動賓複合詞的語法屬性，因其可離可合的特殊表現，一直以來都是語言學家討論的議題。許多學者認為動賓複合詞無論在黏著或是離析的情況下，其語法屬性都還是一個詞彙(Chao, 1968; Li & Thompson, 1983; Yi, 2007; Wang, 2009)；也有學者提出只要動賓複合詞有可以被插入語分離的情形，該詞便應視為短語而非詞彙(Lu, 1979; Paul, 1988; Sybesma, 1999)；另有一派學者認為，動賓複合詞在其黏著型態時應被視為詞彙，但在離析型態時則應視其為短語 (Liu, 1967; Zhang, 2010)。本文旨在以行為實驗來探討具有不同語意透明度的中文動賓結構，在黏著句式和離析句式的情況下，其語法屬性和處理機制是否會因為語意透明度的差異而有所不同。本實驗假設，動賓結構在黏著句式的處理應與離析時不同，而語意透明度在處理的方式上應也扮演了重要的角色。實驗的結果符合假設：動賓結構在黏著和離析的句式裡，處理方式確實有差異。在黏著的句式裡，含有語意透明度低（亦即傳統上的動賓複合詞）或者透明度中等的動賓結構之句子，其處理速度都較語意透明度高（亦即傳統上的動賓詞組）的組別來得快；但是在離析的句式裡，三種不同語意透明度的動賓結構則無顯著差異。亦即，當動賓結構被分開了，受試者將會受其插入詞影響，即便是語意黏著性高的動賓複合詞，也會被當成是短語而非單一詞彙處理。簡而言之，本實驗結果顯示動賓複合詞合則為詞彙，離則為詞組，而雙重路徑模型對此型態較能提供合理的解釋。

The current study examined the controversial issue of Verb-Object Compounds (VOCs). Some scholars in previous literatures contended that a VOC should be treated as a lexical unit no matter it is in a separated form or unseparated one (Chao, 1968; Li & Thompson, 1983; Yi, 2007; Wang, 2009). In contrast, the other group of scholars contended that as long as a VOC can be separated by interposing element, it should be considered a phrase instead of a lexical unit (Lu, 1979; Paul, 1988; Sybesma, 1999). Combining the two views above, a group of researchers think that VOCs are lexical units when they are in unseparated form but are phrases when they are in separated form (Liu, 1967; Zhang, 2010). By adopting a grammatical judgment task, how VOCs with various semantic transparency are processed in unseparated and separated forms in a sentence was examined in this study. It was hypothesized that VO sequences with lower semantic transparency (i.e. traditionally defined as VOC compounds) might be processed differently when they are in an unseparated and in a separated form. Also, when these VO sequences are in an unseparated form, they might be processed similarly to VO sequences with higher semantic transparency (i.e. traditionally defined as a Verb-Object phrase (VOP)). The results revealed that VO sequences with lower semantic transparency were indeed processed faster than those with higher semantic transparency in the unseparated condition, but all the VO sequences were equally taxing in the separated condition, suggesting that VOCs were processed as a lexical unit in the unseparated condition, while they were processed like phrases in the separated condition. The theoretical claim that VOCs are compound words in an unseparated form and are phrases in a separated form (Liu, 1967; Zhang, 2010) is thus a more plausible explanation. From a psycholinguistic point of view, the duel-route model is a more likely explanation for VOC representations in the mental lexicon.

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