PhD project
The interplay of syntax and semantics in processing Mandarin Chinese
This PhD project mainly investigates in what way (i.e., serial or parallel mode or other mode) the parser processes the Mandarin Chinese. In addition, are there any specific linguistic features governing the decoding of Mandarin Chinese that are different from other languages? Are there any processing features in Mandarin Chinese that can be generalized to the processing of other languages?
- Duration
- 2021 - 2025
- Contact
- Xuan Tang
It is easily for people to read and understand a sentence within a couple of seconds. What makes this process that fast? Syntax and semantics play a major role in this respect. However, what are the time course of syntax and semantics? What mechnism hides behind and provides neurobiological support to this fast decoding of language? My project is experimentally driven and investigates the comprehension process of three most cannocial Chinese sentence structures, which are SVO, SOV and OSV word orders, by extracting typical ERP components (e.g., N400, P600). In addition, context has also been manipulated within these three sentence structures.