DOMAIN AND CONVENTIONALITY MATTER IN PREDICATE METAPHOR PROCESSING: A STUDY ON TURKISH PRESCHOOLERS

Date

2023-8-7

Author

Erdoğdu, Rümeysa

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There is no consensus on how predicate metaphors are processed in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study that focuses on predicate metaphor processing in children considering linguistic and developmental factors. To address this gap, this study aims to assess preschoolers’ processing of predicate metaphors with varying levels of conventionality and metaphorical domains. Turkish-speaking children between the ages of 4 and 5 (N=29, Mage= 4,7) participated in our study testing spatial motion metaphors in a predicate form through a gesture-based act-out task followed by a verbal assessment. We manipulated conventionality (familiar, unfamiliar, novel) and metaphorical domain (time, idea, body). Children's responses were categorized as metaphorical, literal, or no response in both tasks. Language scores were also assessed. Children’s responses were compared through mixed-effects multinomial logistic regression. The results yielded significant domain-level differences that is, concrete metaphorical domains triggered the literal meaning of the vehicle that implies indirect processing, while abstract domains led to a more direct metaphorical interpretation. Moreover, the results supported that conventionality levels influence the processing of metaphors. Receptive language and age revealed that children avoided giving no response as their age and language abilities increased. To our knowledge, no studies showed that the metaphorical domain influences participants’ reliance on the literal meaning of the vehicle in predicate metaphors. Therefore, we suggest that there may not be a single and unified processing mechanism for all metaphors, but the domain of the metaphor as well as its conventionality determines how it will be accessed.

Subject Keywords

Metaphors, Cognitive Linguistics, Figurative Language, Direct Processing, Indirect Processing

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/104821

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis