Image Schemas in Verb–Particle Constructions: Evidence from a Behavioral Experiment

Abstract

Cognitive linguists claim that verb–particle constructions are compositional and analyzable, and that the particles contribute to the overall meaning in the form of image schemas. This article examined this claim with a behavioral experiment, in which participants were asked to judge the sensibility of short sentences primed by image-schematic pictures. Results showed that for sentences containing spatial VP constructions, the latency followed the order of “agreement primes $<$ neutral primes $<$ disagreement primes”, while for sentences of non-spatial VP constructions, the order was “neutral primes $<$ agreement primes $<$ disagreement primes”. This suggests that the activation of the corresponding image schemas influences both types of VP constructions, providing new evidence for the embodied account of language and thought. The different processing patterns between the spatial and non-spatial VP constructions are also discussed in the theoretical framework of Construction Grammar.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Sentences Used in the Experiment

Meaningful Sentences (48 in Total)

Spatial sense		Non-spatial sense
1	Five strong men crowded in	1	Panic started to set in
2	They tried to squeeze in	2	The teacher’s words sank in
3	The police were called in	3	Please do count me in
4	He’s going to fly in	4	The new boss dropped in
5	Ask him to come in	5	Letters of thanks flooded in
6	The guard let him in	6	They had to give in
7	The children happily ran out	7	Your time is running out
8	The rubbish was thrown out	8	Many rare species died out
9	The man quietly slipped out	9	The lights were turned out
10	Some bats suddenly flew out	10	The runner was worn out
11	The car slowly pulled out	11	The fire was put out
12	The lady has gone out	12	The plan was carried out
13	The man suddenly jumped up	13	He tore the papers up
14	The slim girl stood up	14	His aunt brought him up
15	The picture was hung up	15	The girl’s face lit up
16	They gently lifted him up	16	The student soon caught up
17	The boxes were piled up	17	The station was blown up
18	The balloon slowly rose up	18	He decided to give up
19	The house was knocked down	19	The train has slowed down
20	The trees were cut down	20	The car has broken down
21	The plane has touched down	21	Our offer was turned down
22	The poor man knelt down	22	The batteries are running down
23	Rain started to pour down	23	His father let him down
24	The bridge has fallen down	24	The factory was closed down

Meaningless Sentences (48 in Total)

1	He felt like branching up	29	Her eyes sparkled with shoes
2	The small plane touched up	30	They peeled off their advice
3	The police gunned him up	31	The mud stained my cold
4	The angry man cooled up	32	They arose from the up
5	The paper was handed water	33	He walked very fast dresses
6	She cried her eyes up	34	He borrowed some direction
7	The boss gave him down	35	She bought a new storm
8	He read a story down	36	They drove in wrong kitchen
9	She exerted her ideas down	37	He was charged with bread
10	The dark sky cleared down	38	He bit off a chunk of thirsty
11	Mary picked the coin down	39	The girls split off color
12	The excited crowd cheered down	40	They battled up the dress
13	The civil war broke in	41	Bed was a place for face
14	This section was ruled in	42	Problems fell into three water
15	The truth is dug in	43	Thieves made away with long
16	I can work the problem in	44	The house was painted book
17	I decided to wake him in	45	He worked in small flowers
18	They laughed at a in	46	The maid watered the song
19	The watch has sold in	47	His friend smiled the desk
20	The meaning was pinned out	48	They all tasted the door
21	The girls were dressed think
22	The milk was drunk door
23	The fire destroyed the out
24	He handed me the out
25	He was charged with up
26	The food was left write
27	The football game is clothes
28	The river was severely door

Appendix 2: The Experiment Data

Mean Latency of 44 Participants

Subject	Spatial VPC			Non-spatial VPC
	Agree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Disagree	Neutral
1	496.63	622.57	608.63	538.13	599.17	548.43
2	691.63	527.5	586.63	450.63	602.83	535.13
3	600.43	619.5	536.14	465.29	738.71	677.38
4	588.14	601.83	665.38	523.88	604.14	631
5	913.43	951.88	906.5	926.17	849.5	752.6
6	571	601.13	562.38	585.67	633.25	578.29
7	548.25	599.5	516.71	509.17	556.88	446.71
8	617.71	737.57	668.14	788	674.33	717.63
9	756.17	937	811	767.17	814.14	825
10	551	531.86	503.38	468.43	562.88	519
11	609.13	633.86	654.25	686	593.17	608.57
12	601.63	758.14	558.75	465.29	769	606.5
13	714	635.63	609.38	588.33	530.14	516.75
14	455.57	642.83	516.29	562.57	560	578.43
15	694.75	565	636.5	531.29	574.29	505.25
16	839.88	901.75	931.33	852.14	825.6	775.67
17	810.38	708.83	769.25	766.88	895.13	734.63
18	735.43	636	644.86	712	633.86	611.38
19	756.43	734.33	925.63	897	869	782.25
20	610.13	522.14	677.57	586.75	839.29	605
21	505	546.63	540.75	567.13	575.33	527.78
22	507.57	596.75	612.63	498.5	611.86	587.5
23	592.75	600.43	477.13	507.5	761.29	499.56
24	450.43	458.5	358	469.75	467.71	389.29
25	618.43	887.17	698.71	619.14	887.8	602.2
26	636.38	649.25	701.17	608.88	753.5	632.38
27	450.71	421.25	554	383.71	493	402.5
28	760.25	861.14	778	670.57	585	744.83
29	578	722.4	639.38	709.25	612.25	517.5
30	687.57	776.14	741.63	757.2	664.5	767.86
31	459.14	638.33	432	502	492	452.33
32	1034	1138.33	960.25	1013.6	1110.8	1021.25
33	570.63	537.75	569.25	643.5	733.5	597.13
34	477.14	481.75	511	432.25	450.5	423.63
35	748	797.17	892.43	835.43	762.83	886.6
36	654.63	815.13	777	789	758.5	700.88
37	484.88	620.5	580.38	531	524.33	610.57
38	609.88	606.5	570.88	681	542.38	553.29
39	598.71	535.63	590.63	468.86	511	475
40	913.14	883.88	757.75	800.38	787.57	674
41	621.63	610	637.75	776.67	612.29	550.5
42	569.71	539.38	659.88	567.29	583.25	733.2
43	533.86	640.13	530.43	682.33	525.75	533.88
44	513.71	665.25	648.75	552	660.25	536
Mean	630.41	670.41	647.92	630.4	663.47	613.07

Unit: ms