37.158, Books: Worlds Shaped by Words: Wang (2025)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-158. Wed Jan 14 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.158, Books: Worlds Shaped by Words: Wang (2025)

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Date: 12-Jan-2026
From: Jan Martin [lotdissertations-fgw at uva.nl]
Subject: Worlds Shaped by Words: Wang (2025)


Title: Worlds Shaped by Words
Subtitle: A Cross-linguistic Investigation Into the Neural Mechanisms
of Lexico-syntactic Feature Production
Series Title: LOT Dissertation Series
Publication Year: 2025

Publisher: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke
(LOT)
           http://www.lotpublications.nl/
Book URL: https://dx.medra.org/10.48273/LOT0704

Author(s): Jin Wang

Paperback
ISBN: 978-94-6093-489-6
Pages: 191
Price: 35,00 euros

Abstract:

Languages employ different nominal classification systems to
categorise nouns. In German, each noun is assigned a grammatical
gender, while in Mandarin Chinese, nouns are paired with classifiers
that align with semantic features. Grammatical gender and classifiers
are lexico-syntactic features that are assumed to be automatically
activated during speech production. Although grammatical gender has
been widely studied, research on classifiers remains scarce, and it is
unclear how such features are processed across different languages,
lexical categories, and in second language acquisition. This
dissertation investigates the processing of grammatical gender in
German and classifiers in Mandarin during noun phrase production,
addressing the following questions: Are classifiers activated in
Mandarin during noun phrase production? Do semantic features like
visual shape influence classifier processing? Do Mandarin learners of
German process grammatical gender, even though it is absent in their
native language? Do semi-lexical nouns in German activate grammatical
gender similarly to regular nouns? To answer these questions, this
research combines behavioural and electroencephalographic measures
using picture-word interference and blocked cyclic naming paradigms.
The results showed that classifiers were activated during noun phrase
production. Visual shape information was also involved in classifier
processing. Despite difficulties in production, Chinese learners of
German automatically processed grammatical gender in their second
language. The grammatical gender of semi-lexical nouns was processed
through multiple routes. Taken together, this dissertation provides
new insights into the cognitive mechanisms that underlie
lexico-syntactic feature processing during language production.

Linguistic Field(s): Neurolinguistics

Subject Language(s): German (deu)
                     Mandarin Chinese (cmn)

Language Family(ies): Chinese
                      German




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