scholarly journals Bilingual and Monolingual Idiom Processing Is Cut from the Same Cloth: The Role of the L1 in Literal and Figurative Meaning Activation

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara D. Beck ◽  
Andrea Weber
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Idiom Processing

scholarly journals The wrong horse was bet on – The Effects of Argument Structure versus Argument Adjacency on the Processing of Idiomatic Sentences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Reimer ◽  
Eva Smolka
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Sentence Completion ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Passive Voice ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Verb Argument Structure ◽  
Transitive Verbs ◽  
Structure Versus ◽  
Idiom Processing

Psycholinguistc research remains puzzled by the question under what circurmstances syntactically transformed idioms keep their figurative meaning. In this study we examined the effects of verb argument structure and argument adjacency on the processing of idiomatic and literal sentences in German. In two sentence-completion experiments, participants listened to idiomatic and literal sentences, both in active and passive voice, without the sentence-final verb. They indicated via button-press, which of three visually presented verbs best completed the sentence.In both experiments, idiomatic sentences were processed faster than literal ones, and active sentences faster than passive ones. In passivized sentences, the patterns of argument structure and argument adjacency reversed across experiments: In Experiment 1, sentences with ditransitive verbs were processed faster than sentences with transitive verbs, and vice versa in Experiment 2. This pattern corresponds to faster processing of adjacent than of nonadjacent arguments and thus points to the dominating role of argument adjacency rather than argumentstructure in the processing of passivized sentences. With respect to idiom processing, we conclude that the adjacency of the verb and its arguments determines whether passivized idioms keep their figurative meaning.

scholarly journals Can you reach for the planets or grasp at the stars? – Modified noun, verb, or preposition constituents in idiom processing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Smolka ◽  
Carsten Eulitz
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Type ◽  
The Other ◽  
Psycholinguistic Research ◽  
Idiom Comprehension ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Idiomatic Phrase ◽  
Idiom Processing ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Idiomatic Meaning ◽  
Control Sentence

Idioms are a special case of multi-word expressions in that their meaning cannot be compositionally constructed from the meaning of the single constituents. The question of how the idiomatic meaning is assembled remains an unsettled issue in psycholinguistic research. The present study examines whether the figurative meaning of an idiom is recognized if critical idiomatic constituents, such as the noun, verb, or preposition, are modified. In three paraphrase experiments, participants saw (a) the canonical idiomatic phrase (e.g., She reached for the stars), (b) the idiomatic phrase with a modified constituent (e.g., She reached/grasped for/at the stars/planets), or (c) a matched literal control sentence (e.g., She reached for the sweets) and rated on a scale from 1 (not at all) - 7 (completely) how strongly the sentence reflected the meaning of a paraphrase of the idiom (e.g., She has always aspired to unattainable goals). Sentence type and constituent type strongly affected paraphrase ratings with highest ratings for canonical idiomatic phrases, lowest ratings for control sentences, and ratings in between for idioms with modified constituents. Further, idioms with modified verbs were rated higher in matching the figurative meaning than idioms with modified prepositions or nouns. Overall these findings indicate that the figurative meaning was assembled in spite of the modifications. We conclude that idioms are not fully ‘semantically fixed’ but allow for some flexibility in the processing of idioms. Modified constituents that activate meanings similar to those of the canonical constituents will co-activate the figurative meaning of the idiom together with the other idiomatic constituents. We discuss psycholinguistic models on idiom comprehension.

scholarly journals Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speakers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Siyanova ◽  
K Conklin ◽  
N Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Point Analysis ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Idiom Processing

Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively (at the end of the day - 'eventually'), literally (at the end of the day - 'in the evening'), and novel phrases (at the end of the war). Native speaker results indicate a processing advantage for idioms over novel phrases, as evidenced by fewer and shorter fixations. Further, no processing advantage is found for figurative idiom uses over literal ones in a full idiom analysis or in a recognition point analysis. Contrary to native speaker results, non-native findings suggest that L2 speakers process idioms at a similar speed to novel phrases. Further, figurative uses are processed more slowly than literal ones. Importantly, the recognition point analysis allows us to establish where non-natives slow down when processing the figurative meaning. © The Author(s) 2011.

Time-dependent effects of decomposability, familiarity and literal plausibility on idiom meaning activation

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra Titone ◽  
Maya Libben
Keyword(s):  
Time Dependent ◽  
Formulaic Language ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Idiom Processing ◽  
Affect Processing ◽  
Prime Target ◽  
Modal Semantic ◽  
Over Time

We address a core question about idioms relevant to formulaic language generally: are the figurative meanings of idioms directly retrieved or compositionally built? An understanding of this question has been previously obscured by the fact that idioms vary in ways that can affect processing, and also because experimental tasks, which differ across studies, probe different kinds of comprehension processes. We thus investigate how linguistic differences among idioms in semantic decomposability, familiarity, and literal plausibility modulate figurative meaning activation using cross-modal semantic priming, which is ideal for tracking activation of a particular target meaning over time. Across two experiments, we obtained two key findings. First, a comparison of different prime-target delay conditions suggests that figurative meaning activation steadily accrues as the idiom unfolds to 1000 ms later. Second, different linguistic attributes of idioms modulate figurative activation at different time points: increased literal plausibility interferes with idiom priming prior to the offset of the phrase, increased familiarity facilitates idiom priming at phrase offset, and increased semantic decomposability (surprisingly) interferes with idiom priming 1000 ms following phrase offset. These results contradict strong decompositional models of idiom processing and rather suggest that multiple linguistic factors jointly constrain figurative meaning retrieval in a time-dependent fashion.

scholarly journals On my mind: thoughts about salience, context and figurative language from a second language perspective

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Istvan Kecskes
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Language Research ◽  
The Way ◽  
Graded Salience

This article discusses three claims of the Graded Salience Hypothesis presented in Rachel Giora’s book On our mind. It is argued that these claims may give second language researchers the chance to revise the way they think about word meaning, the literal meaning-figurative meaning dichotomy and the role of context in language processing. Giora’s arguments are related to recent second language research and their relevance is explained through examples. There are also several suggestions made for further research.

On terminological figurativeness

Terminology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Timofeeva-Timofeev ◽  
Chelo Vargas-Sierra
Keyword(s):  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Theory ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Luxury Marketing ◽  
Term Analysis

Terminologists’ interest in studying the role of metaphor and metaphorical terms in specialized communication has proliferated since the first papers addressing this issue appeared in the 1990s. However, we believe that some facets of terminological meaning still remain overlooked or merit further analysis. This paper attempts to contribute to the study of one of these facets: the figurative meaning of some compound terms used in the domain of luxury marketing and business. In order to present a systematized view of this phenomenon we will adopt some theoretical tools from the Conventional Figurative Language Theory, in order to confirm the validity of some of its postulates for compound term analysis. Next, a contrastive approach between English, Spanish and Russian compound terms will put the theoretical ideas into practice with the aim of illustrating their applied and metalinguistic potential. Some basic conclusions will be offered at the end of the paper.

scholarly journals Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speakers

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Siyanova-Chanturia ◽  
Kathy Conklin ◽  
Norbert Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Point Analysis ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Idiom Processing

Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively ( at the end of the day — ‘eventually’), literally ( at the end of the day — ‘in the evening’), and novel phrases ( at the end of the war). Native speaker results indicate a processing advantage for idioms over novel phrases, as evidenced by fewer and shorter fixations. Further, no processing advantage is found for figurative idiom uses over literal ones in a full idiom analysis or in a recognition point analysis. Contrary to native speaker results, non-native findings suggest that L2 speakers process idioms at a similar speed to novel phrases. Further, figurative uses are processed more slowly than literal ones. Importantly, the recognition point analysis allows us to establish where non-natives slow down when processing the figurative meaning.

scholarly journals Adding more fuel to the fire: An eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speakers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Siyanova ◽  
K Conklin ◽  
N Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Point Analysis ◽  
On Line ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Idiom Processing

Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively (at the end of the day - 'eventually'), literally (at the end of the day - 'in the evening'), and novel phrases (at the end of the war). Native speaker results indicate a processing advantage for idioms over novel phrases, as evidenced by fewer and shorter fixations. Further, no processing advantage is found for figurative idiom uses over literal ones in a full idiom analysis or in a recognition point analysis. Contrary to native speaker results, non-native findings suggest that L2 speakers process idioms at a similar speed to novel phrases. Further, figurative uses are processed more slowly than literal ones. Importantly, the recognition point analysis allows us to establish where non-natives slow down when processing the figurative meaning. © The Author(s) 2011.

Semantic Analyzability in Children’s Understanding of Idioms

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond W. Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Short Story ◽  
First Graders ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Fourth Graders ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Better Than

This study investigated the role of semantic analyzability in children’s understanding of idioms. Kindergartners and first, third, and fourth graders listened to idiomatic expressions either alone or at the end of short story contexts. Their task was to explain verbally the intended meanings of these phrases and then to choose their correct idiomatic interpretations. The idioms presented to the children differed in their degree of analyzability. Some idioms were highly analyzable or decomposable, with the meanings of their parts contributing independently to their overall figurative meanings. Other idioms were nondecomposable because it was difficult to see any relation between a phrase’s individual components and the idiom’s figurative meaning. The results showed that younger children (kindergartners and first graders) understood decomposable idioms better than they did nondecomposable phrases. Older children (third and fourth graders) understood both kinds of idioms equally well in supporting contexts, but were better at interpreting decomposable idioms than they were at understanding nondecomposable idioms without contextual information. These findings demonstrate that young children better understand idiomatic phrases whose individual parts independently contribute to their overall figurative meanings.

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