AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF BRITTNEY E. EBERHARDT, for the Master of Science degree in Behavior Analysis and Therapy, presented on August 2016, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: TEACHING IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS TO CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS USING THE PEAK RELATIONAL TRAINING SYSTEM MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Mark R. Dixon Idiomatic expressions are commonly used phrases, which require the listener to interpret the meaning figuratively rather than literally. The purpose of this study was to expand the research in the area of stimulus equivalence to determine whether untaught symmetrical and transitive responding in relation to idiomatic expressions would emerge for two participants with developmental delays. The first phase of the study involved directly training participants to respond with the statement (B stimuli; i.e.: “Go to bed.”) that corresponded with an intraverbal (A stimuli; i.e.: “What do you do at night after you put on your pajamas?”). After participants mastered these relationships, they were directly trained to respond with the idiomatic expression (C stimuli; i.e.: “Hit the hay”) when the experimenter verbally asked, “What is another way to say [A stimuli]?”. The results indicate that both participants achieved mastery criteria during the first phase of the study on A-B relations, however they were unable to demonstrate the derived equivalence A-C relation or C-B relation. After training on the B-C relationship, participants were again able to achieve criteria on the trained relationship and demonstrated some of the derived symmetrical relationships as well as derived transitive relationships. In addition, this study utilized the procedures from the PEAK-E relational training system to aid in replication in research and clinical practice.

The subject of this thesis is to investigate the Italian names of colours, placing them into context and issue of translation of the names of colours into Czech. The thesis has two parts. The first part theoretical deals in general with colours and colour terms, colour perception, symbologies, research and etymology. This thesis also analyse the process of colour perception throughout history and in the evolution of humans. In the practical part we will then get through five subdivisions to the terms from the area of biology (the names of plants and animals), in which there occurs any of Italian names of colours then we get to idiomatic expressions, uniting with the verb, comparison and collocation, in which there also occur terms indicating colours. In all of these five areas, we analyse similarity between the two languages by using analogous databases in Czech language and translation into Czech language. The aim of this thesis is delimitation of colour terms in the Italian language, their definition, putting into context, confrontation of loose and established closer links and also their comparison with Czech.

The general field of interest for this study is the Swedish public’s level of awareness of non-literal and figurative language, such as idioms and metaphors, in English. The English language can be considered to be evolving into Sweden’s second language, since it is present in so much more than school, for example, on television, computers and radio. This study aims to gain an insight into the degree of understanding of common idiomatic expressions in popular English song lyrics by native Swedish speakers. University students were chosen as the sample group and twelve of them were asked to explain their understanding of selected English idioms which occur in songs with which they were likely to recognize. The results have then been analyzed and it was possible to establish the degrees of understanding, misunderstanding and failure to understand. Firstly, the participants have explained the expression out of context, and secondly they were asked to explain it in the context of the song. This was to see whether the expressions appear to have been easier to understand out of context or in context. Earlier research show difficulties in defining the term idiom, and in this survey the term idiomatic expression has been used and defined as a way of speaking or writing that does not make any literal sense, even though the expressions are used all the time and people familiar with the language generally recognize them and understand their meaning. Earlier research has facilitated the analysis by the use of terms, theories and definitions on various ways of understanding metaphors, metonymy and idioms, and how these might, or might not, differ between Swedish and English. The results of this survey show that most of the expressions appear to have been easier to explain and understand when seen and heard in the context of the song. Although, some expressions appear to have been very alien to the participants, which has resulted in misunderstandings and failure to understand both in and out of context of the song lyrics in question.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how idioms help the building of opposing characters in a literary work and also what similarities and differences there are in the usage of idioms between the characters. The material, i.e. the idioms, in this study was manually collected from Othello written by William Shakespeare. The material was analyzed and categorized according to a list of idiomatic properties. The material was also analyzed according to the tone of the idioms. The results showed that there was not any prominent difference in usage of idioms between the two characters; neither in general nor in the tone of the idiom. The results suggested, however, that the idioms were used in a negative sense, regardless of character.

This essay presents a study of retention of idioms delving into a pedagogical approach by presenting them to a group of lower secondary students. The study also explores students’ memory retention whilst concurrently investigating if certain types of idioms are retained to a greater extent than others. For the sake of assessing memory retention in relation to these various types of idiomatic transparency, the selected idioms have been divided into three separate categories; transparent, semi-transparent and opaque depending on their literal and figurative meaning. This essay argues that opaque idioms are retained to a lesser extent in memory due to their non-transparent metaphorical meaning. In fact, the most striking finding is that idioms pertaining to the opaque category are indeed more difficult for students to learn and are also forgotten the fastest. Previous research has put emphasis on the complex structure of idioms and opinions seem divided regarding to what extent the teaching of idioms should be implemented together with other vocabulary items in a classroom setting. On the other hand, the same research emphasizes the great value of idioms; potentially expanding student vocabulary and making the English language more nuanced and native-like.

Las expresiones idiomáticas (EI) son frases establecidas con sentido figurativo que conllevan una alta carga cultural, y, su comprensión y conocimiento permiten alcanzar un dominio más profundo del idioma. En este sentido, se espera que un traductor - intérprete alcance dicho dominio para así, enfrentar un texto o situación comunicativa, sin incurrir en errores de sentido. Frente a esto, se tomó como caso de análisis el curso de inglés TI5 para el diseño de un proyecto de investigación-acción que buscó desarrollar el manejo de EI a través del uso de series televisivas americanas. Dicha investigación permitió estudiar la realidad educativa y caracterizar las incidencias que se daban en el aula durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de EI y, sobre todo, comprobar la efectividad de los recursos idiomáticos que sitúan al estudiante en un contexto real de la lengua. Este estudio busca tener un impacto positivo en el ámbito de enseñanza-aprendizaje dentro de la formación de traductores-intérpretes, de modo tal que, se considere el uso de material auténtico, como las series televisivas americanas, para lograr que el futuro profesional desarrolle el dominio de sus lenguas de trabajo a un nivel nativo, en la medida que comprenda los matices que suponen una lengua y su cultura. Sección obligatoria en la que el autor o los autores exponen en breves líneas lo esencial del trabajo. / Idiomatic expressions or idioms are fixed expressions with a figurative interpretation that carry a high cultural meaning; these phrases allow a deeper understanding of the language. In this light, a translator-interpreter is expected to reach that cultural level of understanding in order to face a text or interpretation, without making errors of meaning. To address this, the course of English TI5 was chosen for a case analysis, in order to apply an action research study whose purpose was to implement the use of idioms through American TV series. This research allowed to analyze the educational reality and characterize the occurrences that take place during the learning process of idioms in the classroom and, most of all, to verify the effectiveness of these cultural resources when placing a student in a real context of the language. This research seeks to have a positive impact in the teaching-learning process within the formation of translators-interpreters, so the use of authentic material, such as American TV series, will be considered for the mastery of their working languages, to reach a native level where not only the language is fully understood, but its culture as well. / Trabajo de suficiencia profesional

Lexical inferencing is considered a listening strategy that is commonly employed by advanced EFL (English as a Foreign Language) listeners and a factor that contributes to successful listening comprehension. However, investigations of the factors that influence inferencing success in listening as well as how much each factor contributes to success are scant, as more studies have been conducted exploring lexical inferencing in reading. In addition, even though idiomatic expressions such as smell a rat, jump the gun, and go cold turkey are ubiquitous in the English language, especially in oral communication, and they are considered crucial in both first language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition, little is known about the effectiveness of inferencing strategies where idiomatic expressions are concerned.Three goals motivated the current study. The first goal was to investigate whether inferencing is an effective strategy in the case where the target item is an idiomatic expression. The second goal was to investigate how four person-level factors, familiarity, listening proficiency, listening vocabulary size and working memory, two sentence-level factors, lexical density and sentence length, and two lexical-level factors, L1–L2 congruency and semantic transparency, influence the inferencing success of English idiomatic expressions in listening. The third goal, related to the second goal, was to determine which of the two lexical component factors, L1–L2 congruency and semantic transparency, is more important to inferencing success. A mixed methods design, the explanatory sequential design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018), was employed in this study. Quantitative data were collected from 89 EFL Japanese university students using a Listening Vocabulary Levels Test, a Listening Span Test, and an Idiom Inferencing Elicitation Task. The collected data were examined using mixed-effects logistic regression. Twelve participants were invited to participate in follow-up interviews based on their response patterns on the Idiom Inferencing Elicitation Task. The quantitative results indicated that familiarity, listening comprehension skills, working memory, and L1–L2 congruency were significant factors influencing inferencing success and the qualitative results supported these findings. In addition, the qualitative analyses suggested that depth of vocabulary is another potentially important factor. Furthermore, listening comprehension moderated the L1–L2 congruency effect. The finding that semantic transparency is not an influential factor in successful inferencing of unfamiliar idiomatic expressions provides evidence that the semantic transparency of known idiomatic expressions formed after learners acquire the meaning of the expression is a different construct from the perceived semantic transparency of unfamiliar idiomatic expressions. In addition, even though the sentence-level factors were not statistically significant in successful idiom inferencing in this study, further studies are required in order to see if this result holds true when the characteristics of the listening tasks differ from those of the task used in this study. It is hoped that the findings provide insights into how to help Japanese university EFL learners improve their listening skills, especially in tasks that include unfamiliar idiomatic expressions. / Teaching & Learning

"The object of this thesis is neither to uphold the sacred cows of traditionalist grammar nor to forge a way for a liberal philology. It does, however, examine "the kind of English that most people use most of the time," that is, the idiom of the language, and specifically the phrases and expressions that compose idioms."--1.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T19:34:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CD 1 - LPO - Margareth V F Gonzales.pdf: 401896 bytes, checksum: 73d2e6e0c4410be127de91a20ddeecb2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-01-01 / This work has as its main subject the idiomatic expressions. On the evidence of the low number of Brazilian works and researches found in the matter of Phraseology, the restriction of knowledge to academics means, the fact that this phraseological groups don t appear in dictionaries nor in didactic manuals, being relegated to an inferior level in the extent of linguistic studies, we try to verify in this text, that idiomatic expressions are recreated in every new communicative situation, fulfilling the needs of the speaker. Emphasizing the creativity and vitality attributed to this sort of expression. Furthermore, we signalize that these idiotism hold in its within cultural hidden characteristics that connect themselves to its society and its spoken language. Grounding the work in previous works of Lakoff & Johnson (2002) for the metaphorical thought, of Biderman (2001) for the Lexicology, and in the Social Representations theory of Minayo (1995), we have developed a research confirming that cognitive operations are responsible for the appearance of idiomatic expressions in a language, as for its recreation. At the stage of analyzing the corpus, we have elected the book Grande Sertão:Veredas, by Guimarães Rosa, since the author uses this type of expression in a very sui generis way. By the means of comparative analysis, we have verified that the appearance process consists in total or partial substitution of terms, in the addition of suffixes and in grammatical classes changes for the consolidated expression terms. Throughout this analysis, we have ascertained that a recreated expression brings an original meaning, intense and amplified, delegating to Rosa s diction a unique freshness and flushness, that perpetuates it. Hence, we have proposed ourselves to expose that the non-(re)cognizing of idiomatic expressions in linguistic studies applies in not knowing other mental cognitive processes, essential for the understanding of the origin of the language, its functioning and its lexical uses. / Este trabalho tem como tema as expressões idiomáticas. Em razão do baixo número de trabalhos e pesquisas produzidos na área da Fraseologia, no Brasil, conhecimento restrito aos meios acadêmicos, o fato desses grupos fraseológicos não figurarem em dicionários, manuais didáticos e serem relegados a um plano inferior no âmbito dos estudos lingüísticos, procuramos comprovar, neste trabalho, que as expressões idiomáticas são recriadas a cada situação comunicativa, suprindo as necessidades do locutor. Salientamos a criatividade e vigor característicos desse modo de expressão. Apontamos, ainda, que esses idiotismos carregam em seu cerne implícitos culturais que as identificam com seu povo e sua língua. Com base nos trabalhos de Lakoff & Johnson (2002), para pensar metafórico, de Biderman (2001) para a Lexicologia e a teoria das Representações Sociais de Minayo (1995) desenvolvemos a nossa pesquisa que mostra serem as operações cognitivas mentais responsáveis pelo surgimento das expressões idiomáticas na língua e também para a sua recriação. Para análise do corpus, elegemos a obra Grande Sertão:Veredas, de Guimarães Rosa, visto que esse autor faz uso das expressões de um modo sui generis: ele as recria. Por meio de análise comparativa, verificamos que o processo consiste em substituição total ou parcial de termos, acréscimo de sufixos, mudança de classe gramatical dos termos da expressão sedimentada. Com essa análise, verificamos que expressão recriada apresenta um sentido original, intenso e ampliado, conferindo à linguagem de Rosa um frescor e um viço que a perpetua. Desse modo, nos propusemos a apresentar que o não-(re)conhecimento das expressões idiomáticas nos estudos lingüísticos implica desconhecer outros processos cognitivos mentais essenciais ao entendimento da origem da linguagem, seu funcionamento e suas manifestações no léxico.

As expressões idiomáticas (EIs), com suas características peculiares, são utilizadas com certa frequência como recurso para a construção da argumentação irônica em textos opinativos. Este trabalho pretendeu analisar, com base nos estudos discursivos, as consequências de seu emprego. Nosso primeiro passo foi diferenciá-las de outros conceitos como os provérbios, ditos populares, frases feitas. Consideramos três como as principais características identificadoras de uma EI: combinabilidade de no mínimo duas palavras, idiomaticidade e inserção dentro de uma memória da língua e discursiva. Num segundo momento investigamos as características presentes nos textos opinativos de jornais, como a Folha de São Paulo e o Clarín de Buenos Aires, para que se pudesse justificar a presença das EIs. Tal investigação nos levou a associar a sua presença ao surgimento da ironia. Características como a mudança de registro, a necessidade de inscrever-se dentro de uma memória discursiva que possa ser compartilhada entre enunciador e enunciatário são as mais evidentes. As EIs, ao serem incorporadas a um discurso, podem sofrer algumas modificações que as relacionam à enunciação, como por exemplo, inserções de palavras ou substituições de outras. São reformulações que se apresentam a fim de melhor contribuírem para a construção de uma argumentação irônica que exigem do enunciador e enunciatário uma capacidade discursiva essencial para que possam atingir sua plenitude semântica. A observação das EIs, nos levou, também, a questionar o modo peculiar como a sua reformulação se apresenta. Concluímos que elas estão muito além de lugares comuns; podem, com seu jogo entre transparente/idiomático, coloquial/institucional, exercer um papel significativo para que se possa instaurar a ironia, revelando-se como importantes elementos participantes da memória de uma língua. / The Idiomatic Expressions (IE) with their peculiar characteristics, are used quite frequently as a resource for the construction of ironic argumentation in opinionated texts. This research aimed to analyse, based on discursive studies, the consequences of their use. Our first step was to differentiate them from other concepts like proverbs, sayings, ready-made expressions . We considered three of them as the main identifiers of an Idiomatic Expression: combinability of at least two words, idiomaticity and insertion in the memory of the language and in the discursive memory . Our second step was to investigate the characteristics present in opinionated texts in newspapers such as a Folha de São Paulo and a Buenos Aires newspaper, Clarín, so that the presence of IE could be justified. Such investigation led us to associate their presence with the appearance of irony. Characteristics such as the change of register , the necessity of inscribing itself in a discursive memory that could be shared between the enunciator and enunciatee are the most evident. When IE are incorporated into a discourse, they can undergo some modifications that relate them to the enunciation, like for example, the insertion of words or substitution of others. These are reformulations thar arise in order to make a major contribution to the construction of a an ironic argumentation that demand of the enunciator and the enunciatee essencial discursive skills so that they can reach their semantic fullness. The observation of IEs also led us to question the peculiar way how their reformulation arises We conclude they are far beyond common places, they can, with their game between transparent/idiomatic, colloquial/institutional, exert a significant role so that irony can be established, constituing themselves as important integrated elements in the memory of a language.