1. Introduction

Introduced the importance of language distribution information in collocation processing, including collocation frequency, word frequency, connection strength, and language proficiency. Explored the usage based view of language acquisition, which suggests that learners make empirical adjustments to language representation through language distribution information. The study aims to examine how directional preferences and other distribution information jointly affect the processing of English native and second language collocations, in order to infer the representational characteristics of collocations and provide evidence for constructing probabilistic models of the brain lexicon.

2. Research background

Explored the directional preference of collocation and its impact on collocation processing, pointing out that almost all collocations have directionality, that is, the co-occurrence probability of word 1 and word 2 is different from the reverse co-occurrence probability. The asymmetric relationship was quantified by the connection strength Δ P2 | 1 and Δ P1 | 2, and the positive and negative values of Δ P2 | 1- Δ P1 | 2 can determine the directionality of the pairing. In addition, the chapter also discusses the influence of collocation frequency, word frequency, connection strength, and second language proficiency on collocation processing, pointing out that these factors have a significant impact on both native and second language collocation processing. The higher the frequency of collocation, the clearer the language user's representation and the faster the processing speed; The processing speed of collocations containing high-frequency words is faster; The higher the connection strength, the clearer the characterization of the combination, and the faster the processing speed; High level second language learners have a faster and more accurate processing speed for collocations. Finally, the chapter proposes two research questions: what are the characteristics of English native speakers and Chinese university students at different levels in processing collocations in different directions, and how collocation frequency, word frequency, connection strength, and second language proficiency affect their processing of collocations in different directions.

Experiment 1

Experiment 1 studied the processing of collocations in different directions by native English speakers and Chinese university students through a positive priming vocabulary judgment task, as well as the effects of collocation frequency, word frequency, connection strength, and second language proficiency on processing. The participants included 20 native English speakers from San Jose State University in the United States and 50 Chinese university students. The test materials were retrieved and screened from the Phrases in English website, and 138 dynamic name combinations were ultimately selected. The subjects completed the test through E-prime 1.1 and judged whether the noun or non word after the startup word was a real word by pressing a button. The experiment set up a 300ms SOA to observe the start-up effect. The data analysis adopts a mixed effects model and multiple regression analysis.

Experiment 2

Experiment 2 studied the processing of collocations in different directions by native English speakers and Chinese university students through reverse activation of vocabulary judgment tasks, as well as the effects of collocation frequency, word frequency, connection strength, and second language proficiency. The experimental materials include 50 dynamic name combinations and 150 filling combinations, with a dynamic name combination ratio below the automatic activation threshold. Data analysis shows that native English speakers have a significantly faster processing speed for left collocations than right collocations, while senior students only have an advantage in processing left collocations, while sophomore students have no significant advantage. Multiple regression analysis shows that collocation frequency, word frequency, and connection strength have a significant predictive effect on the initiation rate of native speakers and senior students, and as these factors increase, the response speed accelerates. In addition, the activation level of second language learners is significantly higher with the improvement of English proficiency, which is consistent with the research results of Wolter u0026 Yamashita (2018).

5. Comprehensive discussion

A comprehensive discussion was conducted on the differences in the processing of verb noun collocations between native English speakers and Chinese university students. Research has found that native speakers have significant priming effects on both positive and negative collocations, with a greater priming effect on right collocations than left collocations, while the opposite is true under negative priming conditions. This indicates that directional preference is an important factor affecting the processing of dynamic name combinations. The language representation of native speakers reflects the probability distribution of word class co-occurrence, which affects the processing speed of collocation. There is significant variation in the processing of verb noun collocations among second language learners, and the collocation representation in their mental lexicon is unidirectional and influenced by collocation frequency and word frequency. Second language learners tend to segment sentences into independent words, resulting in a lack of sufficient representation information for their co-occurrence words in the lexicon. There are differences in the representational characteristics of verb noun collocations between native English speakers and second language learners. Native English speakers can develop bidirectional representational relationships between collocations, while second language learners establish unidirectional connections. These differences reflect the different mechanisms of language representation and processing between native speakers and second language learners.

6. Conclusion

This chapter summarizes the research results on the influence of language distribution information on collocation processing between native English speakers and Chinese university students. Research has found that native speakers have significant priming effects on right and left collocations in both forward and reverse priming tasks, but right collocations have a higher priming effect in forward tasks, while left collocations have a higher priming effect in reverse tasks. Senior English majors only have a significant priming effect on right-hand collocation in the forward task, and only have a significant priming effect on left-hand collocation in the reverse task. There is no significant priming effect on both types of combinations among sophomore English majors. The frequency of collocation, word frequency, and connection strength are the main factors affecting native speakers' collocation processing, while collocation frequency and word frequency are the main factors affecting senior English majors. Research suggests that directional preferences and language distribution information have a significant impact on collocation representation and processing. At the same time, it is pointed out that the sample size of this study is small and the experimental interval is short, which may affect the accuracy of the results. It is recommended that future studies expand the sample size and increase the experimental interval.