Metaphoric Reference: An Eye Movement Analysis of Spanish–English and English–Spanish Bilingual Readers

Roberto R Heredia,Anna B Cieślicka

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00439

Abstract

This study examines the processing of metaphoric reference by bilingual speakers. English dominant, Spanish dominant, and balanced bilinguals read passages in English biasing either a figurative (e.g., describing a weak and soft fighter that always lost and everyone hated) or a literal (e.g., describing a donut and bakery shop that made delicious pastries) meaning of a critical metaphoric referential description (e.g., “creampuff”). We recorded the eye movements (first fixation, gaze duration, go-past duration, and total reading time) for the critical region, which was a metaphoric referential description in each passage. The results revealed that literal vs. figurative meaning activation was modulated by language dominance, where Spanish dominant bilinguals were more likely to access the literal meaning, and English dominant and balanced bilinguals had access to both the literal and figurative meanings of the metaphoric referential description. Overall, there was a general tendency for the literal interpretation to be more active, as revealed by shorter reading times for the metaphoric reference used literally, in comparison to when it was used figuratively. Results are interpreted in terms of the Graded Salience Hypothesis (Giora, 2002, 2003) and the Literal Salience Model (Cieślicka, 2006, 2015).

Highlights

Reviewed by: Dawn Blasko, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, USA Rachel Helen Messer, Oklahoma State University, USA
The results revealed that literal vs. figurative meaning activation was modulated by language dominance, where Spanish dominant bilinguals were more likely to access the literal meaning, and English dominant and balanced bilinguals had access to both the literal and figurative meanings of the metaphoric referential description
Bilinguals had direct access to the non-literal interpretation, as in Stewart and Heredia’s (2002) English monolingual speakers, activation of the literal interpretation suggested the literal interpretation remained as a possibility for bilinguals, even 1000 ms after they had accurately resolved the linguistic ambiguity

Summary

Introduction

Reviewed by: Dawn Blasko, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, USA Rachel Helen Messer, Oklahoma State University, USA. Understanding referential descriptions requires that readers or listeners establish a connection between the anaphoric metaphor (“sleeping pills”) and its antecedent (“books”) found elsewhere in the sentence This reactivation of the antecedent from the metaphoric reference, as argued by Gibbs (1990), Onishi and Murphy (1993), and Almor et al (2007) requires additional inferential processes to understand the intended meaning (but see Heredia and Muñoz, 2015; see Stewart and Heredia, 2002)

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Conclusion