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Mean ratings of Familiarity, Predictability, Meaning dominance, Age of Acquisition, Semantic transparency, Story plausibility for Predictable and Unpredictable idioms, Cumulative word frequency (log-transformed) in the Disambiguating region and statistical tests. Standard deviations are reported in parentheses.
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We investigated the relationships between integration of the literal meaning of the idiom words and activation of the idiomatic meaning using self-paced reading times. Participants read short stories in which predictable and unpredictable ambiguous idioms were followed by literal or idiomatic sentences disambiguating the contextually appropriate in...
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Context 1
... descriptive studies (Tabossi, Arduino, & Fanari, 2011;Bonin, Méot, & Bugaiska, 2013) showed that the estimated age of acquisition of an idiom correlates with the familiarity and knowledge of the idiomatic meaning, and is a reliable predictor of paraphrase verification times (Bonin, Méot, & Bugaiska, 2013). Therefore we included this variable in the norming phase and selected predictable and unpredictable idioms with similar AoAs (see Table 1). The AoA of idioms was evaluated using a questionnaire listing the 64 idioms with a 7-point rating scale reported under each idiom (1: 0-2 years, 2: 3-4 years, 3: 5-6 years, 4: 7-8 years, 5: 9-10 years, 6: 11-12 years, 7: more than 13 years). ...Context 2
... always provided idiomatic paraphrases. A total of 32 idioms were selected, 16 predictable and 16 unpredictable (cloze values of 79.9% and 13.9%, respectively, see Table 1). ...Context 3
... assess whether the literal and idiomatic meaning of the idiom string bear any semantically transparent relationship, twenty-five participants were asked to rate the extent to which the words forming each of the 32 idiom strings contributed to the figurative interpretation (1: the words do not contribute at all to 5: the words contribute to the figurative meaning). The idiomatic meaning of predictable and unpredictable idioms was equally mildly transparent (see Table 1). ...Context 4
... test whether the dominant meaning of idiom strings was literal or figurative, twenty-five participants were asked to rate the extent to which each idiom strings was heard/used in a literal or figurative sense (1: mostly literally to 5: mostly figuratively). The figurative meaning was similarly perceived as the dominant one in predictable and unpredictable idioms (Table 1). ...Context 5
... = 4.83, SD = .98; for predictable and unpredictable idioms, respectively; see Table 1). ...Context 6
... experiment used 32 ambiguous idioms, 16 predictable (PI) and 16 unpredictable (UP). The idiom strings were highly familiar, had dominant figurative interpretations and moderately semantically transparent meanings (Table 1). Idioms were embedded in short stories biased toward the literal or the idiomatic meaning (see Table 2 for examples and the Appendix for the entire set of experimental stories). ...Context 7
... chose final and temporal sentences because of their frequency and relative ease of processing (e.g., De Vincenzi & Job, 1995;Garrod et al., 1993). We balanced the cumulative frequency of the words forming the literal and idiomatic Disambiguating regions of predictable and unpredictable idioms (see Table 1). ...Context 8
... lists were created so that each idiom was presented only once. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 1 around here Processing ambiguous idioms 13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...Context 9
... due to the need of clearly orientating the reader toward the literal or idiomatic interpretation of the idiom string, we could not use the same sentences in the literal and idiomatic versions of the Disambiguating region of predictable and unpredictable idioms. However, we tried to make the literal and idiomatic versions as psycholinguistically similar as possible by matching them for semantic plausibility, number of words and characters, overall frequency of the constituent words and type of subordinate sentence (See the Method section and Table 1). ...Context 10
... In the present study, in line with other studies (e.g., Titone & Connine, 1994), idioms were considered as predictable before offset if at least 70% of the idiom fragment completions were idiomatic, and unpredictable if less than 20% of the completions were idiomatic (see Table 1 for the actual mean cloze values). ...Citations
This paper examines factors that affect the comprehension of novel and conventional idiomatic expressions by second language students of English. Using the Conventional Figurative Language Theory (CFLT), the study explores how the understanding of novel and conventional idioms differs and how it is affected by context. I find that novel idioms tend to be easier to comprehend than conventional idioms and interpret this effect through the role of digital media in the creation and dissemination of new phraseological coinages. However, I also observe that while the understanding of conventional idioms is enhanced by context, the role of context in the comprehension of novel idioms is not pronounced. I conclude by discussing the strategies that facilitate the comprehension of both novel and conventional idioms such as the analysis of mental imagery associated with their literal meanings, reliance on background knowledge, and attention to the motivation of an idiomatic expression.
The paper argues that metaphorical expressions do more than just instantiate conceptual metaphors. The main aim is to emphasize the role source and target words’ meanings play in construing generic-level metaphors. The latter are taken to act as superordinate categories for other metaphors, occurring at various levels of schematicity. Identification of lower-level metaphors takes into account source words’ metaphorical senses, not the central meanings of the categories they represent. This method brings the issue of source words’ polysemy into play, and hence helps explain why metaphorical expressions relating to the same generic-level metaphor may activate different lower-level metaphors, which carry different metaphorical meanings.
Prior research has shown that various types of conventional multiword chunks are processed faster than matched novel strings, but it is unclear whether this processing advantage extends to variant multiword chunks that are less formulaic. To determine whether the processing advantage of multiword chunks accommodates variations in the canonical phrasal template, we examined the robustness of the processing advantage (i.e., Predictability) of binomial phrases with non‐canonical conjunctions (e.g., salt and also pepper; salt as well as pepper). Results from the cloze study (Experiment 1) showed that there was a high tendency of producing the canonical conjunct (pepper), even in the binomials that contained non‐formulaic conjunctions. Consistent with these findings, results from two eye tracking studies (Experiments 2a and 2b) showed that canonical conjuncts were read faster than novel conjuncts that were matched on word length (e.g., paprika), even in the binomials with variant conjunctions. This robust online processing advantage was replicated in a self‐paced reading study that compared all three Conjunction Types (Experiment 3). Taken together, these findings show that binomials with variant function words also receive facilitated processing relative to matched novel strings, even though both types of strings are neither conventional nor relatively frequent. Exploratory analyses revealed that this processing speed advantage was driven by the lexical–semantic association between the canonical conjuncts (salt–pepper), rather than lexical and phrasal frequency. Overall, these results highlight flexibility in the processing of multiword chunks that current models of multiword storage and processing must take into account.
While generative accounts of language processing assume that children break down language into smaller components on which they apply computational operations, usage-based accounts assume that children acquire frequently co-occurring words as large chunks, which they decompose only later in development. We investigated the evidence for the multi-word representation of idioms like to let the cat out of the bag in 9- to 10-year-olds using eye-tracking and Event-Related Potentials. Both measures indicated that children rapidly predict idiom-final words (bag). However, although they are generally capable of rapidly predicting semantic associates for highly predictive endings of novel sentences (as demonstrated in a control experiment), within idioms they activate semantic associates (basket) only in a late processing stage. We conclude that children rapidly activate multi-word units for idioms and decompose these units only after a short delay during online processing. This effect might relate to unitary acquisition of idioms as assumed by usage-based accounts.
Based on the view that “The meanings that we take most for granted are those where the complexity is best hidden”, the paper attempts to describe the complex cognitive operations at work in the process of proverb understanding. The main goal is to build up a model capable of accounting for how proverbs mean and how speakers within a speech community understand them the way they do. Such a model is not a completely new one; rather, it is built out of a number of already existing models, namely Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Great Chain Metaphor Theory, Stereotype Theory and Metaphoric Integration Theory. Each of these theories reduces to an individual ingredient which fulfills a specific task within the broad model as a whole. The broad model is applied to two case studies in order to indicate how it works in the case of proverbs with simple metaphorical structures and in proverbs with complex metaphorical potential.
Two experiments examined meaning (re)activation of English idiomatic expressions by Spanish-dominant, English-dominant and balanced bilinguals. Participants listened to idiomatic expressions of the type I always 3*miss the boat1* when it comes to jokes, and that2* makes it nearly4* impossible to attend comedy shows, and made lexical decisions to visually presented targets that were related literally (water), figuratively (fail) or unrelated to the critical idiomatic expression. In Experiment 1, we measured meaning activation immediately at idiom offset (probe 1*) and after an anaphoric referential description (e.g., that; probe 2*). Probe 2 was intended to further examine whether an anaphoric referential description was more likely to (re)activate its antecedent figurative interpretation that could be more pragmatically plausible than its literal representation. In Experiment 2, targets were presented at idiom onset and 300 ms after anaphor offset. Results revealed that idiom meaning (re)activation was modulated by language dominance, where English-dominant and balanced bilinguals had faster and more accurate responses than Spanish-dominant bilinguals.
This chapter provides an overview of formulaic language (FL), reviewing function, mental representation, and evidence for its unique status in a model of language, followed by a review of the perceptual characteristics of FL. In speech perception, retention by listeners of auditory‐acoustic characteristics in spoken sentences suggests that acoustic‐phonetic detail, including the articulatory features of rate and voice quality are processed along with the abstract linguistic meaning. Formulaic expressions (FEs) perform multiple functions in conversation. The number of FEs, including conversational speech formulas, expletives, pause fillers, idioms, and proverbs known to a speaker of a language, may approach hundreds of thousands. Experimental studies using listeners’ ratings as measures indicate more or less successful perception of sarcastic or ironic utterances solely based on prosodic cues without any linguistic‐situational context, especially when the sarcastic utterances were “posed”. Neurological damage has specific effects on production of FEs.
This article reports on two timed cloze-response experiments which examine the impact of context on idiom recognition. Study 1 presented participants with the beginnings of Polish VP idioms without any prior context. Cloze probabilities and response times for idiom continuations were measured to establish the idiom recognition point (IRP) for each idiom. In Study 2, we used the same idioms in two kinds of contexts: (i) supporting a figurative meaning and (ii) supporting a literal meaning. Cloze probability and response times were measured at the IRP and one word before and after it. The figurative meaning of idioms was automatically activated at the IRP independently of the type of context. Additionally, the figurative context did not move the IRP to an earlier position, whereas in the literal context the responses were significantly slower at the IRP as compared to the figurative context condition. Such a finding indicates that, irrespective of the literal context, the comprehenders automatically activated the figurative meaning of an idiom at the IRP, but they had to discard it later. The literal meaning was computed from the literal meanings of idiom constituents stored in idiom lexical representation, which was computationally costly.
How the language processing system handles formulaic language such as idioms is a matter of debate. We investigated the activation of constituent meanings by means of predictive processing in an eye-tracking experiment and in two ERP experiments (auditory and visual). In the eye-tracking experiment, German-speaking participants listened to idioms in which the final word was excised ( Hannes let the cat out of the . . .). Well before the offset of these idiom fragments, participants fixated on the correct idiom completion ( bag) more often than on unrelated distractors ( stomach). Moreover, there was an early fixation bias towards semantic associates ( basket) of the correct completion, which ended shortly after the offset of the fragment. In the ERP experiments, sentences (spoken or written) either contained complete idioms, or the final word of the idiom was replaced with a semantic associate or with an unrelated word. Across both modalities, ERPs reflected facilitated processing of correct completions across several regions of interest (ROIs) and time windows. Facilitation of semantic associates was only reliably evident in early components for auditory idiom processing. The ERP findings for spoken idioms compliment the eye-tracking data by pointing to early decompositional processing of idioms. It seems that in spoken idiom processing, holistic representations do not solely determine lexical processing.
