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.

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.

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.

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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Master of Science / Department 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.

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.

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.

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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