Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2017-07-03T14:13:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 sarabarreto.pdf: 1714725 bytes, checksum: 3e320fc0cbd06b092e653d3db925a228 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2017-08-08T13:00:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 sarabarreto.pdf: 1714725 bytes, checksum: 3e320fc0cbd06b092e653d3db925a228 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-08T13:00:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 sarabarreto.pdf: 1714725 bytes, checksum: 3e320fc0cbd06b092e653d3db925a228 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-18 / Esta dissertação investiga a compreensão de expressões idiomáticas do tipo verbo + complemento no português brasileiro (PB) (Ex. pintar o sete, passar a bola). Na literatura psicolinguística, identificamos diferentes abordagens relativas à representação, ao acesso e ao processamento de expressões idiomáticas. Segundo modelos de acesso direto, expressões seriam compreendidas a partir da recuperação de seu sentido plenamente disponível no léxico (GIBBS, 1980, 1985, 1986), enquanto outras abordagens pontuam que o acesso ocorra de forma indireta ou mediada (BOBROW & BELL, 1973; WEINREICH, 1969). Há, ainda, propostas que defendem a ocorrência do acesso em paralelo dos sentidos literal e figurado (ESTILL & KEMPER, 1982; SWINNEY & CUTLER, 1979), bem como visões que enfatizam a relevância de se atentar para certas propriedades internas e externas das expressões idiomáticas (Ex. grau de composicionalidade e de cristalização da expressão e contexto discursivo prévio) para uma melhor compreensão do modo como as mesmas seriam processadas (GIORA, 1997, 1999; BOWDLE & GENTNER, 2005). Nossa pesquisa está alinhada com esse último tipo de visão que questiona a possibilidade de uma abordagem categórica que possa dar conta do processamento de toda e qualquer expressão sem levar em consideração aspectos específicos envolvidos em cada caso. Expressões idiomáticas são tipicamente caracterizadas como combinações fixas e não composicionais nas quais o sentido idiomático não constitui uma função da soma das partes. O grau de decomponibilidade das mesmas, entretanto, é variável (GIBBS, 1989): em alguns casos, as partes colaboram na construção do sentido figurado, em outras, essa contribuição não é clara. Em expressões como passar a bola, por exemplo, percebe-se uma maior decomponibilidade do que em dar zebra ou em pintar o sete. Assumimos nesta pesquisa que haveria, assim, um espectro de idiomaticidade. Este trabalho pretende explorar em que medida o grau de idiomaticidade afeta a compreensão das expressões. Buscamos ainda investigar o papel da familiaridade do falante com a expressão e do contexto prévio em que as expressões aparecem e avaliar até que ponto esses fatores interagem entre si no processamento. Foram conduzidos dois experimentos visando a investigar essas questões. No Experimento 1 foi utilizada uma tarefa de maze (leitura automonitorada em forma de “labirinto”) na qual o segmento crítico era relativo à complementação do verbo: complemento idiomático vs. literal (Ex. abrir o coração/a porta). O Experimento 2, inspirado no estudo de Cacciari e Tabossi (1988), foi idealizado a partir do paradigma de priming intermodal (cross-modal priming), por meio de uma tarefa de decisão lexical em que a palavra alvo poderia ser relacionada idiomaticamente, literalmente ou não relacionada à expressão idiomática (Ex. passar a bola – palavra alvo: responsabilidade – futebolista – helicóptero). Tomados em conjunto, os resultados obtidos revelaram efeitos estatisticamente significativos das três variáveis investigadas, sugerindo que o grau de idiomaticidade, a familiaridade do falante com a expressão e o contexto prévio afetam o processamento das expressões e, portanto, devem ser considerados num modelo que vise a explicitar a representação, o acesso e a compreensão dessas estruturas. / This dissertation investigate the comprehension of verb + complement idioms in Brazilian Portuguese (e.g. passar a bola, pintar o sete – literal meaning: “to pass the ball” and “to paint the seven”; figurative meaning: “to delegate responsibility” and “to make a mess”). In Psycholinguistic literature, different approaches related to the representation, the access and the processing of idioms can be recognized. According to direct access models, idioms would be understood from the retrieval of their fully available meaning in the lexicon (GIBBS,1980, 1985, 1986), while other approaches point out that the access occurs in an indirect or mediated way (BOBROW & BELL, 1973; WEINREICH, 1969). There are also proposals that posit that literal and figurative meaning are accessed in parallel (ESTILL & KEMPER, 1982; SWINNEY & CUTLER, 1979), as well as approaches that emphasize the relevance of certain internal and external properties of the idioms (degree of compositionality and crystallization, previous discursive context, for example) for a better understanding of their processing (GIORA, 1997, 1999; BOWDLE & GENTNER, 2005). Our research is in line with the last vision that denies the possibility of a categorical approach that can account for the processing of any expression without taking into account the specific aspects involved in each case. Idioms are typically characterized as fixed and non-compositional combinations in which meaning is not a function of the sum of the parts. The degree of compositionality, however, is variable (GIBBS, 1989): in some cases, the parts collaborate in the construction of the figurative meaning, in others, this contribution is not clear. In expressions such as passar a bola, for example, one perceives a greater decomposition than in dar zebra (literal meaning: “to give zebra”; figurative meaning: “to go wrong”) or in pintar o sete. Thus, a spectrum of idiomaticity is observed. This research intends to explore to what extent the degree of idiomaticity affects the comprehension of idioms. We also investigate the role of the speaker's familiarity with the idiom and the previous context in which the idiom appear and evaluate the extent to which these factors interact with each other in the processing. Two experiments were conducted to investigate these issues. In the Experiment 1, a maze task (self-paced reading in the form of a "labyrinth") was used. The critical segment was related to the verb complement: idiomatic complement vs. literal complement (e.g. open the heart/ the door). Experiment 2 was inspired by the research of Cacciari and Tabossi (1988), based on the cross-modal priming paradigm, and conducted by means of a lexical decision task in which the target could be related idiomatically, literally or unrelated to the idiom (e.g. passar a bola – “to pass the ball”; target words: responsibility – soccer player - helicopter). Taken together, the obtained results revealed significant effects of the three investigated variables, suggesting that the degree of idiomaticity, the speaker's familiarity with the idiom and the previous context affect the processing of the idioms and, therefore, should be considered in a model that aims to explain the representation, access and comprehension of these structures.

M.A. (Afrikaans) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur lettiska idiomatiska uttryck förstås och används av letter som bor i Sverige. / The aim of this paper is to examine how Latvian idiomatic expressions are understood and how often they are used by Latvians in Sweden. The Swedish Latvians can be grouped as follows: those that arrived in Sweden as a result of the Second World War and have lived here for a greater part of their lives, those that were born in Sweden of Latvian parents, and those that moved here after the reinstatement of Latvian independence in 1991. I shall examine if the Swedish Latvians who have grown up and/or lived in Sweden for many years a) know the meaning of Latvian idiomatic expressions; b) use these idiomatic expressions; and, if used, c) which idiomatic expressions are used most often?

Idioms are found in every language and learning them is an important aspect of the mastery of a language. The English language is no exception as it contains a large number of idioms, which are extensively used. However, because of their rather rigid structure and quite unpredictable meaning, idioms are often considered difficult to learn. Although little research has been done to date on the nature of idioms as well as how they are used, a better understanding of variations in idioms can nevertheless be acquired by looking at some theories and thoughts about their use and their structure. The aim of this paper is to examine a number of animal idioms, focusing primarily on English idioms and the similarities and differences found in equivalent Swedish idioms, even when the Swedish idioms do not contain an animal. Two types of studies are presented. In the first one, the English and Swedish animal idioms collected are grouped into four categories. The results of such a categorization show that half of the English animal idioms found have an equivalent in Swedish containing an animal. In the second study, the content, structure, wording, semantics and metaphorical meaning of the animal idioms are analysed and compared. The results indicate that the Swedish animal idioms that correspond to the English animal idioms have, for the most part, the same structures and similar variations in degree of literalness, fixity, manipulation and transformation. Furthermore, the use of metaphor, personification and simile appears to be common both in English and Swedish animal idioms. The role of context and literal and figurative translation are also addressed in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the difficulties that came up in the translation of an English travel guide about Costa Rica into Swedish, and what strategies may be employed in order to solve them. The focus is on how to handle proper nouns, figures of speech and terminology. In order to gather material for the study an English travel guide about Costa Rica was translated into Swedish and then some of the translation problems encountered during translation were chosen for an in-depth analysis. The analysis is mainly based on Rune Ingo’s and Peter Newmark’s theories, but other sources have also been used as a basis for the discussion.   Proper nouns were mostly handled by transference of the names in their original forms into the TT as well as transference in combination with a functional or descriptive equivalent. Where appropriate, some proper nouns were translated with recognized Swedish translations or partially translated and partially transferred. Many metaphors and idioms were translated into corresponding figurative expressions found in the target language. When this was not possible, they were either translated word-for-word, provided that they still conveyed the meaning of the ST metaphor or idiom, or translated with a non-figurative expression. In order to make up for lost figurative expressions, one non-figurative expression was translated with a metaphor. Regarding terminology, terms were mostly translated with corresponding terms found in Swedish bilingual dictionaries or other resources on the Internet. However, some terms had to be transferred from the ST in their original forms or translated with less specific words, since no corresponding terms could be found in the target language. The findings show that several different strategies were used to handle translation of proper nouns, figures of speech and terminology in this specific travel guide and which strategy to use depends on situational factors.

The thesis aims to conduct a semantic analysis of the Dutch idioms containing the word "money", categorization of the idioms to semantic categories and comparison of the semantic similarity with the Czech idioms. The theoretical part describes general phraseology and also takes up with the features and the classification of idioms. Moreover, it focuses on the theory of cognitive semantics and the history of phraseology in general, within the Netherlandistics and the Czech phraseology. The practical part takes up with the characterization of the Dutch corpus, the semantic analysis of the Dutch idioms and determining of the semantic similarity in Czech. The corpus consists of 133 Dutch idioms containing the word "money". The results of the thesis show that the idioms can be categorized on the ground of their prototypical qualities or concepts. The most dominant concept is called "the power of money". In general, we can assume that the meanings of the idioms are really various and do not have to relate only with financial affairs. The analysis of the semantic similarity with the Czech idioms has shown that the most of the Dutch idioms do not have any Czech equivalent. The result of this thesis is also a Dutch-Czech phraseological dictionary.

PhD / M.E.R. Mathivha Centre for African Languages, Arts and Culture

The growing diversity of the United States (US) population demands an equally diverse nursing workforce to meet its healthcare needs effectively. It is a priority to assist students who are English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) to succeed, not just to take care of ESOL and non-English-speaking clients but to add to the nursing workforce. ESOL nursing and client language barriers in healthcare are challenging, but one leading solution is to help ESOL nursing students succeed. For all nursing students to succeed, they must pass the National Council Licensure Examination - Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN), a multiple-choice high-stakes assessment offered only in English. The problem: ESOL nursing students, who are otherwise knowledgeable, often do poorly on such tests. The NCLEX-RN can be difficult for ESOL nursing students since their lack of proficiency in American English slows their ability to interpret words and phrases in written format. This hinders the student’s ability to understand the relevancy of the words and how the words combine to produce meaningful scenarios and discourse. If test writers removed slang and words with multiple meanings, ESOL nursing students might have greater success on high-stakes examinations, such as the NCLEX-RN. To find appropriate linguistically challenging questions, a search panel comprised of volunteering ESOL Associate Degree in Nursing graduates assembled relevant, challenging multiple-choice questions from high-stakes examination test banks. Each linguistically challenging question was categorized as containing idioms, unclear or unnecessary wording, or slang/difficult American English words. The researcher created a linguistically modified version by removing or replacing the problematic language identified by the search panel. An examination evaluation committee of experienced nursing instructors examined the linguistically modified questions to ensure that the true nursing clinical intention of the question had not been altered. This study used a convenience sample of ADN nursing students (N=169) who had completed Fundamentals of Nursing and Medical/Surgical Nursing 1. The research control group (n=85) received unmodified questions, whereas the experimental group (n=84) received linguistically modified questions. Examinations were distributed by alternating control and experimental examinations to each student. This dissertation presents three reports on the results of removing linguistic complexity from examination questions. The first report presented in Chapter 2 examines the question, "Does ESOL nursing students' performance on linguistically modified examinations differ from performance on unmodified examinations?" This report examined the differences in scores achieved on the experimental versus the control versions of the examination. Nursing students performed statistically better in the experimental group (M = 79.9, SD 7.48) than in the control group (M = 75.08, SD 10.51), t(151.8) = 2.973, p = .003. The second report, presented in Chapter 3, assesses if specific forms of American English adversely affect the performance of low-acculturated nursing students. This chapter presents an attempt to identify the possible effects of idioms, slang, or difficult vocabulary on the success of nursing students in high-stakes nursing examinations. Furthermore, this chapter compares which form of American English, idioms, slang, or difficult vocabulary is more difficult for low-acculturated nursing students. A mixed ANOVA using control versus experimental tests as the between variable and item category as the within variable showed that the group by item type interaction was nonsignificant (F (2, 56) = .016, p = .984), indicating that idioms, slang, and difficult vocabulary do not differ in the likelihood of leading students to select incorrect answers. The third report, in Chapter 4, presents an investigation of the effect of linguistic bias on ESOL nursing students' success. Chapter 4 presents analyses of pass rates on the unmodified examinations achieved by high-acculturated and low-acculturated nursing students. Chapter 4 also presents an examination of the impact of language acculturation on the pass rates on linguistically modified and unmodified nursing examinations based on modified NCLEX-style questions that remove linguistic biases. This chapter presents an investigation of whether low acculturated nursing students who take the linguistically modified nursing examination achieve higher pass rates than those who take the unmodified examination. Based on the results of the chi-square analysis, 35 (81.4%) of the 43 students in the low acculturation group received a passing grade on the modified (experimental) examination, compared to 12 (30.8%) of 39 students in this group passing the unmodified (control) examination. This difference was statistically significant, χ2(1) = 21.42, p = <.001. Results also showed that there is a relationship between high-stakes nursing examination questions containing idioms, slang, and unnecessary words and ESOL nursing student success. The study supported the impact of substituting idioms, slang, and unnecessary vocabulary with more standard English terms on students’ success on multiple choice high-stakes examinations. Although the results do not indicate that ESOL nursing students are more severely or directly affected by specific forms of American English, it does show that identifying these linguistic obstacles may help provide valuable information that may guide creators of high-stakes examinations in designing more bias-free examinations to assist ESOL nursing students succeed and enter the workforce.

Idioms are frequently used in any language and thereby it is important to investigate how these linguistic resources are understood, acquired and mastered. More studies need to be conducted, specially in the learning of a second language. Cooper (1999) examined the processing of idioms in English by L2 learners using the Think-aloud procedure (TAP). He found that a heuristic model consists of the numerous strategies used by these speakers to find the meaning of written idioms by exploring and try to find the meaning which is less familiar to them, compared to the native speakers knowledge and holistic or integrated approach. In the currrent work, realized in Sweden, the TAP was applied to compare the responses given by learners of Spanish as a second language and native speakers about common verbal idioms. The aim is to analyze the interpretation and comprehension of non-literal or figurative meaning of these expressions. As the result indicates, the Spanish idioms were less familiar to the L2 learners, but their figurative meaning was understood in 41% of the times, and including partial associations in 76% of the attempts using the TAP. The descriptions of these L2 Spanish speakers’ group varied notoriously: amid match and partial coincidences with figurative meaning, unusual images were referred and the literal meaning was presented in a few cases as part of the figurative. The heuristic and a kind of hybrid approach to the idiomatic meaning in the oral and semantic elaborations and interpretative strategies were confirmed. However, it was relatively easier to the L2 speakers to propose lexical definitions. With a more holistic processing and descriptions of meaning, the native speakers accessed the non-literal idioms’ meaning with a complete description in 85% of the cases, and including linked information in 98%, which confirmed that regional idioms could be particularly unknown. Some difficulties to give explicit information about concrete terms by members of the group of native speakers were identified. / Las locuciones son expresiones de uso común en el habla cotidiana y por ello es importante investigar cómo son comprendidas y adquiridas, tanto en el aprendizaje de lenguas maternas como en el de segundas lenguas. Cooper (1999) examinó cómo los hablantes de inglés como segunda lengua, usando el procedimiento Pensar en Voz Alta (PVA), describen el significado de locuciones presentadas por escrito. Él identificó que un modelo heurístico de procesamiento se conforma por numerosas estrategias con las cuales estos hablantes intentan encontrar y dar respuestas acertadas acerca del significado idiomático. El PVA se usó en este estudio, realizado en Suecia, para comparar las respuestas de aprendientes de español como segunda lengua y hablantes nativos, enfocando locuciones verbales de uso común en esa lengua. El propósito fue analizar las interpretaciones y comprensión de significado no literal o figurado de las secuencias convencionales presentadas. Los resultados muestran que para los hablantes de español como segunda lengua las locuciones eran poco familiares, pero acertaron en el 41% de sus intentos al describir significados coincidentes con el sentido figurado, y en 76% con asociaciones parciales de significado. Las respuestas de estos hablantes variaron notoriamente: entre aproximación al significado convencional proporcionaron imágenes inusuales y algunos significados literales como parte del figurado, confirmando un abordaje heurístico o indagatorio y cierta aproximación híbrida al conocimiento idiomático en la L2. Sin embargo, fue relativamente más fácil para estos participantes formular definiciones léxicas. El abordaje de los hablantes nativos fue en cambio más holístico o integrador, con la descripción completa de significados del sentido figurado en 85% de casos, y en 98% con asociación de información relacionada, lo que confirma que algunas expresiones pueden ser conocidas de distinta forma en regiones diferentes. En algunos casos hubo ciertas dificultades para exponer información explícita sobre términos concretos en este grupo de hablantes nativos.

Las locuciones son expresiones de uso común en el habla cotidiana y por ello es importante investigar cómo son comprendidas y adquiridas, tanto en el aprendizaje de lenguas maternas como en el de segundas lenguas. Cooper (1999) examinó cómo los hablantes de inglés como segunda lengua, usando el procedimiento Pensar en Voz Alta (PVA), describen el significado de locuciones presentadas por escrito. Él identificó que un modelo heurístico de procesamiento se conforma por numerosas estrategias con las cuales estos hablantes intentan encontrar y dar respuestas acertadas acerca del significado idiomático. El PVA se usó en este estudio, realizado en Suecia, para comparar las respuestas de aprendientes de español como segunda lengua y hablantes nativos, enfocando locuciones verbales de uso común en esa lengua. El propósito fue analizar las interpretaciones y comprensión de significado no literal o figurado de las secuencias convencionales presentadas. Los resultados muestran que para los hablantes de español como segunda lengua las locuciones eran poco familiares, pero acertaron en el 41% de sus intentos al describir significados coincidentes con el sentido figurado, y en 76% con asociaciones parciales de significado. Las respuestas de estos hablantes variaron notoriamente: entre aproximación al significado convencional proporcionaron imágenes inusuales y algunos significados literales como parte del figurado, confirmando un abordaje heurístico o indagatorio y cierta aproximación híbrida al conocimiento idiomático en la L2. Sin embargo, fue relativamente más fácil para estos participantes formular definiciones léxicas. El abordaje de los hablantes nativos fue en cambio más holístico o integrador, con la descripción completa de significados del sentido figurado en 85% de casos, y en 98% con asociación de información relacionada, lo que confirma que algunas expresiones pueden ser conocidas de distinta forma en regiones diferentes. En algunos casos hubo ciertas dificultades para exponer información explícita sobre términos concretos en este grupo de hablantes nativos. / Idioms are frequently used in any language and thereby it is important to investigate how these linguistic resources are understood, acquired and mastered. More studies need to be conducted, specially in the learning of a second language. Cooper (1999) examined the processing of idioms in English by L2 learners using the Think-aloud procedure (TAP). He found that a heuristic model consists of the numerous strategies used by these speakers to find the meaning of written idioms by exploring and try to find the meaning which is less familiar to them, compared to the native speakers knowledge and holistic or integrated approach. In the currrent work, realized in Sweden, the TAP was applied to compare the responses given by learners of Spanish as a second language and native speakers about common verbal idioms. The aim is to analyze the interpretation and comprehension of non-literal or figurative meaning of these expressions. As the result indicates, the Spanish idioms were less familiar to the L2 learners, but their figurative meaning was understood in 41% of the times, and including partial associations in 76% of the attempts using the TAP. The descriptions of these L2 Spanish speakers’ group varied notoriously: amid match and partial coincidences with figurative meaning, unusual images were referred and the literal meaning was presented in a few cases as part of the figurative. The heuristic and a kind of hybrid approach to the idiomatic meaning in the oral and semantic elaborations and interpretative strategies were confirmed. However, it was relatively easier to the L2 speakers to propose lexical definitions. With a more holistic processing and descriptions of meaning, the native speakers accessed the non-literal idioms’ meaning with a complete description in 85% of the cases, and including linked information in 98%, which confirmed that regional idioms could be particularly unknown. Some difficulties to give explicit information about concrete terms by members of the group of native speakers were identified.