Abstract
Abstract This article investigates the use of friendship metaphors in texts by adult second language writers, in relation to the occurrence and function of metaphor and the writers’ discursive constructions of identity. The texts come from the final assessment in Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), a language program in basic Swedish. The analysis confirmed the initial assumption that the emotional and existentially loaded theme of friendship allows for the use of metaphor. The results also showed that the experience of writers as newcomers in Sweden played out in the metaphors that were used and their contexts. In order to categorize the found metaphors, a model was developed to show how systematic metaphors reflect functions and values related to three thematic categories: guidance and help, belonging and inclusion, and sharing and solidarity. For several metaphors, the metaphoricity was created through novel and unidiomatic wording, i.e. a kind of neologism that can be considered a communication strategy. The importance of using universal and abstract themes in language testing is emphasized, to enable second language writers to express different facets of experience and knowledge through existential thoughts and attitudes – not only as language learners and newcomers, but also as social agents who create and keep transnational relations through friends.
Highlights
Figurative language is usually not a prominent focus in basic second language education, which instead tends to favour functional communicative language
Previous research on friendship metaphor has been performed through the lens of cognitive metaphor theory (CMT), by exploring the relationship between body, language and mind (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980)
The systematic metaphors are subsequently discussed in relation to migration
Summary
Figurative language is usually not a prominent focus in basic second language education, which instead tends to favour functional communicative language. Research on metaphor from a second language perspective is an established field of research, there are no existing methodological approaches to evaluate these kinds of neologisms This can, in relation to language assessment, create difficulties. The texts produced in the task chosen for this study concern the writers’ experiences and reflections on friendship, a theme that in language testing is considered “neutral”, but is still engaging (cf Bachman, 1990), in the sense that it does not evoke sensitive experiences, but instead promotes the use of a language of emotions. The aim is to investigate the use of friendship metaphors in texts written by adult second languages learners, in relation to the occurrence and function of metaphor and the writers’ discursive constructions of identity. How do the writers position themselves in relation to friends, and what discursive identities are constructed in the imagery and its textual contexts?
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