Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts
Figurative idioms constitute a large proportion of multi-word expressions in everyday language. Contrary to the traditional view of idioms as non-compositional units, numerous studies in cognitive linguistics show that most idioms are not arbitrary but motivated by conceptual metaphors and metonymie...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra
2015-06-01
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| Series: | Topics in Linguistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2015-0003 |
| _version_ | 1827299059306594304 |
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| author | Ciprianová Elena Vrábelová Marta |
| author_facet | Ciprianová Elena Vrábelová Marta |
| author_sort | Ciprianová Elena |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Figurative idioms constitute a large proportion of multi-word expressions in everyday language. Contrary to the traditional view of idioms as non-compositional units, numerous studies in cognitive linguistics show that most idioms are not arbitrary but motivated by conceptual metaphors and metonymies that provide a link between literal and figurative meanings. Familiarity with particular source domains and conceptual mappings is regarded as a source of idiom transparency. In this article, we report on a study in which 85 Slovak students participated. Their task was to guess the meanings of English idioms containing three body parts: the eye, the hand and the heart. These body parts are not equally productive metaphorical source domains in English and Slovak. The research results which we present indicate that different prominence of the source domains in students’ mother tongue and the target language is one of the factors that influence idiom comprehension in a foreign language. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:25:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4928db22d4c94d96867ccd0397cf90bf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2199-6504 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:25:28Z |
| publishDate | 2015-06-01 |
| publisher | Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Topics in Linguistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-4928db22d4c94d96867ccd0397cf90bf2024-04-02T06:10:33ZengConstantine the Philosopher University in NitraTopics in Linguistics2199-65042015-06-0115110.2478/topling-2015-0003topling-2015-0003Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body partsCiprianová Elena0Vrábelová Marta1Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, SlovakiaConstantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, SlovakiaFigurative idioms constitute a large proportion of multi-word expressions in everyday language. Contrary to the traditional view of idioms as non-compositional units, numerous studies in cognitive linguistics show that most idioms are not arbitrary but motivated by conceptual metaphors and metonymies that provide a link between literal and figurative meanings. Familiarity with particular source domains and conceptual mappings is regarded as a source of idiom transparency. In this article, we report on a study in which 85 Slovak students participated. Their task was to guess the meanings of English idioms containing three body parts: the eye, the hand and the heart. These body parts are not equally productive metaphorical source domains in English and Slovak. The research results which we present indicate that different prominence of the source domains in students’ mother tongue and the target language is one of the factors that influence idiom comprehension in a foreign language.https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2015-0003idiomcompositionalitysource domainbodymetaphormetonymycomprehension |
| spellingShingle | Ciprianová Elena Vrábelová Marta Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts Topics in Linguistics idiom compositionality source domain body metaphor metonymy comprehension |
| title | Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts |
| title_full | Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts |
| title_fullStr | Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts |
| title_short | Slovak students’ comprehension of English figurative idioms containing body parts |
| title_sort | slovak students comprehension of english figurative idioms containing body parts |
| topic | idiom compositionality source domain body metaphor metonymy comprehension |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2015-0003 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ciprianovaelena slovakstudentscomprehensionofenglishfigurativeidiomscontainingbodyparts AT vrabelovamarta slovakstudentscomprehensionofenglishfigurativeidiomscontainingbodyparts |