Monolingual and Bilingual Memory for English and Spanish Metaphors and Similes

Abstract

Four experiments tested cued-recall memory for simple sentential metaphors ("Playful monkeys are clowns") and similes ("Playfulmonkeys are like clowns") in Spanish and English. Overall, concrete metaphors and similes were remembered much better than abstract ones. In the all-English Experiment 1, both metaphors and similes were usually recalled as metaphors, whereas in the all-Spanish Experiment 2, both metaphors and similes were usually recalled as similes. Experiments 3 and 4 used mixed-language lists (Spanish and English) and bilingual participants fluent in both languages. In these studies, the trend of recalling both English figurative types as metaphors essentially went away, although there was still some tendency to recall Spanish metaphors as similes. Results were interpreted in terms of possible language-specific production biases in the context of Glucksberg's class-inclusion model and Grosjean's bilingual-monolingual mode distinction.