象似性和手语学习经验对中国手语-汉语跨模态语义启动效应的影响

采用启动条件下的词汇判断任务，考察熟练手语使用者和无手语经验成年听人的跨模态语义启动效应。结果发现：1)在象似词条件下，两组被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时均快于语义无关词，说明手语象似词和汉语词之间存在跨模态语义启动效应。2)在非象似词条件下，仅手语熟练被试判断汉语语义相关词的反应时快于语义无关词，无手语经验被试判断汉语语义相关词和无关词的速度没有差异。这是由于前者心理词库中的手语词和口语词共享语义表征，而后者主要依赖手语象似词的视觉模拟性。整个研究表明，中国手语和汉语间存在跨模态语义启动效应，但该效应受到手语词象似性和手语学习经历的调节。

The Influence of Iconicity and Sign Language Learning Experience on the Cross-Modal Semantic Priming between Chinese Sign Language and Chinese

Semantic priming is the effect that the activation of meaning can spread to the neighboring semantic nodes.A large number of studies have confirmed the effect within a certain language(e.g.,Hernandez et al.,1996;Heyman et al.,2016;Kootstra&Muysken 2017)and across different languages(e.g.,Ferréet al.,2015).Recent research has extended semantic priming effect to the cross-modal situation.Results from those studies indicate that meaning can spread between languages and gesture systems(e.g.,Kelly et al.,2004;Yap et al.,2011),which is attributed to the iconic feature of gesture.Sign language,as a natural language,bears both iconicity and symbolicity.However,few studies examined the semantic priming effect between the spoken language and the sign language.In addition,some researchers started to pay attention to the modulating role of L2 proficiency in semantic priming(e.g.,Nakayama et al.,2016).Therefore,the current study investigated semantic priming effect in Chinese monolinguals and Chinese-Chinese sign language(CSL)bilinguals.The experiment used a word judgment task.Participants were asked to watch a video clip of a hand gesture of a CSL sign,and then judge if a target Chinese word was real or fake.Half of the CSL signs were iconic(the other half were symbolic)and half of the real words were semantically related to CSL signs.If there was cross-modal semantic priming effect,participants’judging behavior would be different according to different characteristics of signs and words.Thus,a measure of cross-modal semantic priming effect could be computed by comparing the mean judgment RT for the real Chinese words semantically related or unrelated to CSL signs.Experiment results showed that in the trials of iconic signs,both L2 CSL signers and Chinese monolinguals judged semantically related words more efficiently than semantically unrelated words.However,in trails of symbolic signs,only L2 CSL signers showed above facilitation effect.The results indicate that cross-modal semantic priming effect exists,however it is modulated by sign iconicity and L2 CSL proficiency.ChineseCSL bilinguals may have constructed a Chinese and a CSL lexicon system,which share the same conceptual system.Therefore,the meaning activation can spread across modals from CSL signs to Chinese words.However,Chinese monolinguals do not have CSL lexicon system.The cross-modal semantic priming effect of Chinese monolinguals relies on the visual similarity of iconic signs.Together,the results attribute the cross-modal semantic priming effect to the shared conceptual representation of Chinese and CSL and sign iconicity.