Abstract
AbstractThis paper investigates how L2 speakers of English process conventional metaphorical expressions. While much of the literature on L2 processing of figurative expressions focuses on idioms only, the aim of this paper is to investigate how L2 speakers process conventional metaphorical expressions. The results of a cross-modal semantic priming task show that conventional metaphors have a special status in comparison to literal language in the L2 lexicon. The differences in reaction times show that L2 speakers are aware of the connections between literal primes and targets, resulting in slower reaction times, while this effect is not found in the metaphorical condition. This demonstrates that even when metaphorical language is very conventional, it can cause difficulties for L2 speakers. Furthermore, these results show that conventional metaphorical expressions can pose a semantic and pragmatic challenge for language learners, thus creating a need for explicit teaching of metaphorical meanings of polysemous words.
Highlights
Much of the research on second language (L2) acquisition of figurative meaning focuses on how L2 speakers acquire idioms (Carrol and Conklin 2014; Cieślicka 2015; Siyanova-Chanturia et al 2011)
Incorrect responses were not included in the analysis, and reaction times outside ±2 standard deviations from the mean were excluded as outliers. 18 reaction times (0.36% of the data) had to be excluded due to a technical error
The results show that in the L2 lexicon, conventional metaphors have a special status in comparison to literal language
Summary
Much of the research on second language (L2) acquisition of figurative meaning focuses on how L2 speakers acquire idioms (Carrol and Conklin 2014; Cieślicka 2015; Siyanova-Chanturia et al 2011) It has been previously shown in the literature (Bort-Mir et al 2020; Cameron 2003; Holme 2004; Steen et al 2010) that the most common type of metaphorical expressions in everyday speech of L1 speakers are conventional metaphorical expressions, such as invest effort, where the verb invest is used metaphorically. The metaphorical meaning is typically so conventional that it is easy to access and understand for L1 speakers In some cases, it can be even more prominent and frequently found in language, compared to the literal meaning. The metaphorical use of the verb support, namely the action of providing help or indicating approval of an idea, an organization or a person, is arguably more common in language use, compared to the literal meaning of this verb, namely the specific action of physically holding a roof or a structure, to prevent it from falling
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