（ms）	“的”后	805（406）	833（423）
总注视时间（ms）	动词后	2100（934）	2646（1131）
总注视时间（ms）	“的”后	2221（979）	2503（1002）
回视入比率	动词后	0.90（0.24）	0.92（0.20）
回视入比率	“的”后	0.90（0.24）	0.92（0.21）