中文概念系統之神經語言學研究

“Concepts” are important to human beings in that they form into different networks to help people cope with new challenges. Psychologists and linguists have tried to find out the internal structure of concepts and the relevant factors that might influence its organization. Nowadays most researchers agree that conceptual systems are organized hierarchically. “Hierarchy” is of particular interest to linguists because, according to the Chomskyan school, hierarchical structure is what distinguishes human language from animal communication. Although hierarchy exists in different linguistic levels (e.g. syntax, morphology, phonology), most language research focuses on hierarchical structure in syntax only, and thus the hierarchical structures in other linguistic domains are rarely studied, if not totally neglected. Therefore, the aim of the project was to establish the norms of hierarchical structure in Mandarin speakers’ conceptual system through the use of corpus and questionnaires. This final report was to discuss how 400 basic forms in Mandarin were selected and how items above and below a basic form in a hierarchical structure were elicited from subjects.