CHAPTER THREE
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
As mentioned in the previous chapter, a great number of empirical studies have been concerned about the acquisition of metaphorical and idiomatic expressions from early childhood, adolescents to adulthood. In this chapter, we introduce the methodology used in the present study to find out whether the acquisition of literal and non-literal meanings of si supports the previous claims. This chapter includes Section 3.1, the subjects, Section 3.2, the materials and methods, and Section 3.3, the pilot study and the procedures of the formal study. Section 3.4 gives a brief summary of this chapter.
3.1 Subjects
As a first language acquisition study, the subjects of the study were elementary students selected from a municipal elementary school, Wan-Xing, in the Taipei city, Taiwan
1. The school comprised 26 classes from Grade 1 (about 7 years old) to Grade 6 (about 12 years old), around 600 students in total. Each class in each grade consisted of about 26 students. Students in this school were obligated to receive formal classes instructed in Mandarin Chinese. Our subjects for the formal study from this elementary school were all native speakers of Chinese Mandarin. Six age groups of subjects participated in the experiment in the attempt to examine the age effect and detect the developmental trend of the first language acquisition of metaphorical expressions. These
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More information about Taipei Municipal Wan-Xing Primary School can be found at the following
website http://www.wnses.tp.edu.tw/releaseRedirect.do?unitID=183&pageID=3103.
six groups included Grade 1 (Mean age= 6;4) students, Grade 2 (Mean age= 7;7) students, Grade 3 (Mean age= 8;7) students, Grade 4 (Mean age= 9;7), Grade 5 (Mean age= 10;7), and Grade 6 (Mean age= 11;6) students; in each grade there were 24 subjects. A group of native controls (Mean age= 26;8) was joined in the experiment. The total number of the subjects was 168. In each group, the students that participated in the study were of diverse communities, and their parents were of different economic, social, and educational backgrounds. The ratio of males and females for each group was approximately 1:1.
Table 3-1. Background Information of the Subjects
Group No. Gender Age
M 11 1 24
F 13 6;4
M 11 2 24
F 13 7;7
M 14 3 24
F 10 8;7
M 12 4 24
F 12 9;7
M 14 5 24
F 10 10;7
M 12 6 24
F 12 11;6
M 14 Native Control 24
F 10 26;8
3.2 Materials and Methods
In order to fulfill the purposes of examining the differences between the subjects’
performances of literal and metaphorical interpretations, as well as to investigate the
factors of animacy and context, two tasks were designed in the present study.
The first task was made up with several isolated si items out of contexts. These si items were selected according to their solid readings, literal
2or non-literal before they were combined into sentences. For example, the meaning of si ‘die’ in bing-si ‘ill to death’ is literal; in contrast, si-shou ‘defend constantly’ demonstrates its metaphorical meaning, rather than its literal meaning ‘die.’ Aside from the distinction between the literality, the chosen si phrases were assigned to four categories
3discussed in Chapter Two. For example, the phrase bing-si ‘ill to death’ exhibits the structure of Type 1-2, V + si (in an RVC), and si-shou is an example of Type 3, si as an adverb.
However, the verb si in Type 1-1 and Type 1-3 could only be interpreted literally but not metaphorically when no context is provided, while si in Type 3 could only be interpreted non-literally. Except Type 1-1, Type 1-3, and Type 3 which respectively consist of only kind of meaning, the other types consist of both literal and metaphorical meanings;
hence, 13 si phrases were designed. Three fillers were added in the list. The total number of the phrases was 16 in Task 1, as shown in Table 3-2. For a complete version of the task materials, please refer to Appendix 1.
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In particular, all of the literal si phrases assigned in each type were designed as those that are able to either attach with animate or inanimate NPs, and elicit more than literal readings. The consideration of selecting the flexible si phrases that are at ease to collocate with different NPs would give us huge convenience in creating the second version of the materials in the study.
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The syntactic types of si were categorized into four: Type 1-1, si as a single verb, Type1-2, V+ si (si in an
RVC), Type 1-3, si + V, Type 2, si as an adjective, and Type 3, si as an adverb.
Table 3-2. Test Items With Si In Isolation
4Type Test Items No. of
Items Question Literal
Type 1-1
Si as a single V si ‘die’ 1 Q1
Type 1-2 V + Si (in an RVC)
bing-si ‘ill to death’
sha-si ‘kill’ 2 Q2, Q10
Type 1-3 Si + V
si-guang ‘die out’
si-diao ‘die off’ 2 Q3, Q14
Type 2 Adj.
si-zhanglang ‘dead cockroach’
si-laushu ‘dead mouse’ 2 Q7, Q13
Type 3
Adv. 0
Non-literal Type 1-1
Si as a single V 0
Type 1-2 V + Si (in an RVC)
du-si ‘block off’
dang-si ‘obstruct completely’ 2 Q11, Q16 Type 1-3
Si + V 0
Type 2 Adj.
si-guize ‘dead rules’
si-zhishi ‘dead knowledge’ 2 Q6, Q8 Type 3
Adv.
si-shou ‘defend constantly’
si-dushu ‘being nerdy’ 2 Q5, Q12
Fillers 3 Q4, Q9,
Q15
Total 16
These isolated si phrases were those prevalent in our daily spoken languages. The degree of familiarity of these phrases was confirmed by three native speakers to ensure that the difficulty is reasonable for the subjects. From scrutinizing the principle of animacy that
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The target phrases designed in the task were all in Chinese.
claims the animate or inanimate subject marries to si dominates the direction of interpretation, this animacy constraint can serve as a filter to distinguish when to interpret si literally. Except for the animacy effect, another factor affecting the interpretation of si expressions is contextual clues as discussed in Chapter Two. When the animacy constraint cannot help distinguish the literality of the si phrases, the context would play a leading role. Therefore, the second task was designed to examine whether these two factors, animacy and context, indeed are influential in the acquisition of metaphorical meanings of si.
The second task mainly focused on the si phrases designed in Task 1 and put them in context with (in)animate NPs in the subject position. For example, the literal si phrase sha si ‘ill’ in Type 1-2 was put into a sentence, as in (1):
(1) Mama xinaidee xiao jinyu yinwei shengbing er si le.
‘Mom’s favourite golden fish died for illness.’
However, these literal si phrases can be interpreted metaphorically as long as they are chained with inanimate subject NPs, as in (2):
(2) Zicong tade shoubei shoushang hou, ta dang toushou de mengxiang jiu gen zhe si le.
‘Since his arm was hurt, his dream to be a pitcher was gone with it.’
The inanimate subject NP ta dang toushou de mengxiang ‘his dream to be a pitcher’
attached swiftly changes the interpretation of the literal si phrase from literal to non-literal.
In other words, the 7 literal si phrases were examined in two ways: (a) with an animate
subject NP, and (b) with an inanimate subject NP. Thus, 14 sentences were designed
5. In addition to the literal si phrases, Task 2 examined 6 metaphorical si phrases (such as si dushu) in context. Since these si phrases were metaphorical in essence, the animacy constraint was not examined via these si phrases. Combined with the 14 sentences above, twenty sentences embedded with si were created in Task 2. Four fillers were added, amounting to 24 sentences for the second task.
The animate subject NPs were mostly human characters adapted from popular cartoons, comic books, and famous novels. The inanimate subject NPs were common objects or ideas that the subjects were familiar with. Each si sentence with the contextual clue was paraphrased appropriately in a single line. Meanwhile, almost all target tokens with si were put at the end of the sentence so that the subjects could get the background information first before grasping the meanings of the target tokens. The contextual clues provided in sentences were concrete. Examples of the test sentences can be seen in Table 3-3, and a complete version can be found in Appendix 2.
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Every literal si phrase used in the first task was put into two sentences. Therefore, 14 si sentences (7 x 2 =
14) phrases were designed.
Table 3-3. The Test Sentences With Si In Context
6Type Test Items No. of
Items Question Literal
Type 1-1 Si as a single
V
Mama xinaide xiao jinyu yinwei shengbing er si le.
‘Mom’s favorite goldfish died for illness.’
1 Q20 Type 1-2
V + Si (in an RVC)
Halipote de babamama yiqian bei fodimo sha-si le.
‘Harry Potter’s parents were killed by Voldemort.’
2 Q10, Q23
Type 1-3 Si + V
Jinxian hen shangxin, yinwei tade xiaomao zuotien si-diao le.
‘Jinxian was sad, because her kitten died last night.’
2 Q6, Q15
Type 2 Adj.
Xiaowanzi hen haipa, yinwei ta zai chufang li kandao yizhi si-zhanglang.
‘Xiaowanzi was afraid because she saw a dead cockroach in the kitchen.’
2 Q3, Q18
Type 3
Adv. 0
Non-literal Type 1-1
Si as a single V
Zi cong tade shoubei shoushang hou, ta dang toushou de mengxiang jiu gen zhe si le.
‘Since his arm was hurt, his dream to be a pitcher was gone with it.’
1 Q1
Type 1-2 V + Si (in an RVC)
Zheme xiaode lu hai you ren luan ting che, jiao tong dou bei du-si le.
‘People even park casually on such a navy street; no wonder there are traffic jams.’
4 Q4, Q5, Q17, Q19
Type 1-3 Si + V
Daxiong zhe ci kaoshi you kao lingfen le, tade xinxin dou si-guang le.
‘Dasiong got zero in this exam again; his confidence was all gone.’
2 Q11, Q16
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Table 4-3 only lists an example for each sub-type. For a complete version of Task 2, please refer to
Appendix 2, where the target sentences are all in Chinese.
Type 2 Adj.
Women mei banfa gaibian de zhexie dou shi si-quize.
‘What we cannot change are all dead rules.’
4 Q9, Q14, Q22, Q24
Type 3 Adv.
Jingguan chengbao uai de diren hen duo, shibe-men ren si-shou zhe chengbao.
‘Though there were lots of enemies outside of the castle, the soldiers did not give up defending.’
2 Q8, Q13
Fillers 4 Q2, Q7,
Q12, Q21
Total 24
In short, two tasks were designed. These two tasks were both comprehension tasks, mainly examining the subjects’ interpretation of the si phrases in isolation or in context.
Task 1: Words in Isolation Task (WII Task)
Task 1 was the Words in Isolation Task, the WII Task, which aimed to test the subjects’ basic literal and metaphorical comprehension of the si items. Each question was displayed clearly to ask the subjects for the most appropriate meanings of the phrases.
Every question had three options: a) literal meaning, b) metaphorical meaning, and c) irrelevant meaning
7. These options were randomly ordered and each question had only one correct answer.
The questions of the WII Task were shown with the aid of the Microsoft PowerPoint, by which the experiment contents were put on slides with the computer and displayed through the projector and the speaker, together with the auditory support. Table 3-4 was a format of the questions presented to the subjects:
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The irrelevant meaning was considered incorrect.
Table 3-4. A Sample of the Test Questions Used in the WII Task Students see:
1. Si
‘die’
1) bu neng yong le ‘useless’
2) mei you shengming le ‘without life’
3) mi lu le ‘get lost’
Students hear:
Experimenter:
Di yi ti: Si
‘Number one: die’
Si de yisi shi shseme ne?
‘What is the meaning of si?
1) bu neng yong le ‘useless’
2) mei you shengming le ‘without life’
3) mi lu le ‘get lost’
Qing zuoda.
‘Please give your answer.’
Each slide only showed one target item with three options. Whenever the slide appeared, the subjects would see the target item of the question first. The purpose of keeping the slide simple was to maintain the subjects’ attention. To decrease the reading load of the subjects, only the target item with the options was shown, accompanied with a pre-recorded sound in Chinese of the complete question, such as si de yisi shi shseme?
‘What is the meaning of si?’
After complete question was announced, the three possible explanations for the
target item were presented one by one, with a three-second-pause in between. The reading
sound of each explanation pre-recorded in Chinese was presented at the same time so that
subjects had both visual input and auditory print in selection. After the three options were
given, the experimenter asked the subjects to answer. Please refer to Appendix 3 for a
complete set of the test slides.
Task 2: Words in Context Task (WIC Task)
Task 2, the Words in Context Task, the WIC Task, was designed to examine whether
contextual clues were useful for comprehending the si phrases. The answer patterns of
each question were the same with that in Task 1. The contents of the questions of the WIC
Task were also be shown on slides made by the Microsoft PowerPoint, and were projected
on the screen for the subjects, as shown in Table 4-5. All of the visual characters written
on the slides and auditory instruction given by experimenter were in Chinese. For a
complete set of the test slides, please refer to Appendix 4.
Table 3-5. A Sample of the Test Questions Used in the WIC Task Students see:
1. si
‘die’
Mama xinai de xiao jinyu yinwei shengbing er si le.
1) bu neng yong le ‘useless’
2) mi lu le ‘get lost’
3) mei you shengming le ‘without life’
Students hear:
Experimenter:
Di yi ti: Si
‘Number one: die’
Mama xinai de xiao jinyu yinwei shengbing er si le.
‘Mother’s favourite golden fish died for illness.’
Qingwen, si de yisi shi sheme ne?
‘What is the meaning of sha si?’
1) bu neng yong le ‘useless’
2) mi lu le ‘get lost’
3) mei you shengming le ‘without life’
Qing zuoda.
‘Please give your answer.’
Likewise, to reduce the reading load of the subjects, we presented the complete sentences with si to the subjects with simultaneous clear pre-recording reading. The subjects had to pay attention to the target phrases, and listened to the contextual clues at the same time. Three options were shown on the slide one by one after the question was announced. There was a three-second-pause between options. Again, the options were shown, the subjects were asked to answer the question.
3.3 Procedures
In this section, a pilot study conducted before the formal study was reported,
followed by the procedures of the formal study.
3.3.1 Pilot Study
In order to gain the validity of the tasks in the formal study, a pilot study was conducted in July 2007. The pilot study contained two tasks, the Words in Isolation Task (WII Task), and the Words in Context Task (WIC Task). The WII Task consisted of sixteen target phrases of si in isolation, and the WIC Task consisted of the same number of target phrases in context. The experimenting process was quite simplified, so no fillers were added. A small pool of subjects, 13 children in total, was asked to participate in the pilot study: six 10-year-olds (Grade 4), and seven 11-year-olds (Grade 5) from the same elementary school. All of them were native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. A brief instruction was given to the subjects before they completed the tasks. To avoid practice effect, the WII Task was conducted first. After the subjects finished the task, they were rewarded with small gifts. The total test time for the WII Task was around 15 minutes and that for the WIC Task was around 25 minutes.
The results obtained from the pilot study were interesting
8. Evidently, the older subjects, 11-year-olds performed better on both two tasks (Mean= 0.72 in the WII Task, 0.88 in the WIC Task) than the younger kids, (i.e., 10-year-old children) (Mean= 0.61 in the WII Task, 0.85 in the WIC Task). The developmental trend of the comprehension ability of both literal and metaphorical expressions was critically portrayed. The results
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In the pilot study, sixteen target phrases in the question forms were used in the tasks. Each target question
had only one correct answer. The correct answer was given 1 point.
showed that metaphorical phrases and sentences were more challenging to the subjects than literal phrases in both age groups. Additionally, both age groups performed better on the WIC Task (Mean= 0. 67 in the WII Task, Mean= 0.87 in the WIC Task), in which contextual information was provided in each question, indicating that context was a beneficial device for the subjects to comprehend idiomatic expressions. Moreover, of the four types of si phrases, si in the RVC construction and in adverbs received more wrong answers. The materials of the pilot study could be found in Appendix 5.
Though some interesting findings were obtained in the pilot study, it has the following inadequacies. First, the categorizations of the syntactic and semantic patterns of si phrases in the pilot study were not well-organized. In the pilot study, the items in Type 3 (i.e., si as an adverb) were controversial
9, and the subcategory, Type 1-3, si + V was missing
10. Moreover, whether or not literal and non-literal meanings were constrained by the animacy effect was explored. Finally, only a small pool of subjects were involved, which might not be able to verify any language acquisition theories.
3.3.2 Formal Study
The formal study consisted of two tasks: the WII Task and the WIC Task. Before starting the WII Task, the experimenter introduced herself briefly to the subjects. A clear
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For example, the options for the item si-shou ‘defend constantly’ in Type 3, si as an Adv. were quite ambiguous with 1) jianchi ziji yijian ‘insiste one’s opinion’ 2) bulunruhe dengdao zuihou ‘no matter what one waits till the end’ 3) jinjin shouzhu zhidao mei ming ‘defend until death.’ The answer was 3), but in fact, this answer was not exactly metaphorical.
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