Knowledge is a river and education is like a stairway: An eye movement study on how L2 speakers process metaphors and similes

Very little is known about the processes underlying second language (L2) speakers’ understanding of written metaphors and similes. Moreover, most of the theories on figurative language comprehension do not consider reader-related factors. In the study, we used eye-tracking to examine how native Finnish speakers (N = 63) read written English nominal metaphors (“education is a stairway”) and similes (“education is like a stairway”). Identical topic–vehicle pairs were used in both conditions. After reading, participants evaluated familiarity of each pair. English proficiency was measured using the Bilingual-language Profile Questionnaire and the Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English. The results showed that readers were more likely to regress within metaphors than within similes, indicating that processing metaphors requires more processing effort than processing similes. The familiarity of a metaphor and L2 English proficiency modulated this effect. The results are discussed in the light of current theories on figurative language processing.

Mechanisms of Different Types of Figurative Expressions Processing

Modern models of figurative language processing postulate that figurative expressions (FE), e.g. metaphors, are processed through inclusion of one FE component to the category of another. However, some FE can simply be understood by finding commonalities between FE components. This way of processing is better explained by the early semantic network model, on which modern models of figurative language processing are based. The current study attempts to reveal capabilities of categorization approach and semantic network model to explain mechanisms of different FE processing. Subjects (N=67) performed semantic decision tasks, which required answering the question whether the meaning of the presented adjective corresponds to the meaning of an adjective in the context of an expression presented earlier. The results of reaction time analysis suggest that categorization approach is not exhaustive for the explanation of figurative language processing and some of the effects might be explained in terms of the semantic network model. This indicates that it is necessary to include some semantic network model postulates into modern approaches of figurative language comprehension.

Knowledge is a river and education is like a stairway: An eye movement study on how L2 speakers process metaphors and similes

Very little is known about the processes underlying second language (L2) speakers’ understanding of written metaphors and similes. Most of the theories on figurative language comprehension do not consider reader-related factors. In the study, we used eye-tracking to examine how native Finnish speakers (N = 63) read written English nominal metaphors (“education is a stairway”) and similes (“education is like a stairway”). Identical topic–vehicle pairs were used in both conditions. After reading, participants evaluated familiarity of each pair. English proficiency was measured using the Bilingual-language Profile Questionnaire and the Lexical Test for Advanced Learners of English. The results showed that readers were more likely to regress within metaphors than within similes, indicating that processing metaphors requires more processing effort than processing similes. The familiarity of a metaphor and L2 English proficiency modulated this effect. The results are discussed in the light of current theories on figurative language processing.

Figurative Language Processing: Irony. Introduction to the Issue

Processing of figurative (nonliteral) language is the focus of this special issue of Psychology of Language and Communication. The main theme is irony, which has been called “the ethos of our times” (Wampole, 2012). The texts presented here consider irony from many different angles, thus expanding the psycholinguistic perspective to include problems of key importance for understanding the phenomenon. All of these texts open up new questions on irony comprehension and production. The next special issue (to be published in 2017) will discuss research on a different type of nonliteral language: metaphors.