AUTHOR=Liao Qiaoyun , Weng Xin , Dong Chao , Zhang Yuxin 

TITLE=The facilitation of constructional meaning in the processing of Mandarin innovative Bei construction

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128340

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128340

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>The processing of Mandarin innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction in the form of “<italic>Bei</italic> + X” is different from that of the traditional <italic>Bei</italic> construction in that the former activates the constructional meaning which is intrinsically negative. This study thus investigates whether the processing of Mandarin innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction is facilitated by the access of such emergent negative associations in a self-paced reading experiment with a priming paradigm. In this study, participants firstly read lexical primes in three conditions including construction-related phrases (i.e. phrases expressing the negative constructional meaning of the innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction), component-related phrases (i.e. phrases expressing the partial literal meaning of the innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction), and unrelated phrases (i.e. phrases expressing unrelated meaning to the innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction). They then read sentences where the innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction was fitted into and finally answered questions. Results showed that the lexical primes conveying the constructional meaning of the innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction significantly shortened participants’ reading time duration as compared with another two priming conditions. To conclude, the processing of Mandarin innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction is facilitated by the priming of its constructional meaning, which provides some psychological evidence for the construction-based processing of Mandarin innovative <italic>Bei</italic> construction.</p>