Zhang, Haoruo (2019) From No, she does to Yes, she does: On the conceptual changes in the processing of negative yes-no questions by Chinese-English bilinguals. PhD thesis, University of York.
Abstract
Negation in English and Mandarin Chinese exhibit a peculiar difference. In response to negative yes-no questions (e.g. Doesn’t she like cats?), the typical English answers (->Yes, she does/No, she doesn’t) substantially vary from those in Chinese (->No, she does/Yes, she doesn’t). What are the processing consequences of these markedly different conventionalised linguistic responses to achieve the same communicative goals? Is this crosslinguistic variation associated with measurably different cognitive demands when English and Chinese speakers process negation in a nonverbal context? Does L1 linguistic patterns influence L2 expression? If so, do they also change thinking that goes beyond overt language use in bilinguals? These questions are addressed here with innovative verbal and nonverbal experiments. The findings suggest language-specific processing of negation, and are interpreted as novel support for linguistic relativity. The results also suggest that the ways in which bilinguals process negative questions changed their L1-based habitual processing of negation in a nonverbal context.
Metadata
Supervisors: | Vanek, Norbert and Trenkic, Danijela |
---|---|
Awarding institution: | University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Department of Education (York) |
Depositing User: | Miss Haoruo Zhang |
Date Deposited: | 09 Dec 2019 12:35 |
Last Modified: | 09 Dec 2019 12:35 |
Download
Examined Thesis (PDF)
Embargoed until: 24 October 2024
Please use the button below to request a copy.
Filename: Vicky_thesis.pdf
Export
Statistics
Please use the 'Request a copy' link(s) in the 'Downloads' section above to request this thesis. This will be sent directly to someone who may authorise access.
You can contact us about this thesis. If you need to make a general enquiry, please see the Contact us page.