Abstract
Animal-based metaphors are ubiquitous in natural languages with distinct cross-cultural implications. In this study, these conventional or dead metaphors, so to speak, are used as a tool to measure language erosion and cultural integration. We assumed that Neo-Aramaic-English bicultural bilinguals (NA-E) and Canadian-English speakers (CE) have the linguistic and cultural capacity necessary to establish concerted conceptualizations and culturally agreed upon connection between the target and source domain of these metaphors. This assumption was based on the fact that animals are one of the main categories of language vocabulary that native speakers learn during the early stages of their linguistic development. We selected widely known animal metaphors- 13 had identical meanings and 11 had culturally distinct meanings. The results showed no significant difference between the two groups as to the meaning of identical metaphors and animal gender associations. However, we found a significant statistical difference in the good and poor match of the culturally distinct metaphors. Animal gender associations did not show any significant difference. The frequency scale did not show any significant difference except for 'always' with distinct metaphors. Key words: Neo-Aramaic, cultural integration, animal metaphors, language attrition
Highlights
In this study, we target a figurative aspect of a minority language and the role of host culture in language erosion
This suggests that Neo-Aramaic-English bicultural bilinguals (NA-E) bilinguals and Canadian-English speakers (CE) speakers are cognizant about this kind of metaphors
We discuss the influence observed in the equivalent figurative meaning of a set of metaphors to show that NA-E bilinguals and CE monolinguals exhibit the same degree of pragmatic competence
Summary
We target a figurative aspect of a minority language (that is, Neo-Aramaic) and the role of host culture in language erosion. Individuals belonging to distinct ethnicities and having various linguistic and cultural backgrounds are encouraged by the general inclusive atmosphere to retain their cultural and linguistic identity. It is unclear whether such kind of cultural pluralism strengthens or weakens the heritage language of the minority group in question. In language-centered cultures minority, group members usually put emphasis on their heritage language. Apart from language there might exist other cultural aspects that would greatly contribute to and clearly delineate the boundaries of existence, identification and future
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