Molinaro, N. 1 , Carreiras, M. 1, 2 & Duñabeitia, J. A. 1
1 BCBL, Basque center on Cognition, Brain and Language
2 Ikerbasque, Basque foundation for Science
Oxymora are figures of speech in which two words whose meaning is paradoxical are merged. The most common form of oxymoron involves adjective-noun combinations (e.g. cold fire or real dream). While oxymora are literally paradoxical, pleonasms are noun-adjective pairs in which similar meanings are redundantly expressed (burning fire). In this study we evaluate novel meanings comprehension processes focusing on the electrophysiological correlates of noun-adjective on-line semantic integration.
In a first ERP experiment 20 participants were visually presented with word by word Spanish sentences containing noun-adjectives Oxymora (Estaba completamente confusa por el sueño real de la noche anterior. - I was completely confused by the real dream from last night), compared to literally Neuter sentences (funny dream) and semantic Violations (!expert dream).
The Violation condition elicited an enhanced N400 compared to the other two conditions, that did not differ between them around 400 ms. The Oxymoron condition elicited a larger frontal positive effect (500-900 ms) compared to the other conditions.
In a second experiment 20 Spanish speakers read sentences containing Pleonasms (unreal dream; plus Neuter and Violation). While Pleonasms and Neuter sentences did not differ around 400 ms the Violation caused a N400 effect. The Pleonasm elicited a short-living (500-650 ms) increased frontal positive component compared to the other conditions.
The two experiments suggest that understanding oxymora requires more than the simple activation and combination of semantic features (mirrored in the N400). Only after this initial semantic analysis, related concepts are integrated in activating novel meanings: while pleonasms trigger short-living late positivities, oxymora trigger long-lasting positivities.