The Roles of Vision, Space, and the Body in Interpreting Unfamiliar Serbian and English Idiomatic Expressions

Dušan Stamenković,Mihailo Antović,Austin Bennett

doi:10.15388/respectus.2014.25.30.1

Dušan Stamenković, Mihailo Antović + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.15388/respectus.2014.25.30.1

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Abstract

The present paper investigates whether lexicalized visuo-spatial configurations and/or an explicit reference to a human body part can facilitate the interpretation of unknown idioms by comparing the levels of correct interpretation of unknown English and Serbian idiomatic expressions. Two groups of respondents, American and Serbian engineering students, had the task to interpret literally translated idiomatic expressions from a target language they were not familiar with (Serbian or English). The idioms were divided into three groups: (1) visuo-spatial bodily idioms, (2) bodily idioms only, and (3) non-bodily idioms. The goal was to test whether references to visuo-spatial information and/or parts of the body would help respondents interpret the expressions correctly. Our results, compiled from both groups of respondents, suggest that there are significant differences for the three scores, with the combined visuo-spatial and bodily components taking the lead, the bodily component only coming second, and the non-bodily idioms falling strikingly far behind. This could provide support to the well-known assumptions of cognitive linguistics that visuo-spatial configurations and embodiment play a major role in the construction of abstract concepts.

Highlights

IntroductionThe main assumption behind the study presented in this paper is that success in interpreting specific groups of unknown idioms might reveal some underlying mechanisms behind conceptualization
The present paper investigates whether lexicalized visuo-spatial configurations and/or an explicit reference to a human body part can facilitate the interpretation of unknown idioms by comparing the levels of correct interpretation of unknown English and Serbian idiomatic expressions
If participants showed a higher level of understanding of those idioms which appeared to employ visuo-spatial and/or bodily experience, this would mean that visuo-spatial configurations or embodiment might be relevant to intuitive concept formation, as claimed by some authors in cognitive linguistics

Summary

Introduction

The main assumption behind the study presented in this paper is that success in interpreting specific groups of unknown idioms might reveal some underlying mechanisms behind conceptualization. The research questions were the following: (1) would American respondents better intuit the meanings of those idiomatic expressions which contained a “visuo-spatial and bodily,” “bodily only,” or “nonbodily” lexical component when asked to interpret literally translated Serbian idioms, (2) would Serbian respondents better intuit the meanings of those idiomatic expressions which contained a “visuo-spatial and bodily,” “bodily only,” or “non-bodily” lexical component when asked to interpret literally translated English idioms, and (3) could these findings be used to provide further support for the thesis that vision, space, and embodiment are important in the course of concept construction. The main goal of the present research is to provide additional empirical support for the studies that stress the importance of vision, spatial relations, and embodiment in the process of conceptualization. The paper will quantify the respondents’ correct interpretations in order to investigate whether lexicalized visuospatial configurations and/or an explicit reference to a human body part can facilitate the interpretation of unknown idioms

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