Classifier congruency effects in Spanish–Chinese noun phrase production: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

Abstract

Mandarin Chinese employs a classifier system requiring classifiers obligatorily positioned between demonstratives or numerals and nouns in noun phrases (NPs; e.g., 一张桌子 , [one specific-classifier-zhang1 table] , ‘one table’). While classifier congruency effects have been documented in monolingual Chinese speakers, it remains unclear whether such effects extend to early Spanish–Chinese bilinguals. This study examined classifier congruency effects in NP production by 29 early Spanish–Chinese bilinguals and 30 Mandarin Chinese speakers using behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) measures. Participants completed picture-word interference (PWI) tasks with four conditions, manipulating classifier congruency (congruent versus incongruent) and semantic relatedness (related versus unrelated). Behaviorally, both groups showed significantly longer naming latencies for classifier-incongruent and semantically related conditions. Event-related potential (ERP) results revealed N400-like effects for classifier incongruency in both groups. For semantic interference, N400-like effects were observed in bilinguals and P600-like effects were observed in Chinese speakers. This study provides the first behavioral and ERP evidence that classifier features are automatically activated in bilingual NP production, suggesting the robustness of classifier congruency effects in early Spanish–Chinese bilinguals.