| Author: | Zhu, Pan |
| Title: | The influence of spatial-temporal metaphors and reading experiences on the mental representations of time in Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese speakers |
| Advisors: | Hsu, Yu-yin (CBS) Huang, Chu-ren (CBS) |
| Degree: | DALS |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Subject: | Books and reading -- Psychological aspects Metaphor Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Faculty of Humanities |
| Pages: | x, 185 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This study investigated whether and how the conventional text-printing direction and different types of spatial-temporal metaphors in the linguistic expressions influence native Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese speakers' conceptualizations of time. The research first conducted a survey to measure the linguistic discrepancies of spatial-temporal expressions in Beijing Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese, and then employed an explicit card arrangement task (Experiment 1) and an implicit key-pressing association task (Experiment 2) to explore whether different spatial-temporal metaphors in the lexicon and speakers' individual reading habits influence how speakers construct temporal conceptions. The findings of the survey indicated that there were differences in the use of spatial-temporal metaphors in the lexicon of Beijing Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese. Specifically, Hong Kong Cantonese speakers were more likely to use spatial-temporal terms on vertical axis for temporal expressions than Beijing Mandarin speakers were. The results of Experiment 1 showed that both Beijing Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese participants preferred to use transverse axis to display cards from left to right. This pattern was consistent with their major reading and writing habits in daily use. Also, Hong Kong Cantonese participants had similar reading experiences with Mandarin speakers tended to use vertical axis to arrange cards from up to bottom to express time sequences than Beijing Mandarin speakers did. We think that it is due to the reason that Hong Kong Cantonese speakers were more likely to use vertical spatial-temporal metaphors than Mandarin speakers did. In addition, one Hong Kong Cantonese participant who reported had experiences in reading vertical texts showed a right-to-left arrangement pattern, which reflected his/her performance was influenced by his/her reading experiences. Experiment 2, an implicit key-pressing association task, reveled several findings. Both of the Mandarin and Cantonese groups responded faster on the transverse axis than on the vertical one, which was in accordance with the conventional text-printing direction produced by the major writing/printing materials in China. Also, both the speakers with similar reading experiences in Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese groups processed vertical-axis items in the canonical condition significantly faster than items on the same axis but in the non-canonical condition; this finding was compatible with the existence of linguistic expressions of spatial-temporal metaphors in both Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese. The two groups also showed some differences. Mandarin participants were faster to respond the items of canonical key-mapping than that of non-canonical key-mapping on the transverse axis. However, no significant difference was observed in Hong Kong Cantonese group between on the same axis. Hong Kong Cantonese participates had similar reading experiences with Mandarin speakers were faster to respond the items with canonical key-mapping on the vertical axis than Mandarin participants did; this finding is compatible with our survey result that Hong Kong Cantonese speakers were more inclined to employ vertical metaphors as compared with Mandarin speakers. In addition, Hong Kong Cantonese who often read vertical texts responded faster than Mandarin group overall in transverse non-canonical condition, which was effected by their reading habits. Specifically, Hong Kong Cantonese speakers who had experiences in reading vertical texts were faster to respond in the "right-to-left" key-mapping than Mandarin speakers who rarely read vertical texts did. Thus, our study shows that, between two varieties of Chinese, speakers' space and time associations can to some extend be influenced by the different spatial-temporal metaphor preferences existing in their lexicon, and by the individual's reading experiences on the text-printing conventions. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5884.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.79 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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