Research topic: Does time flow vertically in Chinese? The quest for groundbreaking evidence for linguistic relativity
Research pathway: Bilingialism
Host institution: Bangor University
The linguistic relativity hypothesis proposes that the language we speak affects the way we perceive the world (Whorf, 1956). During my PhD, I conducted four experimental studies using event-related brain potentials (ERP) to test cross-language grammatical and lexical influences on time conceptualisation in highly proficient Chinese-English bilinguals and native English controls. The results of these studies suggest that Chinese second language speakers of English do not process tense at a semantic level as they read English and that temporal expressions idiosyncratic to Chinese (spatiotemporal metaphors) have a language-dependent impact on time conceptualisation in bilinguals.
During the course of the fellowship, I plan to produce two more publications. I also intend to conduct further research into time-space conceptualization along the vertical axis in native speakers of Chinese, the third stream of research developed during my PhD. In the course of the fellowship, I also intend to participate in at least one prominent international conference to communicate the findings on time-space relationships in Chinese-English bilinguals, and I will actively communicate with local academic groups. In addition, I will engage in a comprehensive training to develop my existing research skills. Overall, this fellowship will lay a solid foundation for my future academic career.
Email: psp605@bangor.ac.uk
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yang_Li356