Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:30:01.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of encyclopedic world knowledge in semantic transparency intuitions of idioms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2017

KRIS RAMONDA
KRIS RAMONDA*
Affiliation:
Tokyo University of Science, Science Division 1, 1–3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162–0825, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reports on the role pragmatic inferencing plays in accounting for the ways in which native speakers perceive and interpret the semantic transparency of idioms. Although previous studies have suggested that semantic transparency intuitions of idioms are partly motivated by the conceptual metaphors that underlie them (Gibbs 1992; Gibbs et al.1997), findings from other studies (Keysar & Bly 1995, 1999) have raised questions concerning the arbitrariness of such intuitions. This study seeks to further address the discussion on the nature of semantic transparency by examining the role of pragmatic inferencing and encyclopedic world knowledge for understanding how native speakers interpret the relationship between the literal parts and figurative meanings of metaphorical idioms. To this end, semantic transparency ratings were elicited among fifteen native speakers of English for 222 metaphorical English idioms. Furthermore, raters provided qualitative support by justifying their ratings for a smaller subset of 30 idioms. These initial results were then triangulated by a follow-up exploratory study surveying etymological notes from a number of idiom dictionaries. The findings suggest that pragmatic inferencing via encyclopedic world knowledge plays an important role for the non-arbitrary way in which native speakers perceive the semantic transparency of idioms.

Keywords

semantic transparencymetaphorical idiomspragmatic inferencingencyclopedic world knowledge
Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 31 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Boers, Frank. 2000. Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention. Applied Linguistics 21 (4), 553–71.Google Scholar
Boers, Frank & Demecheleer, Murielle. 2001. Measuring the impact of cross-cultural differences on learners’ comprehension of imageable idioms. ELT Journal 55 (3), 255–62.Google Scholar
Bortfeld, Heather. 2002. What native and non-native speakers’ images for idioms tell us about figurative language. In Heredia, Roberto R. & Altarriba, Jeanette (eds.), Bilingual sentence processing, 275–95. Amsterdam: Elsevier Press.Google Scholar
Fernando, Chitra & Flavell, Roger. 1981. On idiom: Critical views and perspectives. Exeter: University of Exeter Press.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W. 1992. What do idioms really mean? Journal of Memory and Language 31 (4), 485–506.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W. & Nayak, Nandini P.. 1989. Psycholinguistic studies on the syntactic behavior of idioms. Cognitive Psychology 21 (1) 100–38.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W., Bogdanovich, Josephine M., Sykes, Jeffrey R. & Barr, Dale J.. 1997. Metaphor in idioms comprehension. Journal of Memory and Language 37 (2), 141–54.Google Scholar
George, Darren & Mallery, Paul. 2003. SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and reference. 11.0 update, 4th edn. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Hiraga, Masako K. 1994. Diagrams and metaphors: Iconic aspects in language. Journal of Pragmatics 22 (1), 5–21.Google Scholar
Howe, James. 2008. Argument is argument: An essay on conceptual metaphor and verbal dispute. Metaphor and Symbol 23 (1), 1–23.Google Scholar
Irujo, Suzanne. 1993. Steering clear: Avoidance in the production of idioms. International Review of Applied Linguistics 31, 205–19.Google Scholar
Keysar, Boaz & Bly, Bridget. 1995. Intuitions of the transparency of idioms: Can one keep a secret by spilling the beans? Journal of Memory and Language 34 (1), 89–109.Google Scholar
Keysar, Boaz & Bly, Bridget. 1999. Swimming against the current: Do idioms reflect conceptual structure? Journal of Pragmatics 31 (12), 1559–78.Google Scholar
Kovecses, Zoltán & Szabo, Peter. 1996. Idioms: A view from cognitive semantics. Applied Linguistics 17 (3), 326–55.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George & Johnson, Mark. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago Press University.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George & Kovecses, Zoltán. 1987. The cognitive model of anger inherent in American English. In Holland, Dorothy & Quinn, Naomi (eds.), Cultural models in language and thought, 195–221. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 1987. Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites, vol. 1. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
McGlone, Matthew S. 2007. What is the explanatory value of a conceptual metaphor? Language & Communication 27 (2), 109–26.Google Scholar
Moon, Rosamund. 1998. Fixed expressions and idioms in English: A corpus-based approach. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Murphy, Gregory L. 1997. Reasons to doubt the present evidence for metaphoric representation. Cognition 62 (1), 99–108.Google Scholar
Nunberg Geoffery, Ivan A. Sag & Wasow, Thomas. 1994. Idioms. Language 70 (3), 491–538.Google Scholar
Radden, Günter & Panther, Klaus-Uwe. 2004. Introduction: Reflections on motivation. In Radden, Günter & Panther, Klaus-Uwe (eds.), Studies in linguistic motivation, 1–46. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Rakova, Marina. 2002. The philosophy of embodied realism: A high price to pay? Cognitive Linguistics 13 (3), 215–44.Google Scholar
Skoufaki, Sophia. 2009. Investigating the source of idiom transparency intuitions. Metaphor and Symbol 24 (1), 20–41.Google Scholar
Steen, Gerard. 2008. The paradox of metaphor: Why we need a three-dimensional model of metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol 23 (4), 213–41.Google Scholar
Steen, Gerard. 2011. The contemporary theory of metaphor – Now new and improved! Review of Cognitive Linguistics 9 (1), 26–64.Google Scholar
Steen, Gerard. 2014. The cognitive-linguistics revolution in metaphor studies. In Taylor, John R. & Littlemore, Jeanette (eds.), The Bloomsbury companion to cognitive linguistics, 117–42. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Vega Moreno, Rosa E. 2005. Idioms, transparency and pragmatic inference. UCL Working Papers in Linguistics 17, 389–426.Google Scholar
Vega Moreno, Rosa E. 2007. Creativity and convention: The pragmatics of everyday figurative speech. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar

Idiom dictionaries

Ammer, Christine. 2003. The American Heritage dictionary of idioms. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Ayto, John. 2010. Oxford dictionary of English idioms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brenner, Gail. 2003. Webster's new world American idioms handbook. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.Google Scholar
Flavell, Linda & Flavell, Roger. 2006. Dictionary of idioms and their origins. London: Kyle Cathie.Google Scholar
Hunter, J. D. 2014. Dictionary of American English idioms and slang: A bridge to successful communication. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace.Google Scholar
Makkai, Adam. 2015. A dictionary of American idioms, 5th edn. Hauppage, NY: Barron's Educational Series.Google Scholar
Sinclair, John. 2012. Collins COBUILD idioms dictionary, 3rd edn. London: Collins.Google Scholar
Spears, Richard A. 2007. American idioms dictionary, 4th edn. Chicago: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar