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1
Beyer, Stefan, Biase-Dyson Camilla Di, and Nina Wagenknecht. "Annotating figurative language." Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2016. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-201537.
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Whereas past and current digital projects in ancient language studies have been concerned with the annotation of linguistic elements and metadata, there is now an increased interest in the annotation of elements above the linguistic level that are determined by context – like figurative language. Such projects bring their own set of problems (the automatisation of annotation is more difficult, for instance), but also allow us to develop new ways of examining the data. For this reason, we have attempted to take an already annotated database of Ancient Egyptian texts and develop a complementary tagging layer rather than starting from scratch with a new database. In this paper, we present our work in developing a metaphor annotation layer for the Late Egyptian text database of Projet Ramsès (Université de Liège) and in so doing address more general questions: 1) How to ‚tailor-make’ annotation layers to fit other databases? (Workflow) 2) How to make annotations that are flexible enough to be altered in the course of the annotation process? (Project design) 3) What kind of potential do such layers have for integration with existing and future annotations? (Sustainability)
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Dwyer, Edward J. "Comprehending Figurative Language." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 1991. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/3316.
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Samuelsson, Max. "Figurative Language : In Swedish Schools." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för lärarutbildning (LUT), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-21307.
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This is a small qualitative study on figurative language teaching within Swedish schools that stems of from a social-constructionist perspective. The objective of this study is to establish to what extent figurative language is being taught throughout the Swedish school system and illustrate examples of different approaches teachers could use to teach it.
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Shutova, Ekaterina. "Computational approaches to figurative language." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609681.
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Pugsley, Maristela. "Figurative language and its use in press advertising." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UFPR, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1884/24389.
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Daoud, Atef Tag El-din Agami. "Applying conceptual metaphor theory to figurative language teaching." Thesis, University of Brighton, 2010. https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/af8ced29-ad1f-40d9-a691-e747b6ec70b2.
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Khojah, Aishah. "Saudi Second Language Learners’ Receptive and Productive Skills in English Figurative Language." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/9828.
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This study compares English and Arabic figurative expressions linguistically and conceptually and investigates how Arabic-speaking learners of English comprehend and produce English figurative expressions. It argues that English figurative expressions that are linguistically and conceptually similar to Arabic (SFE) are easy while English figurative expressions that are linguistically and conceptually different from Arabic (DFE) are difficult. Also, English figurative expressions that are linguistically different but conceptually similar to Arabic (S-DFE) are of medium difficulty. A comparative analysis was used to develop a set of tasks to test 100 students’ receptive and productive skills in English figurative language. The data came from 832 items identified in two ESL textbooks used with first year students at King Abdul Aziz University. The results show that SFE is much easier than DFE. S-DFE showed variable results but students tended to find them difficult. However, some examples of SFE were found difficult and of DFE easy. These indicate that similarities or differences across languages do not always make it easy or difficult for learners to understand and produce L2 expressions. The results also show evidence of positive transfer mostly with SFE, and negative transfer with DFE and S-DFE. The findings lend further support to the contrastive analysis hypothesis; however, they also support the cognitive approach because they show the role of learners’ linguistic and conceptual knowledge in the comprehension and production of L2 expressions. The findings of this empirical study demonstrate the essential roles of cross-linguistic comparisons of English and Arabic figurative language on the linguistic and conceptual levels for exploring learners’ receptive and productive skills in English figurative language. The classification of figurative language as easy or difficult has some implications for the teaching of English figurative expressions.
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Pramling, Niklas. "Minding metaphors : using figurative language in learning to represent /." Göteborg : Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 2006. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy0801/2006436790.html.
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Peters, Wim. "Detection and characterization of figurative language use in WordNet." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.412246.
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Berger, Mike. "The Nonuse of Figurative Language in Conduct Disordered Adolescents." DigitalCommons@USU, 1998. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6115.
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The relationship between the literal language and conduct problems among conduct disordered adolescents was examined in 109 subjects. The inability to use figurative language was found to be positively related to ratings of conduct problems. Both the parents' discipline style and nonuse of figurative language were related to 111 conduct problems in conduct disordered adolescents. The possible role of other variables, for example, age, sex, and IQ, was examined. Possible mechanisms that could relate the lack of figurative competence and conduct problems were explored.
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Martinez, Francisco Emigdio. "Exploring figurative language processing in bilinguals: the metaphor interference effect." Thesis, Texas A&M University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/1642.
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While studies suggest that figurative, or non-literal, meanings are automatically activated in single language users, little is known about how language proficiency may influence the automaticity of non-literal meaning activation. The present research sought to address this issue by comparing figurative language activation in Spanish-English bilinguals. An interference paradigm (Glucksberg, Gildea & Bookin, 1982) was used in which participants were to judge the literal truth or falsity of statements of the form Some Xs are Ys. Judgments on this task are typically slower to statements that, though literally false, are metaphorically true (e.g., Some lawyers are sharks), suggesting that metaphorical meanings are non-optionally activated (at least in single language users). The present research involved four experiments: Experiment 1 conducted with English-speaking monolinguals, replicated the metaphor interference effect; in Experiment 2 the effect was replicated in English-dominant and in balanced bilinguals tested only in English. Experiment 3 conducted with bilinguals tested in both languages, showed that the metaphor interference effect was not obtained in either language in English-dominant bilinguals and was obtained in Spanish only in the balanced group. The findings from Experiments 1 and 2 support the view that nonliteral (metaphoric) meanings are automatically accessed in monolinguals and bilinguals alike. Experiment 3 involved a fewer number of metaphor trials per language, raising the possibility that this procedural difference may have led to a weakening of the metaphor interference effect. This possibility was directly tested in Experiment 4, conducted with English-speaking monolinguals presented with the same number of metaphor trials as the bilinguals in Experiment 3. The results showed a clear metaphor interference, even with the reduced number of trials. As such, the findings of Experiment 3, where a metaphor interference effect was obtained only for Spanish items, are somewhat equivocal: at face value, they suggest that the effect is modulated by language proficiency. Alternatively, the metaphor interference effect may turn out to be present in both languages, but may simply have been obscured by variability owing to the small sample size per language order. Which of these two interpretations turns out to be valid will depend on additional testing. Implications of the present findings for theories of the organization of the bilingual representational system are addressed.
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Schultz, Malin. "Metaphor and metonymy : A study of figurative language in newspapers." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-16864.
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Dae-Young, Kim. "Argumentation by figurative language in verbal communication : a pragmatic perspective." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2013. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/45312/.
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This thesis has two goals. The first is to explain, within a pragmatic perspective, how figurative language (i.e. metaphor and irony) performs argumentation. Based on the argumentation theory (AT) of Perelman and Olbrecht-Tyteca (1958), argumentation is defined as the process of justifying something in an organized or logical way, which is composed of one or more claims and shows one or more grounds for maintaining them. The second goal is to examine the hearer's interpretation of figurative utterances in argumentation. The theoretical foundation of this discussion is based on experientialist epistemology (i.e. experientialism) and cognitive pragmatics in the form of Relevance Theory (RT). In pursuit of those goals, I present four main innovations: First, I argue the status of metaphor should be viewed as ‘what is implicated', rather than ‘what is said'. Second, I propose explanation of some exceptional cases of irony, which the standard RT approach does not treat, which relies on the notion of ‘incongruity'. Third, I propose integration of AT concepts within RT. Thus, this approach contributes to pursuing more economical explanation of communication as argumentation, by a single principle of relevance, but incorporating argumentative concepts such as doxa, topoi and polyphony. Finally, I apply this integrated approach to analysing real cases of commercial advertisement by metaphor or irony, or both. This includes explaining connection and overlapping, two ways in which metaphor and irony can work together.
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Thompson, Katherine, and Katherine Thompson. "Metaphor in Metamorphosis: Towards Comprehensive Translation of Chinese Figurative Language." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12363.
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Focusing on the unique challenges of Chinese-to-English translation, this thesis attempts to bridge the gap between practical concerns related to readability and the cognitive structure and functions of metaphor. It explores the possibility of a compromise between the interest of the reader, the culturally-bound expressiveness of original texts, and translator interpretation.
The metaphorical difficulties that arise in the translation of two Chinese novellas, "Paper Dreams" by Lu Min and "One Hundred Birds Saluting the Phoenix" by Xiao Jianghong, are analyzed to demonstrate how compromise can begin to take shape through the combined application of reader accessibility guidelines and cognitive theories of metaphor. Ultimately, this process reveals how each metaphor requires customized solutions and suggests that voices from various fields should be taken into consideration when transforming the literature of one tongue into an imitative product in another.
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Caballero, Rosario. "Re-viewing space figurative language in architects' assessment of built space." Berlin New York Mouton de Gruyter, 2006. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2681666&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Friström, Bala Paula. "A cognitive approach to figurative language : Translating conceptual metaphors and hyperboles." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-44856.
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The present study combines quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate translation strategies applied in a translation of a few chapters in Cat Counsellor, which is a book about cat behaviour. A cognitive approach and translation strategies are the focus of this essay, which arrives at the conclusion that figurative language in general, and conceptual metaphors and hyperboles in particular, are used to manipulate, or rather convince readers of Cat Counsellor of a certain outlook. The translation strategies investigated in this essay are literal translation, transference translation and meaning translation. Of these translation strategies literal translation was applied 70% of the time, which indicates that similar cultures use similar figurative language. It also indicates that the target text and language often benefit from new figurative language rendered in the source language and source text. An important conclusion is that metaphorical language, such as conceptual metaphors and hyperboles may seem easy to translate, while in fact concepts can vary across cultures, which indicate that the translator carefully has to consider his or her translation choices in order to produce an accurate translation.
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Meißner, Cordula. "Figurative Verben in der allgemeinen Wissenschaftssprache des Deutschen." Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2016. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-214543.
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In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der für die allgemeine Wissenschaftssprache des Deutschen charakteristische Bereich der figurativen Verben im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Ansatzes unter Verwendung korpuslinguistischer Methoden empirisch erfasst und beschrieben. Auf der Grundlage dieser Untersuchung wird ein integrativer Ansatz zur Erfassung und Beschreibung zentraler Wortschatzbereiche der allgemeinen Wissenschaftssprache entwickelt. Das so gewonnene integrative Beschreibungsmodell verbindet die Perspektiven bisheriger quantitativ-bestandsbezogener und bedeutungsorientiert-einheitenbezogener Ansätze und bezieht darüber hinaus sowohl formale als auch inhaltlich-funktionale Aspekte als Gliederungsprinzipien für die zu beschreibenden Wortschatzbereiche mit ein. Methodisch zeichnet es sich durch das Ineinandergreifen von korpusgesteuertem und korpusbasiertem Vorgehen aus. Die Ausarbeitung der Komponenten des Beschreibungsmodells wird auf mehreren Ebenen vorgelegt: Diese werden im ersten Kapitel zunächst ausgehend von einer Bestandsaufnahme vorliegender Arbeiten zur Beschreibung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes formuliert. Im zweiten Kapitel werden sie im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Modells der Sprachbeschreibung, der Kognitiven Grammatik Langackers, sprachtheoretisch fundiert. Methodisch eingelöst findet sich diese theoretische Fundierung in den korpuslinguistischen Untersuchungen zu figurativen Verben, die Gegenstand der Kapitel drei und vier sind. Im fünften Kapitel werden die dabei gewonnenen Ergebnisse zu einer formbasiert-funktionalen Typologie figurativer Verben zusammengeführt. Kapitel sechs zeigt die mit dem vorgeschlagenen Ansatz verbundenen Transfermöglichkeiten zur Erfassung und Beschreibung anderer Bereiche des allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes auf. Kapitel sieben ordnet den Untersuchungsgegenstand der figurativen Verben und das entwickelte Beschreibungsmodell aus fremdsprachendidaktischer Perspektive ein und skizziert einen Vorschlag zur Vermittlung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen WortschatzesVerbs like ‘ausgehen von’, ‘beziehen auf’ or ‘darstellen’ that contain semantically concrete basic verbs (gehen, ziehen, stellen) form an essential part of German general academic vocabulary, i.e. vocabulary that is used across disciplines. Adopting a corpus linguistic approach, the study develops a comprehensive description of these ‚figurative verbs‘. Based on a data-driven methodology it investigates the properties of this lexis and shows that figurative verbs containing typical recurring forms like -stellen, -führen, -gehen and others are highly relevant from a quantitative point of view. On the basis of the most prominently recurring formal parts, a core inventory of verbs is collected and described with respect to the areas of meaning expressed as well as regarding aspects of polysemy. Based on the empirical study, a model for the identification and description of vocabulary is developed, that integrates the hitherto separated quantitative - inventory based and meaning oriented - unit based perspectives. Moreover, it brings together aspects regarding form and function as means of structuring the vocabulary under description. Methodically, the model builds on a combination of the corpus-driven and the corpus-based approach. The model is elaborated as follows: In Chapter 1, important aspects of description that the model should meet are identified based on a survey of existing work on general academic language. Chapter 2 provides a linguistic foundation within the framework of usage-based language description. In particular, it draws on Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, from which the concepts of linguistic unit and construal are adopted. Chapters 3 and 4 present the corpus linguistic investigations on figurative verbs. In Chapter 5, the empirical results are brought together in a form- as well as function-based typology of figurative verbs. Chapter 6 synthesizes the findings into a model and shows possibilities of application of the proposed approach to other areas of general academic vocabulary. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the results from the perspective of language pedagogy and outlines a proposal for the teaching of general academic vocabulary
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Regel, Stefanie. "The comprehension of figurative language electrophysiological evidence on the processing of irony." Leipzig Max Planck Inst. for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 2009. http://d-nb.info/998308447/34.
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Regel, Stefanie. "The comprehension of figurative language : electrophysiological evidence on the processing of irony." Phd thesis, Universität Potsdam, 2008. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/3337/.
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Diese Dissertation untersucht das Verstehen figurativer Sprache, im Besonderen die zeitliche Verarbeitung von verbaler Ironie. In sechs Experimenten wurde mittels ereignis-korrelierter Potentiale (EKP) die Gehirnaktivität beim Verstehen ironischer Äußerungen im Vergleich zu entsprechenden nicht-ironischen Äußerungen gemessen und analysiert. Darüberhinaus wurde der Einfluss verschiedener sprachbegleitender Hinweisreize, z.B. von Prosodie oder der Verwendung von Satzzeichen, sowie außersprachlicher Hinweisreize, wie bspw. pragmatischen Wissens, auf das Ironieverstehen untersucht. Auf Grundlage dieser Ergebnisse werden verschiedene psycholinguistische Modelle figurativer Sprachverarbeitung, d.h. 'standard pragmatic model', 'graded salience hypothesis', sowie 'direct access view', diskutiert.This dissertation investigates the comprehension of figurative language, in particular the temporal processing of verbal irony. In six experiments using event-related potentials(ERP) brain activity during the comprehension of ironic utterances in relation to equivalent non-ironic utterances was measured and analyzed. Moreover, the impact of various language-accompanying cues, e.g., prosody or the use of punctuation marks, as well as non-verbal cues such as pragmatic knowledge has been examined with respect to the processing of irony. On the basis of these findings different models on figurative language comprehension, i.e., the 'standard pragmatic model', the 'graded salience hypothesis', and the 'direct access view', are discussed.
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Abu, Libdeh As'ad Jabr. "A discourse perspective on figurative expression in literary works with reference to English." Online version, 1991. http://bibpurl.oclc.org/web/23337.
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Meißner, Cordula. "Figurative Verben in der allgemeinen Wissenschaftssprache des Deutschen: eine Korpusstudie." Deutsch als Fremd- und Zweitsprache : Schriften des Herder-Instituts (SHI), 2014. https://ul.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A15127.
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In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der für die allgemeine Wissenschaftssprache des Deutschen charakteristische Bereich der figurativen Verben im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Ansatzes unter Verwendung korpuslinguistischer Methoden empirisch erfasst und beschrieben. Auf der Grundlage dieser Untersuchung wird ein integrativer Ansatz zur Erfassung und Beschreibung zentraler Wortschatzbereiche der allgemeinen Wissenschaftssprache entwickelt. Das so gewonnene integrative Beschreibungsmodell verbindet die Perspektiven bisheriger quantitativ-bestandsbezogener und bedeutungsorientiert-einheitenbezogener Ansätze und bezieht darüber hinaus sowohl formale als auch inhaltlich-funktionale Aspekte als Gliederungsprinzipien für die zu beschreibenden Wortschatzbereiche mit ein. Methodisch zeichnet es sich durch das Ineinandergreifen von korpusgesteuertem und korpusbasiertem Vorgehen aus.
Die Ausarbeitung der Komponenten des Beschreibungsmodells wird auf mehreren Ebenen vorgelegt:
Diese werden im ersten Kapitel zunächst ausgehend von einer Bestandsaufnahme vorliegender Arbeiten zur Beschreibung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes formuliert. Im zweiten Kapitel werden sie im Rahmen eines gebrauchsbasierten Modells der Sprachbeschreibung, der Kognitiven Grammatik Langackers, sprachtheoretisch fundiert. Methodisch eingelöst findet sich diese theoretische Fundierung in den korpuslinguistischen Untersuchungen zu figurativen Verben, die Gegenstand der Kapitel drei und vier sind. Im fünften Kapitel werden die dabei gewonnenen Ergebnisse zu einer formbasiert-funktionalen Typologie figurativer Verben zusammengeführt. Kapitel sechs zeigt die mit dem vorgeschlagenen Ansatz verbundenen Transfermöglichkeiten zur Erfassung und Beschreibung anderer Bereiche des allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes auf. Kapitel sieben ordnet den Untersuchungsgegenstand der figurativen Verben und das entwickelte Beschreibungsmodell aus fremdsprachendidaktischer Perspektive ein und skizziert einen Vorschlag zur Vermittlung allgemein-wissenschaftlichen Wortschatzes.Verbs like ‘ausgehen von’, ‘beziehen auf’ or ‘darstellen’ that contain semantically concrete basic verbs (gehen, ziehen, stellen) form an essential part of German general academic vocabulary, i.e. vocabulary that is used across disciplines. Adopting a corpus linguistic approach, the study develops a comprehensive description of these ‚figurative verbs‘. Based on a data-driven methodology it investigates the properties of this lexis and shows that figurative verbs containing typical recurring forms like -stellen, -führen, -gehen and others are highly relevant from a quantitative point of view. On the basis of the most prominently recurring formal parts, a core inventory of verbs is collected and described with respect to the areas of meaning expressed as well as regarding aspects of polysemy. Based on the empirical study, a model for the identification and description of vocabulary is developed, that integrates the hitherto separated quantitative - inventory based and meaning oriented - unit based perspectives. Moreover, it brings together aspects regarding form and function as means of structuring the vocabulary under description. Methodically, the model builds on a combination of the corpus-driven and the corpus-based approach. The model is elaborated as follows: In Chapter 1, important aspects of description that the model should meet are identified based on a survey of existing work on general academic language. Chapter 2 provides a linguistic foundation within the framework of usage-based language description. In particular, it draws on Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, from which the concepts of linguistic unit and construal are adopted. Chapters 3 and 4 present the corpus linguistic investigations on figurative verbs. In Chapter 5, the empirical results are brought together in a form- as well as function-based typology of figurative verbs. Chapter 6 synthesizes the findings into a model and shows possibilities of application of the proposed approach to other areas of general academic vocabulary. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the results from the perspective of language pedagogy and outlines a proposal for the teaching of general academic vocabulary.
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Van, Essche Eric. "Du lisible au visible: l'écriture figurative dans les temples de l'époque ramesside." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/212509.
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Waldau, Therese. "Metaphors and Translation : A Study of Figurative Language in the Works of Astrid Lindgren." Thesis, Mid Sweden University, Department of Humanities, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-11750.
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The aim of this study was to find out if there are any differences in the use of metaphors and similes in children’s literature translated from Swedish into English. With two books selected by the same Swedish author, three groups of metaphors were studied -- structural, orientational and ontological metaphors -- as well as two groups of similes -- same image and similar image similes. The result showed that the Swedish versions of the two books contained more metaphors than the English versions, whereas the similes occurred to the same extent in both languages.
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Jiad, Abdul-Hadi Hussein. "The employment of figurative language in Arabic political speeches and its transformation into English." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.434596.
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Denicolo, Pamela M. "Figurative language : an investigation of its value in the teaching and learning of chemistry." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1985. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/760/.
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Lenahan, Patrick. "Interacting with Shakespeare's figurative language: a project in materials development for the L2 classroom." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003463.
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This project arises from recent initiatives aimed at transforming Shakespeare studies in South African high schools, so as to make those studies more learner-centred and interactive, as well as a more useful communicative language-learning experience for second-language (L2) students. It is this interactive methodology that the present project seeks to extend to the relatively neglected area of Shakespeare's figurative language. Drawing on schema theory and response-based approaches to literature teaching, the project shows that figurative language is especially conducive to interactive treatment, whereby students might be encouraged to make sense of metaphors and similes out of their "background knowledge". Guidelines are indicated for putting this into practice in the L2 classroom; and on the basis of these guidelines, materials are developed for an interactive approach to Shakespeare's figurative language. The central phase in this development process involves trying out the materials in five African high schools and then analysing the data collected from them. The classroom try-outs were profitable in so far as they raised issues that had been overlooked in the earlier, theoretical, stage of the development process. A good overall response to the materials' learner-centred approach was indicated, although students experienced difficulties with certain essential tasks. Most seriously, while the materials were successful in accessing students' background knowledge in the form of associations, they were less successful in getting students to use this knowiedge in interpreting metaphors for themselves. Reasons for this feature, and others, are considered and solutions posited. Recommendations for implementing the materials in a larger teaching programme are made.
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Van, der Merwe Kristin Catherine. "The comprehension of figurative language by Afrikaans-speaking children with and without specific language impairment and by child second language speakers of Afrikaans." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/21912.
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Children experiencing language disorders have often been noted to have difficulty in comprehending figurative language, to a greater or lesser degree. The present study examined and compared the comprehension of figurative language, namely idioms and similes, in three groups of boys between the ages of 8 and 10. These three groups included (i) typically developing Afrikaans first language speakers, (ii) typically developing Afrikaans second language speakers (L2) and (iii) Afrikaans first language speakers with specific language impairment (SLI). A total of 18 participants were studied. The participants were interviewed individually and tests were conducted verbally. 25 idioms and 25 similes obtained from Die Afrikaanse Semantiese Taalevaluering (AST) were used. No contexts were provided for the idioms initially, but if the participant produced an incorrect or literal answer for the idiom, the idiom was placed in context. The use of context proved to be beneficial to all groups. Similes were read to the participant, who had to provide the final word as a response. The similes proved easier for all groups to comprehend, possibly due to their greater explicitness. The data were analysed statistically, but due to the small sample size, the participants were also examined individually as case studies, which provided further insight into the results obtained and revealed the non-homogeneity within the SLI group. The performance of the SLI group proved to be slightly inferior to that of the other two groups, but no statistically significant differences were found among the three groups. The L2 participants were asked to translate the idioms and similes into English. It was found that the Afrikaans idioms and similes were seldom likened to their English equivalents. Idioms which were semantically and syntactically similar or identical to the Afrikaans sentences often incited literal interpretations. Incorrect phonological transfers also appeared to create confusion and to obscure meaning. The L2 speakers’ difficulties possibly arose from (i) a lack of familiarity with figurative language, (ii) an inability to grasp figurative language, and/or (iii) a lack of proficiency in Afrikaans. Pedagogical implications and recommendations are discussed, and comments are made regarding future research on this topic.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kinders met taalversteurings blyk dikwels ook tot 'n minder of meerdere mate probleme te hê met die begrip van figuurlike taal. Hierdie studie ondersoek en vergelyk die begrip van figuurlike taal, naamlik idiome en vergelykings, in drie groepe seuns tussen die ouderdomme van 8 en 10 jaar. Hierdie drie groepe sluit in (i) tipies-ontwikkelende Afrikaans eerstetaalsprekers, (ii) tipies ontwikkelende Afrikaans tweedetaalsprekers, en (iii) Afrikaans eertetaalsprekers met spesifieke taalgestremdheid (STG). 'n Totaal van 18 deelnemers is bestudeer. Onderhoude is individueel met elke deelnemer gevoer en toetse is verbaal uitgevoer. 25 idiome van Die Afrikaanse Semantiese Taalevaluering (AST) is gebruik. Aanvanklik is geen konteks gegee nie, maar indien die deelnemer 'n verkeerde of letterlike antwoord vir 'n idioom gegee het, is die idioom in konteks geplaas. Die gebruik van konteks het in alle groepe 'n positiewe effek gehad. Vergelykings is aan deelnemers gelees, waar hulle as respons die laaste woord moes verskaf. Die vergelykings was vir alle groepe makliker vir begrip, moontlik weens hulle hoër vlak van eksplisiteit. Die data is statisties geanaliseer, maar weens die klein aantal deelnemers is elkeen ook individiueel as 'n gevallestudie ondersoek, wat verdere insigte in die resultate gelewer het, en die nie-homogeniteit van die STG groep aangedui het. Die prestasie van die deelnemers met STG was effens onder dié van die ander twee groepe, maar geen statisties-beduidende verskille is onder die drie groepe gevind nie. Die tweedetaal-deelnemers is gevra om die idiome en vergelykings in Engels te vertaal. Daar is gevind dat die Afrikaanse idiome en vergelykings selde aan hulle Engelse ekwivalente gekoppel is. Letterlike interpretasies is dikwels gegee vir idiome wat sintakties en semanties eenders is as die Afrikaanse sin. Verkeerde fonologiese oordragte het ook verwarring veroorsaak en betekenis verduister. Die probleme van die tweedetaal-deelnemers is moontlik as gevolg van (i) onvoldoende vertroudheid met figuurlike taal, (ii) onvermoë om figuurlike taal te interpreteer, en/of (iii) onvoldoende vaardigheid in Afrikaans. Pedagogiese implikasies en aanbevelings word bespreek, en kommentaar word gelewer oor verdere ondersoek op hierdie gebied.
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Reyes, Pérez Antonio. "Linguistic-based Patterns for Figurative Language Processing: The Case of Humor Recognition and Irony Detection." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/16692.
Full textAbstract:
El lenguaje figurado representa una de las tareas más difíciles del procesamiento del lenguaje natural. A
diferencia del lenguaje literal, el lenguaje figurado hace uso de recursos lingüísticos tales como la
ironía, el humor, el sarcasmo, la metáfora, la analogía, entre otros, para comunicar significados
indirectos que la mayoría de las veces no son interpretables sólo en términos de información sintáctica
o semántica. Por el contrario, el lenguaje figurado refleja patrones del pensamiento que adquieren
significado pleno en contextos comunicativos y sociales, lo cual hace que tanto su representación
lingüística, así como su procesamiento computacional, se vuelvan tareas por demás complejas.
En este contexto, en esta tesis de doctorado se aborda una problemática relacionada con el
procesamiento del lenguaje figurado a partir de patrones lingüísticos. En particular, nuestros esfuerzos
se centran en la creación de un sistema capaz de detectar automáticamente instancias de humor e ironía
en textos extraídos de medios sociales. Nuestra hipótesis principal se basa en la premisa de que el
lenguaje refleja patrones de conceptualización; es decir, al estudiar el lenguaje, estudiamos tales
patrones. Por tanto, al analizar estos dos dominios del lenguaje figurado, pretendemos dar argumentos
respecto a cómo la gente los concibe, y sobre todo, a cómo esa concepción hace que tanto humor como
ironía sean verbalizados de una forma particular en diversos medios sociales. En este contexto, uno de
nuestros mayores intereses es demostrar cómo el conocimiento que proviene del análisis de diferentes
niveles de estudio lingüístico puede representar un conjunto de patrones relevantes para identificar
automáticamente usos figurados del lenguaje. Cabe destacar que contrario a la mayoría de
aproximaciones que se han enfocado en el estudio del lenguaje figurado, en nuestra investigación no
buscamos dar argumentos basados únicamente en ejemplos prototípicos, sino en textos cuyas
característicasReyes Pérez, A. (2012). Linguistic-based Patterns for Figurative Language Processing: The Case of Humor Recognition and Irony Detection [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/16692
Palancia
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Todd, Kate Zazie. "Mapping poetic space : a psychological study of differences between tropes." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.325710.
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Smyers, John Otis. "“Here’s looking at you, kid:” an empirical study of the social movie quoting phenomenon." Thesis, Kansas State University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/32623.
Full textAbstract:
Master of ScienceDepartment of Psychological Sciences
Richard J. Harris
To date, no research has been conducted to establish the discourse goals accomplished through social movie quoting. In this thesis four studies were conducted to learn what discourse goals are accomplished through social movie quoting and if Roberts and Kreuz’ (1994) discourse goal taxonomy for figurative language would be a suitable theoretical framework for the study of the social movie quoting phenomenon. Study 1 examined movie quoting without being tied to any specific movie quotes. Demographic variables were correlated with common movie viewing preferences, behaviors, and attitudinal responses. Study 2 had participants generate a realistic movie quote they would actually use for accomplishing each of several specific discourse goals in conversation. Study 3 had participants generate a plain English interpretation of the movie quotes selected from Study 2. Study 4 participants rated the movie quotes and plain English equivalents generated in studies 2 and 3 for aptness and likelihood for use in conversation with the knowledge (Condition 1) and without the knowledge (Condition 2) of the underlying discourse goal. Quotes were randomized and counterbalanced so that half the participants in each condition received all movie quotes first (Group 1) and half the plain English first (Group 2). Results indicated that movie quotes were used to accomplish a set of discourse goals most similar to the traditional figures of speech of hyperbole, understatement, metaphor, and simile. The most common purposes of social movie quoting were to compare similarities and either downplay or exaggerate these similarities. Knowledge of the underlying discourse goal significantly increased the aptness and likelihood of both quote types for several discourse goals. The order of presentation did not significantly affect participants’ ratings. The aptness of the quote was strongly related to participants’ likelihood of using a particular quote, regardless of quote type. Future research should focus on capturing naturally occurring language to further increase the ecological validity of these results. It appears that the act of quoting movie lines in conversation is heavily dependent on individual preferences and a method should be developed to capture movie quoting in such a way. Suggestions for enhanced selection of movie quotes is discussed.
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Frank, Mark. "An investigation into English home language teachers’ use of the English home language textbook in Grade 11." University of the Western Cape, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/7301.
Full textAbstract:
Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe study investigates how English Home language teachers use the English Home language textbook in the grade 11 classroom. It aspires to generate an understanding of the strong relationship between the teacher, textbook and the learner thereby illustrating how a recognition of the various ways the textbook can be used. By addressing methodological issues and text relevancy as a tool for learner connection, the research appraises the use of text relevancy in the grade 11 classroom. In upholding a constructivist view of teaching the research postulates that the use of textbook material that holds a connection to learners’ lives can help increase the proficiency of the learners in the classroom and bring a deeper motivation for increase learner participation. The investigation uses a qualitative methodology to study and describe the dynamics of using the textbook. The research captured teaching methods that are already known. However, the research in this thesis also added some new dimensions that many teachers might not know of or might not be using in their classroom. These teaching methods revealed the extent to which effective teachers will go to make a difference for their learners. The teaching methods harnessed the ability from the learner to recreate, imagine and empower their understanding of the world they live in with an understanding of current topics that surfaces in a teenager’s life.
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Frank, Mark. "An investigation into English home language teachers’ use of the English home language textbook in Grade 11." University of the Western Cape, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/7593.
Full textAbstract:
Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe study investigates how English Home language teachers use the English Home language textbook in the grade 11 classroom. It aspires to generate an understanding of the strong relationship between the teacher, textbook and the learner thereby illustrating how a recognition of the various ways the textbook can be used. By addressing methodological issues and text relevancy as a tool for learner connection, the research appraises the use of text relevancy in the grade 11 classroom. In upholding a constructivist view of teaching the research postulates that the use of textbook material that holds a connection to learners’ lives can help increase the proficiency of the learners in the classroom and bring a deeper motivation for increase learner participation. The investigation uses a qualitative methodology to study and describe the dynamics of using the textbook. The research captured teaching methods that are already known. However, the research in this thesis also added some new dimensions that many teachers might not know of or might not be using in their classroom. These teaching methods revealed the extent to which effective teachers will go to make a difference for their learners. The teaching methods harnessed the ability from the learner to recreate, imagine and empower their understanding of the world they live in with an understanding of current topics that surfaces in a teenager’s life. The findings indicate that the textbook is still relevant and can be used in some creative ways of teaching. The study also affirms that it is possible to develop your own textbook, which can add a greater connection between the teacher and the learner.
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Cardin, Scott Ashley. "Sharing of figurative language themes in expert therapy: occurrence and effect on client experiencing and therapeutic bond." Diss., Texas A&M University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/532.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the use and effect of figurative language discourse in examples of expert therapy. More specifically, one of the main reasons for conducting this study was to describe figurative language discourse, its production, use, and potential effects on the therapeutic relationship and client experiencing. Training videos were selected and transcribed using criteria for selection of examples of expert therapy. Fifty-six excerpts, each two-minutes in length, were taken from the transcribed therapy sessions and used for the analyses. One set of raters was trained to identify instances of figurative language and make ratings of shared theme. Another set of raters was trained to use the Experiencing Scales and the Working Alliance Inventory on the transcribed excerpts. Analyses were conducted to investigate the frequency of use and relationship between therapist and client figurative language dialogue. Results indicated that the majority of figurative language used in examples of expert therapy is metaphoric in nature. Additionally, it was found that the majority of figures of speech were frozen in meaning or were commonly used. A small percentage of figures of speech were shared conceptually between the therapist and the client. Regarding the shared figurative language, a statistically significant difference between therapists and clients with regard to their production of shared figurative language was found and indicates that use of shared figurative language by expert therapists may be a subtle and indirect way in which therapeutic alliance is initially established as well as maintained. It may also represent how expert therapists follow content of the therapy session. In addition, a regression analysis conducted to determine if there is a relationship between shared figurative language and ratings of therapeutic alliance did not meet statistical significance. Overall, the results of this study provide preliminary findings with regard to what type of figures of speech expert therapists use and give a clear direction in terms of the next direction for research. Additionally, this experiment provides direction for the type of methodology that should be utilized in future research.
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Svarvell, Teresa. "On the run : Cultural aspects, figurative language and runners’ jargon in the translation of training guides." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-43982.
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This study investigates translation choices and challenges in the translation of two training guides focused on running. It tests the validity of Reiss’s text-type theory in the translation of cultural aspects. Furthermore, the study discusses to what extent equivalence can be reached when translating an aesthetic language and finally, it comments on some characteristics of typical runners’ language. The results show that Reiss’s text type theory is not sufficient to guide the translation of cultural differences in the SL and TL but an analysis on phrasal and lexical level is also needed, where Koller’s equivalence relations and Newmark’s communicative translation are applicable. The results also show that figurative language is indeed possible to translate in these kinds of texts, where among others compensation proves a useful strategy. Equivalence on all levels of the text, however, is not always possible to reach. Finally, the findings of a special runners’ language were rather limited, although some examples indicating a presence of a runners’ jargon were found.
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Regel, Stefanie [Verfasser]. "The comprehension of figurative language : electrophysiological evidence on the processing of irony / vorgelegt von Stefanie Regel." Leipzig : Max Planck Inst. for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 2009. http://d-nb.info/998308447/34.
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Rodriguez, Jessica K., and Helena Winnberg. "Teaching Idiomatic Expressions in Language Classrooms - Like the Icing on the Cake." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Lärarutbildningen (LUT), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-32833.
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This thesis investigates what types of teaching approaches and methods can be used when teaching idiomatic expressions to learners of English. The method used is a small-scale research synthesis where studies are summarized, compared and discussed. An overview of the teaching approaches and methods provide an outline of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach/method in connection to the purpose of teaching idioms to language learners of English. Several different descriptions of idioms are merged into one that is used in this research synthesis. The results indicate that even though teaching procedures appealing to Multiple Intelligences are most common in the articles used for this thesis, there are several different ways to improve learners’ idiom comprehension. Every teacher should have in mind that all students are unique and learn in different ways but some generalizations can be helpful when planning lessons. Keywords: idioms, figurative language, teaching method, teaching approach
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Allen, Joanne Michelle. "Figurative language and aggression after traumatic brain injury : does sarcasm have a role in modulating aggressive behaviour?" Thesis, University of Leeds, 2016. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14399/.
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Aggressive behaviour after traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been associated with general language impairments (Alderman, 2007). Figurative language has an important role in modulating emotional intensity (Dews & Winner, 1995), and sarcasm, a form of figurative language heavily linked to social cognition, is considered a socially appropriate communication of aggression (Haiman, 1998). The present research aimed to investigate the processing of sarcasm in individuals with TBI, and in healthy adults, in an attempt to explore whether possible deficits in linguistic performance may contribute to aggressive behaviour. A novel, auditory-visual, computer-based task was developed to test comprehension of factual and attitude (others’ intentions) information in sarcastic and literal contexts. Experiment One compared the performance of seven participants with severe TBI with seven matched, healthy control participants. Experiment Two compared 20 low aggressive with 20 moderately aggressive healthy young adults. Reaction time and accuracy data were statistically analysed with parametric and non-parametric tests, and the TBI data was also correlated with neuropsychological and behavioural data. In Experiment One, results suggested that TBI participants were as able as healthy control participants to comprehend sarcasm, given explicit prosodic and contextual cues, though they struggled with drawing literal inferences and did not benefit as much from priming when comprehending questions. Correlations suggested that their difficulties inferring others’ literal intentions related to poor emotion identification, and these difficulties also linked to aggressive behaviour. In Experiment Two, reaction times were significantly faster in literal contexts, on factual questions and on the second of the two questions presented. No statistically significant differences were found between the low and moderate aggression groups on their reaction times or error rates. Overall, these findings shed more light on the appreciation of sarcasm after TBI and the role that language, and in particular sarcasm, plays in modulating aggressive behaviour.
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Lima, Kalina Saraiva de. ""Love is Lak de Sea": Figurative Language in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." [Johnson City, Tenn. : East Tennessee State University], 2002. http://etd-submit.etsu.edu/etd/theses/available/etd-0311102-144528/unrestricted/limak041902.pdf.
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Encinas, Arquero Pablo. "Literal and figurative meanings of Spanish spatial prepositions in Chinese students' acquisition of Spanish as a third language." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/4873.
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This thesis investigates the acquisition of the spatial and figurative meanings of five Spanish spatial particles, namely sobre, encima, debajo, bajo and en, by a group of Chinese university students of Spanish as a foreign language at intermediate and upper-intermediate language levels. More specifically, this study aims to answer two questions. The first question considers the order of acquisition of prepositional meanings, that is, whether this is similar to a native language, with literal and more primary meanings acquired first and figurative ones later or, conversely, whether the pattern of acquisition is different to that found in a first language (Kemmerer, 2005; Lam, 2010). The second question of this research is to determine whether there are observable differences between the degree of acquisition and use of these prepositions in English compared to Spanish, and if so, what the characteristics of these differences are. To try to answer these questions, the performance of this group of participants in four behavioural tests is compared. The tests were a lexical identification task, a picture fill-in-the- blank task, a sentence generation task and a truth value judgment task. These tests were conducted both in Spanish, which the participants had begun to study at undergraduate level and English, which they had first been exposed to in school in a pre-puberty period. The results of this study indicate, first, that the acquisition of the literal and figurative meanings of the spatial particles in this study does not follow a pattern similar to that found in a native language. That is, meaning acquisition in a foreign language occurs in a parallel or simultaneous pattern. Furthermore, in a non-immersion context such as that of this study, the age at which students begin the study of a foreign language is not a decisive factor in determining the degree of mastery that students can obtain. The quantity and quality of the input students are exposed to; together with an appropriate methodology appear to be the most important factors in predicting the level of proficiency that can be reached.
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Winberg, Christine. "The comprehension of figurative language in English literary texts by students for whom English is not a mother tongue." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002649.
Full textAbstract:
This study applies Sperber and Wilson's relevance theory to the comprehension of figurative language in poetry. Students' understanding of metaphor as a linguistic category and comprehension of metaphorical texts are analysed in terms of the principle of relevance. Patterns of comprehension in English first language (Ll) and English second language (ESL) students' analyses of metaphorical texts are discussed and through an analysis of similarities and differences in these patterns of comprehension an attempt is made to develop a pedagogy around relevance theory. Relevance theory's particular emphasis on the role played by "context" in cognition is seen to have significance for the teaching of literature in South African universities. Relevance theory's account of cognition generates a range of educational principles which could be specifically applied to the teaching of metaphor. An appraisal of the strengths and difficulties students experience in expressing their understanding of metaphor in an academic context is included. This was done to further develop relevance theory into a pedagogical approach which takes into account the academic context in which writing occurs. The investigation of the particular difficulties that English metaphor poses for ESL students entailed acquiring a working knowledge of the ways in which metaphor is taught and assessed in DET schools. The interpretations of students of different linguistic, social and educational backgrounds reveal unifying elements that could be incorporated into a pedagogy based on relevance theory. Such a pedagogy would be appropriate to the multilingual/multicultural/multiracial nature of classes in South African universities and would be a more empowering approach to the teaching of English metaphor.
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Tomei, Joseph George. "Using multimodal extended metaphor prompts to induce the production of figurative language in low-intermediate Japanese learners of English." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8108/.
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It has been over 35 years since the publication of Reddy's 1979 study of the metaphors for communication, an article that could be said to mark the starting point of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. However, despite the understanding that metaphor and figurative language are fundamental to language, in that time there has been little progress in introducing metaphor into the L2 classroom, especially at lower levels. This thesis argues that learners at this level have figurative resources that have not yet been acknowledged, but could be key elements in developing an L2 metaphor pedagogy. To explore this possibility, a mixed methods investigation of the effect of mutimodal writing prompts based on extended metaphors was conducted with two cohorts of low-intermediate Japanese university students. The mixed methods data analysis revealed not only that the presentation of one extended metaphor could 'activate' metaphorical knowledge of other extended metaphors and induce the production of metaphoric language, but that multimodal material provides an as yet unexploited resource for an L2 metaphor pedagogy.
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Winberg, Christine. "Figurative language in the prose works of William Wordsworth and its bearing on some central themes of his poetry." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23065.
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Biria, Ensieh. "Figurative Language in the Immigration Debate: Comparing Early 20th Century and Current U.S. Debate with the Contemporary European Debate." PDXScholar, 2012. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/234.
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This study analyzes newspaper coverage of immigration reform in mainstream newspapers prior to, and following the debate in June 2007. The newspaper text is analyzed using metaphor interpretation supported by content analysis. The quantitative result categorizes the identified metaphors in three distinct metaphor categories about: immigrants and immigration, immigration policy and enforcement, and metaphors about the debate and immigration issue itself. The relative distribution of metaphors among categories is provided. Using an open coding process, emergent metaphor categories are identified. The qualitative findings describe metaphors and schemas that were potentially activated by particular metaphorical phrases in this context. Lastly, this research compares the similarities and differences of the immigration debate of the early 20th century with the contemporary U.S. and European debate.
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Knyshev, Elena A. "The role of working memory and idiom compositionality in idiom comprehension." Thesis, Kansas State University, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/20479.
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Master of SciencePsychological Sciences
Richard J. Harris
Figurative language use is not limited to poetry or literature but is a ubiquitous part of speech. Studies that looked at figurative language comprehension have shown that some cognitive mechanisms, such as working memory, may be involved in figurative language comprehension. For example, individuals with high working memory span tend to produce deeper metaphor interpretations. The current work was interested in how working memory is involved in a particular figure of speech comprehension: idioms. An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be simply deduced from the literal meanings of the words that comprise that idiom. Idioms can vary according to their compositionality, which refers to the extent with which meanings of the idiom constituents provide cues for the idiom's idiomatic meaning. A number of researchers agreed upon certain idioms being decomposable and other idioms being fixed. The two different types were used in the Main Study. Models of idiom comprehension also vary from traditional "lexical look-up" models that consider idioms as multi-word lexical units stored as such in speakers' mental lexicons to "nonlexical" models, such as the Configuration Hypothesis, that states that an idiom as a whole does not have a separate lexical representation in the mental lexicon. Both models are considered in this work. Finally, understanding idiomatic expressions may require inhibiting irrelevant literal information. For example, literal meanings of the words dogs and cats in an idiom it is raining cats and dogs have to be inhibited in order to gather the figurative meaning of the expression. Thus, the main objective of the current work was to assess the role of working memory in idiom comprehension, as well as to explore whether idiom compositionality had an effect on how fast idioms were interpreted, while also considering implications for the two main models of idiom comprehension. A Preliminary Study narrowed down the list of idioms to the 26 that were used in the Main study, ensuring that both types of idioms did not differ in familiarity or length. The Main Study consisted of four tasks: working memory (Operation span task), inhibition (reading with distractions), idiom comprehension, and familiarity. Seventy-three general psychology students participated in the Main Study. The data were analyzed by several regression analyses and t-tests. The main finding was that there seems to be a difference in a way the two accepted types of idioms are interpreted: fixed idioms were interpreted faster than decomposable idioms. This is consistent with the lexical lookup hypothesis but only for fixed idioms and suggests that readers may not have to analyze the literal word meanings of fixed idioms when interpreting them, thus making their interpretation faster, since retrieving is faster than computing. Neither familiarity nor idiom length could account for this difference. On the other hand, neither operation span nor the number of critical errors committed by participants on the inhibition task predicted how long it took participants to interpret either type of idioms. Several possible explanations for such results are discussed, as well as the limitations and future directions.
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Hallgren, Elin. "Stylistic Effect and Use of Metaphors in Broadsheet Papers versus Tabloids." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-16878.
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The use of figurative language can be found in all kinds of texts but the manner it is used differs. This piece of work deals with the frequency of the use of metaphors in general and the distribution of its three subcategories - new, conventional and dead metaphors - in articles from a broadsheet paper and a tabloid. Ten articles, five from The New York Times and five from the New York Daily News, were analyzed and scrutinized for metaphors. The analysis and the categorisation of the metaphors point towards that there should be a higher frequency of metaphors in the broadsheet paper and that the distribution of the subkinds is the same in the two papers. However, results state that there is a great range of variation in the frequency of the metaphor in the individual tabloid articles compared to the broadsheet articles. This point to the conclusion that none of the two papers can be said to generally contain a higher frequency of metaphor compared to the other, simply because with tabloids there is no norm to compare with.
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Prestley, Robert W. "“IT’S HARD TO GET YOUR HEAD AROUND SOMETHING LIKE THIS”: FIGURATIVE AND INTENSE LANGUAGE FOR SENSEGIVING DURING SEVERE WEATHER COVERAGE." UKnowledge, 2019. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/comm_etds/80.
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During high-impact weather events like Hurricane Harvey, broadcast meteorologists take on the role of sensegiver, as they develop frameworks to help their viewers make sense of the storm. These frameworks are communicated through rhetorical choices evident in the language the meteorologists use to describe the storm’s threat and impact. This study investigates the rhetorical choices of KHOU broadcast meteorologists during Hurricane Harvey in order to make sense of the disaster, using an inductive thematic analysis. The results indicate that the KHOU broadcasters framed Harvey figuratively as an all-encompassing monster and a heat-seeking machine. The meteorologists used emotionally intense language to emphasize their concern about the forecast, to compare the event to previous flooding disasters, to describe Harvey’s catastrophic impact, and to express disbelief regarding the situation unfolding around them. These results show how sensegiving can be articulated rhetorically via specific language features like describing Harvey as a monster, or comparing Harvey’s impact to Hurricane Katrina. These specific language features identified here should be tested for their effectiveness in order to allow meteorologists across the weather enterprise to speak about threats and impacts in a more consistent manner.
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Lovseth, Kyle. "Are figurative interpretations of idioms directly retrieved or compositionally built? Evidence from eye movement measures of first and second language reading." Thesis, McGill University, 2012. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=110617.
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Idioms are part of a general class of multiword expressions that convey a figurative interpretation that is not fully determined through an on-demand compositional (syntactic and semantic) analysis of their component words (e.g., kick the bucket, save your skin). Idioms are simultaneously amenable to direct retrieval from memory, and to an on-demand compositional analysis, yet it is unclear which processes lead to figurative interpretations of idioms during comprehension. Idioms also pose challenges for second language learners, who may rely less on direct retrieval than first language users due to reduced L2 experience. In this study, first and second language users (L1 and L2, respectively) read sentences containing idioms followed by figurative- or literal-biased disambiguating regions. The results for L1 readers showed that increased familiarity but not decomposability facilitated comprehension of figurative interpretations. The results for L2 readers showed that cross-language overlap and decomposability facilitated comprehension of figurative interpretations. Thus, consistent with hybrid or multidetermined idiom processing models (Titone & Connine, 1999; Libben & Titone, 2008), first language idiom interpretations arise more from direct retrieval (indexed by familiarity) than compositional analysis. Second language idiom interpretations, however, arise from both.Les expressions idiomatiques font partie d'une catégorie générale d'expressions à mots multiples qui confèrent une interprétation figurale qui n'est pas entièrement déterminée par une analyse compositionnelle sur-demande (syntaxique et sémantique) des mots qui les forment (par exemple, passer l'arme à gauche, sauver votre peau). Les expressions idiomatiques se prêtent à la fois à une récupération directe en mémoire, et à une analyse compositionnelle sur-demande. Cependant, il n'est pas clair quels processus mènent à l'interprétation figurale des idiomes lors de la compréhension. Les expressions idiomatiques posent également un défi pour les individus apprenant une langue seconde, individus qui, en raison d'une expérience L2 réduite, se basent possiblement moins sur la récupération directe que les utilisateurs de langue maternelle. Dans cette étude, des utilisateurs de langue maternelle et seconde (L1 et L2, respectivement) ont lu des phrases contenant des idiomes suivis de régions désambiguisantes biaisées figuralement ou littéralement. Pour les lecteurs L1, les résultats ont montré qu'une plus grande familiarité, mais pas une décomposabilité, facilite la compréhension des interprétations figurales. Pour les lecteurs L2, les résultats ont montré que le chevauchement translinguistique et la décomposabilité facilitent la compréhension des interprétations figurales. Ainsi, conformément aux modèles hybrides ou multidéterminés de traitement des idiomes (Titone & Connine, 1999; Libben & Titone, 2008), l'interprétation des idiomes de langue maternelle repose davantage sur la récupération directe (indexée par la familiarité) que sur l'analyse compositionnelle. Toutefois, l'interprétation des idiomes de langue seconde repose sur les deux.
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Forsberg, Jacob. "“It ain’t the melodies that’re important man, it’s the words” : Dylan’s use of figurative language in The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Highway 61 Revisited." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-41174.
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This essay compares the figurative language of Bob Dylan’s albums The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964) and Highway 61 Revisited (1965), with a focus on how Dylan remained engaged with societal injustices and human rights as he switched from acoustic to fronting a rock ‘n’ roll band. The essay argues that Dylan kept his critical stance on social issues, and that the poet’s usage of figurative language became more expressive and complex in the later album. In the earlier album Dylan’s critique, as seen in his use of figurative language, is presented in a more obvious manner in comparison to Highway 61 Revisited, where the figurative language is more vivid, and with a more embedded critical stance.Uppsatsen jämför det figurativa språket i Bob Dylans skivor The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964) och Highway 61 Revisited (1965), med ett fokus på hur Dylan fortsatte vara engagerad inom samhällsfrågor och mänskliga rättigheter när han gick över från akustisk solomusik till att leda ett rockband. Uppsatsen argumenterar för att Dylan behöll sin kritiska syn på samhällsfrågor, och att poetens användning av figurativt språk blev mer expressivt och komplext i det senare albumet. I det tidigare albumet är Dylans kritik, som den framstår i hans användning av figurativt språk, presenterad mer direkt i jämförelse med Highway 61 Revisited, där det figurativa språket är mer levande och innehåller en mer förtäckt kritik.
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Obermeier, Andrew Stanton. "Multiword Units at the Interface: Deliberate Learning and Implicit Knowledge Gains." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/360635.
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Language ArtsEd.D.
Multiword units (MWUs) is a term used in the current study to broadly cover what second language acquisition (SLA) researchers refer to as collocations, conventional expressions, chunks, idioms, formulaic sequences, or other such terms, depending on their research perspective. They are ubiquitous in language and essential in both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition. Although MWUs are typically learned implicitly while using language naturally in both of these types of acquisition, the current study is an investigation of whether they are acquired in implicit knowledge when they are learned explicitly in a process called deliberate paired association learning. In SLA research, it is widely accepted that explicit knowledge is developed consciously and implicit knowledge is developed subconsciously. It is also believed that there is little crossover from explicit learning to implicit knowledge. However, recent research has cast doubt on this assumption. In a series of priming experiments, Elgort (2007, 2011) demonstrated that the formal and semantic lexical representations of deliberately learned pseudowords were accessed fluently and integrated into the mental lexicon, convincing evidence that deliberately learned words are immediately acquired in implicit knowledge. The current study aimed to extend these findings to MWUs in a psycholinguistic experiment that tested for implicit knowledge gains resulting from deliberate learning. Participants’ response times (RTs) were measured in three ways, on two testing instruments. First, subconscious formal recognition processing was measured in a masked repetition priming lexical decision task. In the second instrument, a self-paced reading task, both formulaic sequencing and semantic association gains were measured. The experiment was a counterbalanced, within-subjects design; so all comparisons were between conditions on items. Results were analyzed in a repeated measures linear mixed-effects model with participants and items as crossed random effects. The dependent variable was RTs on target words. The primary independent variable was learning condition: half of the critical MWUs were learned and half of them were not. The secondary independent variable was MWU composition at two levels: literal and figurative. The masked priming lexical decision task results showed that priming effects increased especially for learned figurative MWUs, evidence that implicit knowledge gains were made on their formal and semantic lexical representations as a result of deliberate learning. Results of the self-paced reading task were analyzed from two perspectives, but were less conclusive with regard to the effects of deliberate learning. Regarding formulaic sequencing gains, literal MWUs showed the most evidence of acquisition, but this happened as a result of both incidental and deliberate learning. With regard to semantic associations, it was shown that deliberate learning had similar effects on both literal and figurative MWUs. However, a serendipitous finding from this aspect of the self-paced reading results showed clearly that literal MWUs reliably primed semantic associations and sentence processing more strongly than figurative MWUs did, both before and after deliberate learning. In sum, results revealed that the difficulties learners have with developing fluent processing of figurative MWUs can be lessened by deliberate learning. On the other hand, for literal MWUs incidental learning is adequate for incrementally developing representation strength.
Temple University--Theses
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Morden, Lizl. "Winged words : a descriptive and quantitative study of figurative speech in the subtitles of 7de Laan." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/86394.
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Thesis (MPhil)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates subtitling in 7de Laan, comparing episodes from 2007 to episodes from 2010 with a focus on figurative language. It is a quantitative, descriptive study and aims to determine the overall adequacy or acceptability of the subtitles, the translation strategies used, how figurative language and language varieties are translated and compares findings from 2007 to those of 2010 to establish whether there has been a change in approach over this period. The source text, 7de Laan, is discussed in Chapter 1, which also outlines how the study will proceed, the research problem and the research questions. Chapters 2 and 3 are the literature review of the relevant theories. Chapter 2 covers Descriptive Translation Studies and the translation of figurative language. The challenges particular to subtitling, specifically the constraints of the medium, are discussed in Chapter 3. The following two chapters are the analysis and each begins with the methodology used for that analysis. Chapter 4 is a macrolevel analysis of the corpus and determines the acceptability/adequacy of the subtitles, their governing translation norms and analyses the translation strategies used. More specific questions are answered in Chapter 5, which analyses the translation of figurative language, the representation of language varieties in the subtitles and the influence catering for a hearing-impaired audience has on translation decisions. The findings indicate that the subtitles of 7de Laan are mostly acceptable and that acceptability increases in 2010. The translation strategies used and their frequency of usage are similar over the years. However, there are slight changes: in 2010 there is less literal translation, more omission and fewer figurative-specific translation strategies are used. The findings further show that there is less figurative language in the subtitles in 2010. Additionally, there is a tendency of levelling out figurative language in both years which increases in 2010. The analysis of language varieties indicates that for sociolects, age markers influence the subtitles more than race markers do. Idiolects are rendered but how much of an idiolect is rendered depends on its markers. The analysis also finds that subtitling for hearing-impaired audiences is a significant factor in the translation process over and above the spatiotemporal constraint of subtitling.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die onderskrifte van 7de Laan. Dit vergelyk episodes van 2007 met episodes van 2010 en fokus op figuurlike taalgebruik. Die ondersoek is kwantitatief en beskrywend en wil die algehele geskiktheid (adequacy) of aanvaarbaarheid (acceptability) van die onderskrifte vasstel, asook die vertaalstrategieë wat gebruik is en die wyse waarop figuurlike taal en taalvariëteite vertaal word. Die bevindinge van 2007 word vergelyk met dié van 2010 om vas te stel of die vertaalbenadering in die tydperk verander het. Die bronteks, 7de Laan, word in hoofstuk 1 bespreek, wat ‘n oorsig gee oor hoe die studie verloop, die navorsingsprobleem en die navorsingsvrae. Hoofstuk 2 en 3 is die literatuurstudie van die relevante teorieë. Hoofstuk 2 dek beskrywende vertaalstudies (Descriptive Translation Studies) en die vertaling van figuurlike taal. Die probleem eie aan onderskrifte, veral die beperkings in die vertaalproses, word in hoofstuk 3 bespreek. Die volgende twee hoofstukke bestaan uit die ontleding en elke hoofstuk begin met die metodologie wat gebruik is vir daardie ontleding. Hoofstuk 4 is ‘n makrovlakontleding van die korpus en bepaal die geskiktheid/ aanvaarbaarheid van die onderskrifte, oorheersende norme en ontleed die vertaalstrategieë wat gebruik is. Meer spesifieke vrae word in hoofstuk 5 beantwoord, wat betref die vertaling van figuurlike taal, die oordra van taalvariëteite in die onderskrifte en die invloed van die inagneming van gehoorgestremde kykers op vertaalbesluite. Die bevindinge dui aan dat die onderskrifte van 7de Laan meestal aanvaarbaar is en dat aanvaarbaarheid in 2010 toegeneem het. Die vertaalstrategieë en die frekwensie van die gebruik daarvan het oor die jare nie veel verander nie. Daar is egter klein veranderings: in 2010 is daar minder letterlike vertalings, meer weglatings en minder vertaalstrategieë wat spesifiek op figuurlike taalgebruik gemik is. Die bevindings dui ook aan dat daar minder figuurlike taal in die 2010-onderskrifte is. Die ontleding van taalvariëteite toon dat, ten opsigte van sosiolekte, ouderdommerkers ‘n groter invloed op onderskrifte het as rasmerkers. Idiolekte word wel verteenwoordig, maar die mate daarvan word deur die idiolek se merkers bepaal. Die ontleding dui ook aan dat onderskrifte wat gerig is op gehoorgestremde kykers, ‘n groot faktor in die vertaalproses is, benewens die tydruimtelike beperking van onderskrifte as sodanig.