Color Idioms of Estonian, Swedish, and Turkish: A Comparative Analysis Based on Empirical Data

This study investigates the interpretative and processing mechanisms of null and overt subject pronouns at the syntax-discourse interface among native Turkish speakers. The research focuses on whether challenges in L2 acquisition of subject pronoun distribution are also observed in the properties of native grammars, guided by the Interface Hypothesis (IH) and the Pragmatic Principles Violation Hypothesis (PPVH). Results from the acceptability judgement task indicate that native Turkish speakers do not uniformly interpret null and overt subjects; overt subjects are often pragmatically overused in contexts requiring topic continuity. However, the findings from the self-paced reading task showed no significant processing differences between felicitous and infelicitous uses of subject pronouns, suggesting that native speakers might not actively penalize grammatical infelicities during real-time processing. These results suggest that issues traditionally associated with L2 acquisition might also be intrinsic to native language behavior. The study calls for further cross-linguistic research to determine if these findings are specific to TurkThis study investigates the interpretative and processing mechanisms of null and overt subject pronouns at the syntax-discourse interface among native Turkish speakers. The research focuses on whether challenges in L2 acquisition of subject pronoun distribution are also observed in the properties of native grammars, guided by the Interface Hypothesis (IH) and the Pragmatic Principles Violation Hypothesis (PPVH). Results from the acceptability judgement task indicate that native Turkish speakers do not uniformly interpret null and overt subjects; overt subjects are often pragmatically overused in contexts requiring topic continuity. However, the findings from the self-paced reading task showed no significant processing differences between felicitous and infelicitous uses of subject pronouns, suggesting that native speakers might not actively penalize grammatical infelicities during real-time processing. These results suggest that issues traditionally associated with L2 acquisition might also be intrinsic to native language behavior. The study calls for further cross-linguistic research to determine if these findings are specific to Turkish or part of a broader pattern in null subject languages.sh or part of a broader pattern in null subject languages.

Shell noun (SN) use in learner writing has been studied in terms of SN choices and SN pattern choices, but less so in terms of SN-pattern co-selection (i.e. which patterns are used with which SNs). This study examined English SN choices and their preferred lexicogrammatical patterns in argumentative essays by speakers of Turkish and Japanese in order to find SN-pattern attraction in learner writing, compared to SN use in writing of native English speakers. Results indicate that learners understand SN functions, given pattern frequencies comparable to those of native speakers. However, there were differences among groups in which SNs were most strongly attracted to or repelled by the SN patterns. This prompted a qualitative investigation. Findings of non-native SN use are discussed with respect to word-sense categories and clause marking. Suggestions are made for further research.

This study investigates the influence of grammatical role and discourse-level cues on the interpretation of different pronominal forms in native speakers of French, native speakers of Turkish, and Turkish learners of French. In written questionnaires, we found that native speakers of French were influenced by discourse-level cues when interpreting ambiguous overt subject pronouns in French, whereas native speakers of Turkish were mainly influenced by a syntactic cue—subjecthood—when interpreting null subjects (pro) in Turkish translation equivalents. When interpreting implicit subjects of nonfinite dependent clauses (PRO), native speakers of both French and Turkish were influenced by subjecthood. Finally, Turkish learners of French were influenced by discourse-level cues in the interpretation of overt pronouns as well as PRO and showed no subject preference in either case. These results are in line with approaches to second language (L2) acquisition that stress the role of discourse-level principles in the processing and use of a L2 (Clahsen & Felser, 2006; Klein & Perdue, 1997).

Book Review. A New Insight into Theory of Conceptual Metaphor

Reviewed by: Metaphor in cognitive linguistics: Selected papers from the Fifth International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, July 1997 ed. by Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr., Gerard J. Steen Kenneth A. McElhanon Metaphor in cognitive linguistics: Selected papers from the Fifth International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, July 1997. Ed. by Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. and Gerard J. Steen. (Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science. Series IV-Current issues in linguistic theory, 175.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1999. Pp. viii, 225. $72.00. The book consists of eleven diverse articles on metaphor. Noteworthy articles include Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano’s [End Page 605] ‘Metaphorical mappings in the sense of smell’, which rejects suggestions that the sense of smell is mapped metaphorically and proposes a process of property selection within an inherent structure that is similar to the concept of radial structure. Joseph E. Grady, Todd Oakley, and Seana Coulson (‘Blending and metaphor’) argue that conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and conceptual blending theory (BT) represent complementary approaches that differ mainly in (1) the number of mental representations each allows (CMT—two, BT—more than two); (2) basic unit of cognitive organization (CMT—semantic domain, BT—mental spaces as scenarios structured by given domains); (3) strict directionality (CMT—yes, BT—no); and (4) the kinds of relationships they posit between mental representations (CMT—entrenched and conventional, BT—short-lived and novel). They propose a principle of BT, that a blend is based upon particular connections within the network of input spaces not upon a systematic mapping of one domain onto another. Noticeably absent, however, is a consideration of whether or not such mental spaces are grounded in ICMs (Idealized Cognitive Models) and, if so, how the ICMs might frame the scenes and contribute encyclopedic knowledge. Gerard Steen, ‘From linguistic to conceptual metaphor in five steps’, attempts to develop a procedure for identifying conceptual metaphors in discourse. The primary task of the linguist who wishes to describe and explain the structure and function of language is metaphor analysis, not metaphor understanding—a purely cognitive process. Nevertheless, his procedures are very much grounded in understanding inasmuch as metaphor identification ‘is fundamentally a matter of conceptual analysis’, and an ‘analysis . . . lays bare how metaphors can differ from each other with respect to important dimensions of conceptual structure’ (64–65). The proposed methodology seems complex, perhaps because it is bound to a theory that requires a propositional analysis of literal and nonliteral meaning and is designed to assist an analyst who is apparently not a native speaker of the language under analysis. Joseph E. Grady, ‘A typology of motivation for conceptual metaphor: Correlation vs. resemblance’, explores systematic analyses of conventional and novel metaphorical expressions to discover ‘primary metaphors’, those fundamental, experientially motivated metaphors which serve as the basis for further mappings. Grady suggests two distinct classes of metaphors which differ in terms of directionality, ontology, and conventionality: One is based upon resemblance (rather than similiarity) and the other upon correlation. Four papers address the relationship between cultural metaphors and cultural models and claim that cognition is inextricably culturally-based. Raymond Gibbs, ‘Taking metaphor out of our heads and putting it into the cultural world’, suggests that metaphorical mappings are grounded in embodied behavior which in turn is connected with cultural experience. Zoltán Kövesecs, “Metaphor: Does it constitute or reflect cultural models?’, claims that basic experiences select the appropriate, simple, generic cultural metaphors that constitute the cultural models that structure abstract concepts. Alan Cienki, ‘Metaphors and cultural models as profiles and bases’, adopts Ronald Langacker’s base-profile model and claims that metaphors are profiled against cultural models. Michele Emanation, ‘Congruence by degree: On the relation between metaphor and cultural models’, suggests that a scale of congruence may be useful in accounting for the varying relationships between cultural models and conceptual metaphors. Kenneth A. McElhanon Summer Institute of Linguistics Copyright © 2002 Linguistic Society of America

Cultural relativists adduce the variation in colour categories across languages as prima facie evidence for linguistic relativity (language affects thought). However, there have been very few experiments that have gone beyond this observational level to assess the extent and the nature of linguistic differences on colour categorisation and perception. Here, we report experiments comparing English and Turkish speakers using a colour-grouping task and same - different tasks aimed at redressing this lack. Turkish categorises the blue region with two basic colour terms (lacivert ‘dark blue’ and mavi ‘blue’) whereas English has a single basic term. In experiment 1 subjects sorted a representative set of 65 colours into groups on the basis of their perceptual similarity. Native Turkish speakers were significantly more likely than native English speakers to form two distinct blue groups corresponding to the two basic blue terms of Turkish. In the same - different tasks we sought for possible categorical effects: enhanced discrimination across category boundaries and/or reduced discrimination within categories. For successive presentation, Turkish speakers were more accurate than English speakers in judgments of colour pairs that fell on opposite sides of the lacivert - mavi boundary. However, for simultaneous presentation, there was no difference between the two language groups. The results suggest that there are detectable effects of linguistic categories on colour cognition, but the locus of the effect may be in memory rather than perception.

Aims and Objectives: Several studies suggest that third language acquisition (TLA) is marked with complex patterns of language interaction. However, it is not clear yet to what extent multilinguals activate each of their background languages in TLA, as various factors may trigger the activation of one of the previously learnt languages. This study aims to contribute to the discussion by examining the use of verbal morphology in third language (L3) Turkish of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals. We investigate whether the use of verbal morphology in L3 Turkish of Russian–English–Turkish trilinguals differs from that of Turkish native speakers and in the case of a deviation, which of the background languages can account for it. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is done within the framework of cross-linguistic influence. Data and Analysis: The data are collected from eight native speakers of Russian who are highly proficient in their L2 English and L3 Turkish, and use their three languages more or less equally every day. Fictional narratives are employed in the study as the tool for data collection. The use of finite and non-finite verbal forms in Turkish is compared with the baseline data coming from native speakers of Turkish. Findings/Conclusions: The results reveal that the trilingual participants mainly use the verbal morphology consistently with native speakers of Turkish; nonetheless, two deviations from the Turkish baseline stand out: tendency to use finite verbal forms in their noun clauses and inconsistency in the use of temporal-aspectual markers in finite verbal forms. The former can be attributed to the L1 and L2 interlanguage, while the latter can be attributed to the influence of particularly L1 Russian. Originality, and significance/Implications: Thus, the study provides evidence that the source of interference into L3 production is likely to occur due to the cross-linguistic influence from L1, which in turn might imply the predominant position of L1 over sequentially learnt languages at the morphosyntactic level in the language processing.

This study deals with the extent to which epistemic uncertainty influences processing of grammatical evidentiality – the linguistic reference to information source – in Turkish native speakers. Across a series of sentence reading experiments administered to groups of Turkish adult native speakers, this study showed that indirect evidentiality in firsthand witnessing contexts evoked greater post-interpretive disruptions (Experiment 1), and were found largely unfavourable (Experiment 2), suggesting that in Turkish, speaking about one's own information with indirect evidentiality leads to an inherent effect. Furthermore, a first-person's witnessed information marked with direct evidentiality is found to be rather unacceptable or unsettling under low epistemic certainty conditions, where the speaker is unsure of his/her own witnessing (Experiment 3), whilst a non-first-person's information blends well with uncertainty constraints for which, Turkish readers strongly favour the assumption marker (Experiment 4). This study indicates that Turkish speakers’ sensitivity to uses of evidentiality is influenced by the ‘uncertainty of information owner’. There is a semantic overlap and a complex interface between evidentiality and epistemic modality in Turkish, and this interface is mediated by the ownership of information (first-person versus non-first-person) and the owner's uncertainty about his/her information. Further implications are discussed.

Acoustic Voice Analysis of Young Turkish Speakers

This study investigated how second language speakers use syntactic and semantic cues in processing complex sentences. Turkish speakers of English, native speakers of English and native speakers of Turkish participated in a self-paced reading experiment, a read-aloud task and a pen-and-paper questionnaire in their relevant languages. The participants’ working memory capacity was also measured. The results supported the primacy of syntax view for native speakers of Turkish and English (Frazier & Fodor, 1978). Both groups of native speakers primarily used syntactic cues in their on-line decisions; semantic information influenced later decisions only. The second language speakers, however, used semantic cues in both their initial and later decisions, with evidence for accessing complex syntactic representations. The results are taken to support the view that native and non-native speakers weight linguistic cues differentially (Cunnings, 2017). The potential reasons for differential cue-retrieval in the first and second language are discussed.

The study aims is to determine the experiences of primary school teachers in terms of teaching Turkish to the students who are not native Turkish speakers. In the study, phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research patterns, was used. Participants were determined by the criterion-based sampling method. The participants of the research consisted of 36 primary school teachers who had Syrian and Afghan refugees in their class. The research data were collected through a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. Content analysis technique was used in the analysis of the data. It was observed that most of the participants felt insufficient in teaching Turkish to students who had different native languages, had problems in applying, measuring and evaluating teaching methods and course activities, and had language problems with them. In the study, the difficulties experienced in teaching Turkish to Syrian and Afghan refugee students who were not native Turkish speakers were presented and the suggestions about what to do in the education process related to these difficulties were provided. It was concluded that in the education process of the teachers, students and families should take Turkish language courses. Moreover, in addition to the Turkish courses in teaching Turkish, it was reported that the primary school teachers stated that it would be helpful to do social activities with students who have language problems, to provide counseling services for them, and to prearrange distribution of the students to each classroom. It was concluded that special activities should be carried out in the verbal communication learning area.

This study investigates the structural conceptual metaphors employed by Mandailingnese speakers to express emotions, aiming to elucidate how abstract emotional experiences are mapped onto more concrete concepts through metaphor. The research adopted a qualitative, descriptive design grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), as developed by Lakoff and Johnson. Data were drawn from spoken language, including words, phrases, and clauses, collected through recordings of native Mandailingnese speakers' utterances. An interactive model was applied to analyze the data. The findings indicate that Mandailingnese speakers frequently utilize structural conceptual metaphors such as Time Is Money, Life Is a Journey, and Causation As Forced Movement to articulate emotions. In particular, many emotions were conceptualized in temporal terms, mapping feelings onto the domain of time. This mapping illustrates how speakers draw upon familiar, concrete domains to understand and communicate abstract emotional states. These results suggest that structural conceptual metaphors are central to Mandailingnese emotional expression and may contribute to enhancing emotional intelligence. By framing emotions within metaphorical constructs, speakers are better able to comprehend, communicate, and regulate their emotional experiences. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the interplay between language, culture, and cognition, demonstrating how metaphor shapes the expression and perception of emotions within the Mandailingnese community. Highlights: This study investigates the structural conceptual metaphors employed by Mandailingnese speakers to express emotions, aiming to elucidate how abstract emotional experiences are mapped onto more concrete concepts through metaphor. The research adopted a qualitative, descriptive design grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), as developed by Lakoff and Mark. Data were drawn from spoken language, including words, phrases, and clauses, collected through recordings of native Mandailingnese speakers' utterances.

Speakers of all languages gesture, but there are differences in the gestures that they produce. Do speakers learn language-specific gestures by watching others gesture or by learning to speak a particular language? We examined this question by studying the speech and gestures produced by 40 congenitally blind adult native speakers of English and Turkish (n = 20/language), and comparing them with the speech and gestures of 40 sighted adult speakers in each language (20 wearing blindfolds, 20 not wearing blindfolds). We focused on speakers’ descriptions of physical motion, which display strong cross-linguistic differences in patterns of speech and gesture use. Congenitally blind speakers of English and Turkish produced speech that resembled the speech produced by sighted speakers of their native language. More important, blind speakers of each language used gestures that resembled the gestures of sighted speakers of that language. Our results suggest that hearing a particular language is sufficient to gesture like a native speaker of that language.

Conceptual mappings are a key tenet of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and are sets of systematic correspondences between the source and target domains. As observed in the relevant literature, it is argued that metaphors establish a conceptual link between a source and target concept such that the target domain is understood through a source domain. As a result, the correspondences are constrained by different mapping scopes which help avoid the transfer of just any kind of feature from the source to the target concept. In this study, we sought to examine the conceptual mappings of metaphorical euphemisms in Ekegusii Circumcision Ceremonies. The study analyzed the conceptual mappings of metaphorical euphemisms used in EC based on the essentials of cognitive metaphor analysis and principles of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). The metaphor-related words (MRWs) identified using the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIPVU) were subjected to conceptual analysis using the CMT. The conceptualization of the target domain euphemisms was obtained through projections in the source domain such as objects, animals, plants, and human beings. In this view, the study identified the following four generic metaphors in Ekegusii Circumcision Discourse; Circumcision is a Human being, Circumcision is an Animal, Circumcision is a Plant and Circumcision is an Object. The study employed a descriptive research design. A combined method of elicitation and the native speaker’s intuition was used to collect culture-specific metaphorical euphemisms through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). The quantitative data on the other hand was analyzed using the statistical Package for Social Sciences which is; Chi-square at a significant level of 0.05 was employed to test the association between the overall cross-tabulated corpus of the generic level metaphors versus the influence of demographic variables on the usage of euphemisms in Ekegusii Circumcision ceremonies. The findings of this study not only contribute to the existing literature in cognitive linguistics but also indicate that Ekegusii speakers conceptualize circumcision through metaphorical euphemisms. The findings of this study are of benefit to the ethnographers and metaphor theorists for further reference.

This study aimed to examine the role of L1 in the acquisition of L2 by comparing the acquisition of the three spatial prepositions (in, on, at) in English by native speakers of Russian and Turkish. The study, adopting a comparative approach suggested by Jarvis (2000, Methodological rigor in the study of transfer: Identifying L1 influence in the interlanguage lexicon. Language Learning 50. 245–309), compared interlanguages of L2 learners with Russian and Turkish L1 backgrounds, and examined the interlanguages of the L2 learners in relation to their native languages. The data for the analysis were collected via utilizing two diagnostic tests and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings demonstrated that that the acquisition of the prepositions differed not only quantitatively but also qualitatively between the groups. The study adds to the comparative research examining the role of L1s in the acquisition of L2 and the effect of cross-linguistic influence taking place from background languages.