Readers 读者
Effect of classifier system on object similarity judgment: A cross-linguistic study
量词系统对物体相似度判断的影响：一项跨语言研究
Ruijing Wang 王瑞晶; Caicai Zhang 张偲偲
Abstract 摘要
Long-term experience with a classifier language influences the speakers’ similarity judgment of everyday objects. Previous studies found that speakers of a classifier language, but not speakers of a non-classifier language, judge two objects that can be categorized by a common classifier to be more similar (e.g. Zhang and Schmitt 1998; Saalbach and Imai 2007, 2012). In the literature, two hypotheses have been proposed to account for the classifier effect. The category-based classifier hypothesis emphasizes the classifier-noun collocation relationship as the factor influencing similarity judgment. The feature-based classifier hypothesis suggested that speakers pay more attention to features like shape and animacy that are explicitly expressed via classifiers. Nevertheless, these two hypotheses are not mutually exclusive. In the present study, three experiments were carried out to test an integrated hypothesis that both collocation relationship and classifier feature contribute to the classifier effect interactively. Experiment 1 was a linguistic survey of the classifier-noun collocation in two classifier languages, Mandarin and Cantonese. Experiment 2A and 2B tested the category-based and feature-based hypotheses with similarity judgment tasks in Mandarin and Cantonese, which have different classifier-noun collocations but largely similar distribution of classifier features. Experiment 3 proposed and tested the gradient classifier model which emphasizes the integrated effect of collocation relationship and classifier feature. Findings of this study suggest that long-term language experience influences the speaker’s preferred way of observing objects, and provide a finer interpretation of the nature of the classifier effect.
前人研究显示量词语言影响被试对日常物体的相似度的判断。母语为量词语言的被试判断两个可以被同一个量词修饰的名词更为相似，但是这种情况在母语为非量词语言的被试中不存在。前人提出了两种假说来解释这种量词效应。量词类假说强调量词与名词之间的搭配关系影响被试的判断。量词特征假说则认为量词的存在提高了被试对形状、动物性等特征的注意。但是这两种假说并不是互相排斥的。本文报告三个实验的结果，我们的发现是搭配关系和量词特征相互作用，共同影响被试对日常物体的相似度判断。本文的发现显示长期语言经验影响被试观察物体的习惯方式，并且为量词效应提供了更精确的解释。
Subject Keywords 关键词
Linguistic relativity 语言相对论 Classifier category 量词类 Classifier feature 量词特征 Similarity judgment 相似度判断 Mandarin 普通话 Cantonese 广东话