The relationship between affective word ratings and lexico-semantic properties in traditional and simplified Chinese

Abstract

Citron, Weekes, and Ferstl (2010) reported that affective features, namely arousal and valence, represented different dimensions in emotion word recognition. The present study is the first to investigate the interactions between lexico-semantic and affective features in the processing of Chinese characters. Fifty three Cantonese speakers and 26 Mandarin speakers participated in the study by providing subjective ratings on 297 words according to lexico-semantic features and affective features in an online questionnaire. Significant differences in the recognition of lexico-semantic and affective features were observed between the two language groups. Arousal and valence showed perfect correlation in Cantonese speakers but not Mandarin speakers. The findings suggested that differences in language, sociolinguistic and cultural backgrounds are likely to influence the recognition of lexico-semantic and affective features of words, and the patterns of interaction between arousal and valence may differ across language groups.