A Study Of L2 Abstract Nouns Semantic Processing Within The Derived Embodiment Perspective

On the grounds of derived embodiment mechanism,the present study has explored the effect of social modality mediated by language and imageability on L2 English learners’ abstract nouns semantic processing via E-Prime 2.0.In this study,through the Quick Placement Test(QPT),30 postgraduates of English major and 30 freshmen of non-English major were selected respectively as the high-proficiency group and the low-proficiency group.According to the characteristics of abstract words and the English proficiency of Chinese English learners,appropriate abstract nouns were chosen from Chiarello et al.(1999)as stimuli and then were adapted into daily conversations as context triggers.The experiment is divided into two parts,including a syntactic classification task of abstract nouns and a sentence meaning judgment task with specific context.The results show that: 1)L2 proficiency has a significant influence on abstract nouns semantic processing and high-proficiency group tends to have high accuracy and low cost;2)With specific context,imageability has a significant influence on low-proficiency group’s response latency;3)The findings of experiments suggest that social modality accelerates L2 abstract nouns semantic processing,but low-proficiency group is more sensitive than high-proficiency group.A detailed discussion on the performances of L2 English learners with different proficiency is given based on certain conditions of the advanced acquisition required by derived embodiment mechanism of Schilhab(2017),semantic units theory of Bennett et al.(2011)and the mental scene construction of Hassabis & Maguire(2009).During the L2 abstract nouns semantic processing,high-proficiency group evoked better derived embodiment processes,activated richer semantic units and made deep processing more efficiently,leading to an advantage in accuracy and cost.However,due to the lack of enough background knowledge in the brain,low-proficiency group could not effectively establish and maintain the mental scene construction or virtual room which was needed for representing the abstract nouns.As a result,to some extent,imageability ratings of abstract nouns improved low-proficiency group’s semantic processing.In brief,as evidenced by experiment results,on the one hand,the present study suggests that the imageability of abstract words is able to affect semantic processes with the involvement of context.On the other hand,the study demonstrates the importance of social modality during the abstract acquisition and the rationality of derived embodiment.