成语是语义上的非组合多词单位,其含义通常超出其组成词的字面解释(例如,打破坚冰,踢水桶,洒豆子)。根据混合模型的成语处理,习语在处理的早期阶段都要从词典中直接检索,在理解的后期阶段进行逐词的构图重新分析。然而,一个不太清楚的方面是如何破坏成语的规范形式,因此它的直接检索,影响理解的时间进程。在这项眼动追踪阅读研究中,以英语为主导语言的健康的英法双语成年人以其规范形式阅读包含英语习语的句子(例如,破冰),或以转换的形式将短语最终名词翻译成法语(例如,打破glace)。因此,在这种操纵中,瞬时语言开关修改了成语的规范形式,同时最低限度地改变其成分词的语义,从而推动读者走向构图处理路线。对眼动数据的分析显示,与匹配的文字短语相比,在成语的早期(而不是晚期)处理阶段,阅读时间更长的转换成本。有趣的是,语言转换的成本因非目标语言的翻译等价习语的可用性而减弱(法语,例如,Briserlaglace)。一起来看,这些结果表明,直接检索是理解习语规范形式的优先途径,当恢复修改后的习语的基础形式时,它充当语言处理系统的有效修复策略。
Idioms are semantically non-compositional multiword units whose meanings often go beyond literal interpretations of their component words (e.g., break the ice, kick the bucket, spill the beans). According to hybrid models of idiom processing, idioms are subject to both direct retrieval from the lexicon in early stages of processing, and word-by-word compositional reanalysis in later stages of comprehension. However, a less clear aspect is how disrupting an idiom\'s canonical form, and thus its direct retrieval, impacts the time course of comprehension. In this eye-tracking reading study, healthy English-French bilingual adults with English as their dominant language read sentences containing English idioms in their canonical form (e.g., break the ice), or in a switched form where the phrase-final noun was translated into French (e.g., break the glace). Thus, within this manipulation, momentary language switches modified the canonical form of idioms, while at the same time minimally altering the semantics of their component words, thus nudging readers towards a compositional processing route. Analyses of eye-movement data revealed switching costs in longer reading times at early (but not late) processing stages for idioms compared to matched literal phrases. Interestingly, the cost of language switching was attenuated by the availability of a translationally equivalent idiom in the non-target language (French, e.g., briser la glace). Taken together, these results suggest that direct retrieval is the preferential route in the comprehension of idioms\' canonical forms, which acts as an effective repair strategy by the language-processing system when recovering the underlying form of modified idioms.