Patrick Chu, PhD
Research on Aspectual Asymmetry in the Human Mind
Aspectual asymmetries in the mental representation of events: Role of lexical and grammatical aspect
Foong Ha Yap, Patrick Chun Kau Chu, Emily Sze Man Yiu, Stella Fay Wong, Stella Wing Man Kwan, Stephen Matthews, Li Hai Tan, Ping Li and Yasuhiro Shirai
Temporal information is important in the construction of situation models, and many languages make use of perfective and imperfective aspect markers to distinguish between completed situations (e.g., He made a cake) and ongoing situations (e.g., He is making a cake). Previous studies in which the effect of grammatical aspect has been examined have shown that perfective sentences are often processed more quickly than imperfective ones (e.g., Chan, Yap, Shirai, & Matthews, 2004; Madden & Zwaan, 2003; Yap et al., 2004; Yap et al., 2006). However, these studies used only accomplishment verbs (i.e., verbs with an inherent endpoint, such as bake a cake). The present study on the processing of Cantonese includes activity verbs (i.e., durative verbs with no inherent endpoint, such as play the piano), and the results indicate a strong interaction between lexical aspect (i.e., verb type) and grammatical aspect. That is, perfective sentences were processed more quickly with accomplishment verbs, consistent with previous findings, but imperfective sentences were processed more quickly with activity verbs. We suggest that these different aspectual asymmetries emerge as a result of the inherent associations between accomplishment verbs and the bounded features of perfective aspect and between activity verbs and the unbounded features of imperfective aspect.
Interaction of lexical and grammatical aspect (and frequency) in verb processing
Foong Ha Yap, Emily Sze Man Yiu, Patrick Chun Kau Chu, Yumi Inoue, Yasuhiro Shirai and Stephen Matthews
Aspect contributes important temporal information for the construction of situation models in the human mind. Previous studies examining the effect of grammatical aspect show that perfective sentences are processed faster than imperfective ones (e.g. Madden & Zwaan, 2003; Chan et al., 2004; Yap et al., 2006). These studies indicate that telicity (i.e. temporal endpoint focus) has a significant effect on event representation and processing. However, these studies used only accomplishment verbs (e.g. bake a cake).
In a subsequent Cantonese study, Yap et al. (2005) showed that, with activity verbs, imperfective sentences were processed faster instead. This finding points to an interaction between grammatical aspect and lexical aspect (i.e. verb type), and can be explained in terms of prototype theory. That is, accomplishment verbs combined with perfective aspect (e.g. knitted a sweater) form prototypical representations for telic situations (i.e. situations with an anticipated endpoint), while those combining with imperfective aspect (e.g. knitting a sweater) form less prototypical representations for telic situations. In the case of activity verbs, the situation is reversed. Combinations of activity verbs with imperfective aspect (e.g. is skating) constitute prototypical representations for atelic situations, while combinations with perfective aspect (e.g. skated) constitute less prototypical representations. Essentially, for both verb types, prototypical combinations are processed faster than non-prototypical ones. This is consistent with findings in both usage and acquisition studies (e.g. Rosch & Mervis 1975; Shirai & Andersen, 1995; Li & Shirai, 2000; Wagner, in press). However, it has yet to be established whether this prototype account holds for verb types other than accomplishments and activities.
The present study extends this investigation to more verb types, including achievement verbs in Japanese. The prototype analysis predicts that, all things being equal, accomplishment verbs marked with perfective aspect -ta (e.g. kowaretta ‘broke’) would be processed faster than those marked with imperfective aspect –teiru (e.g. kowaretteiru ‘is broken’).
A sentence-picture matching task was used to measure the response time for processing perfective -ta and imperfective -teiru sentences in Japanese, using activity and achievementverbs, for comparison with earlier work done with accomplishment verbs (Yap et al., 2006). The results show that the mean reaction time for processing activity verbs is faster for imperfective than for perfective sentences (p<.0001). However, for achievement verbs, no difference in mean reaction time was observed between the perfective and imperfective sentences (p=.506). The insignificant difference between imperfective and perfective sentences for the achievement verbs is incongruent with the predictions of the prototype account. However, this interaction effect appears to be sensitive to frequency factors. Findings from a recent corpus study (Shirai & Nishi, 2005) supports the possibility of a usage frequency effect in favor of imperfective achievement sentences in Japanese.
References
Yi Heng Chan, Foong Ha Yap, Yasuhiro Shirai, & Stephen Matthews. 2004. A perfective-imperfective asymmetry in language processing: Evidence from Cantonese. Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics, (pp. 383-391). Academia Sinica and the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University, Taipei.
Ping Li. & Yasuhiro Shirai. 2000. The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Carol Madden & Rolf Zwaan. 2003. How does verb aspect constrain event representation? Journal of Memory and Cognition, 31, 663-672.
Eleanor Rosch & Carolyn Mervis. 1975. Family resemblances: Studies in the internal structure of categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573-605.
Yasuhiro Shirai & Roger Andersen. 1995. The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language, 71, 743-762.
Yasuhiro Shirai & Yumiko Nishi. 2005. How what we mean impacts how we talk: The Japanese imperfective aspect marker –teiru in conversation. In J. Frodesen & C. Holten (eds.), The power of context in language learning and teaching. Boston: Thomson Heinle.
Laura Wagner. (in press). I’ll never grow up: Continuity in aspect representations. Linguistics.
Foong Ha Yap, Wing Man Kwan, Patrick Chun Kau Chu., Sze Man Yiu, Fay Wong, Stephen Matthews, & Yasuhiro Shirai. 2006. Aspectual asymmetries in the mental representation of events: Significance of lexical aspect. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pp. 2410-2415. Vancouver, July 26-29.
Foong Ha Yap, Yumi Inoue, Yasuhiro Shirai, Stephen Matthews, Ying Wai Wong, & Yi Heng Chan. 2006. Aspectual asymmetries in Japanese: Evidence from a reaction time study. In T. Vance (Ed.) Japanese/Korean Linguistics, 14, 113-124. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
In a subsequent Cantonese study, Yap et al. (2005) showed that, with activity verbs, imperfective sentences were processed faster instead. This finding points to an interaction between grammatical aspect and lexical aspect (i.e. verb type), and can be explained in terms of prototype theory. That is, accomplishment verbs combined with perfective aspect (e.g. knitted a sweater) form prototypical representations for telic situations (i.e. situations with an anticipated endpoint), while those combining with imperfective aspect (e.g. knitting a sweater) form less prototypical representations for telic situations. In the case of activity verbs, the situation is reversed. Combinations of activity verbs with imperfective aspect (e.g. is skating) constitute prototypical representations for atelic situations, while combinations with perfective aspect (e.g. skated) constitute less prototypical representations. Essentially, for both verb types, prototypical combinations are processed faster than non-prototypical ones. This is consistent with findings in both usage and acquisition studies (e.g. Rosch & Mervis 1975; Shirai & Andersen, 1995; Li & Shirai, 2000; Wagner, in press). However, it has yet to be established whether this prototype account holds for verb types other than accomplishments and activities.
The present study extends this investigation to more verb types, including achievement verbs in Japanese. The prototype analysis predicts that, all things being equal, accomplishment verbs marked with perfective aspect -ta (e.g. kowaretta ‘broke’) would be processed faster than those marked with imperfective aspect –teiru (e.g. kowaretteiru ‘is broken’).
A sentence-picture matching task was used to measure the response time for processing perfective -ta and imperfective -teiru sentences in Japanese, using activity and achievementverbs, for comparison with earlier work done with accomplishment verbs (Yap et al., 2006). The results show that the mean reaction time for processing activity verbs is faster for imperfective than for perfective sentences (p<.0001). However, for achievement verbs, no difference in mean reaction time was observed between the perfective and imperfective sentences (p=.506). The insignificant difference between imperfective and perfective sentences for the achievement verbs is incongruent with the predictions of the prototype account. However, this interaction effect appears to be sensitive to frequency factors. Findings from a recent corpus study (Shirai & Nishi, 2005) supports the possibility of a usage frequency effect in favor of imperfective achievement sentences in Japanese.
References
Yi Heng Chan, Foong Ha Yap, Yasuhiro Shirai, & Stephen Matthews. 2004. A perfective-imperfective asymmetry in language processing: Evidence from Cantonese. Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Chinese Languages and Linguistics, (pp. 383-391). Academia Sinica and the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University, Taipei.
Ping Li. & Yasuhiro Shirai. 2000. The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Carol Madden & Rolf Zwaan. 2003. How does verb aspect constrain event representation? Journal of Memory and Cognition, 31, 663-672.
Eleanor Rosch & Carolyn Mervis. 1975. Family resemblances: Studies in the internal structure of categories. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 573-605.
Yasuhiro Shirai & Roger Andersen. 1995. The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language, 71, 743-762.
Yasuhiro Shirai & Yumiko Nishi. 2005. How what we mean impacts how we talk: The Japanese imperfective aspect marker –teiru in conversation. In J. Frodesen & C. Holten (eds.), The power of context in language learning and teaching. Boston: Thomson Heinle.
Laura Wagner. (in press). I’ll never grow up: Continuity in aspect representations. Linguistics.
Foong Ha Yap, Wing Man Kwan, Patrick Chun Kau Chu., Sze Man Yiu, Fay Wong, Stephen Matthews, & Yasuhiro Shirai. 2006. Aspectual asymmetries in the mental representation of events: Significance of lexical aspect. Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, pp. 2410-2415. Vancouver, July 26-29.
Foong Ha Yap, Yumi Inoue, Yasuhiro Shirai, Stephen Matthews, Ying Wai Wong, & Yi Heng Chan. 2006. Aspectual asymmetries in Japanese: Evidence from a reaction time study. In T. Vance (Ed.) Japanese/Korean Linguistics, 14, 113-124. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
Interaction of Lexical and Grammatical Aspect in Language Processing
Foong Ha Yap, Stella Wing Man Kwan, Patrick Chun Kau Chu, Emily Sze Man Yiu, Stella Fat Wong, Seongha Rhee and Yasuhiro Shirai
Temporal cues such as lexical and grammatical aspect contribute to the construction of situation models in the human mind (Zwaan & Radvansky 1998). Previous studies on English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Japanese show that, with accomplishment verbs, perfective sentences are processed faster than imperfective sentences (Madden & Zwaan, 2003; Chan et al., 2004; Yap et al., 2004, in press). However, subsequent studies on Cantonese show that, with activity verbs, imperfective sentences are processed faster than perfective sentences (Yap et al., 2006). In complex environments involving both accomplishment and activity verbs, results from the Cantonese studies show that the imperfective advantage with activity verbs remains robust, but the perfective advantage with accomplishment verbs disappear. The present study on Korean, a tensed language, shows similar results to Cantonese, a tenseless language. Our findings suggest that lexical aspect interacts with grammatical aspect to influence language processing. In this paper the observed aspectual asymmetries are explained in terms of a prototype account.
