Acquiring Metaphorical Expressions in a Second Language: Performance by Chinese Learners of English
Ebook
Overview
Conventional metaphorical expressions are widely used by native speakers in everyday language and have received extensive attention in theoretical semantics and cognitive linguistics. However, how a second language learner can acquire those expressions is left largely unknown. Researchers and language learners face the question: if one has acquired the literal meaning of a word, can they automatically derive the metaphorical meaning?
This book provides the answer by placing the question of acquisition of metaphorical expressions in the framework of bilingual lexicon. Assessing whether metaphorical expressions are taken for granted by second language learners, it explores how the metaphorical meaning(s) of a word should be connected in a learner’s mental lexicon, and how the cross-linguistic availability of a metaphorical expression could affect the outcome of acquisition of that expression. The book also provides a detailed comparison between metaphorical expressions and other figurative language from both the theoretical and experimental perspectives.
Provides a detailed and state-of-the-art analysis of second language learners’ performance when they acquire metaphorical expressions, with reference to a series of experiments on Chinese learners of English.
Among the first books to discuss the acquisition of different types of word meanings
A book that discuss the framework of a bilingual lexicon beyond the literal meanings of words.
Supported by empirical research and can be used as an experimental paradigm
1. Introduction
2. Metaphorical expressions: a historical view
3. Metaphorical expressions under the cross-linguistic influence
4. Placing metaphorical expressions in a bilingual mental lexicon
5. Processing metaphorical expressions by native speakers and learners
6. Methodologies in second language metaphor research
7. An empirical study of the acquisition of metaphorical expressions
8. Teaching and learning metaphorical expressions in a second language
Bibliography
Index
A much needed addition to the scarce literature of metaphorical expression acquisition and use by second language (L2) learners ... an invaluable resource for young researchers who may not be acquainted with know-how of empirical research and the area of metaphorical expression acquisition and processing, for academics who wish to expand their interests in metaphor research, and certainly for second language teachers who can now have a better understanding of the challenges learners may face while acquiring metaphorical expressions in an L2 and suggestions of how they can overcome them.
This book constitutes a very important contribution to the literature on metaphoric competence and the acquisition of metaphorical language by second language learners. It has a very strong up-to-date theoretical and empirical grounding as well as findings from the author’s own research. A must-read for metaphor scholars!
This book provides a thoughtful presentation of how second language (L2) learners acquire and process metaphoric expressions. It is a one-of-a-kind book grounded in state-of-the-art theoretical and methodological approaches. This is the first book that critically examines the acquisition of metaphoric competence by L2 learners and bilinguals.
- Title: Acquiring Metaphorical Expressions in a Second Language: Performance by Chinese Learners of English
- Author: Chris Mengying Xia
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2019
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 232
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350071810, 9781350244498, 135024449X, 1350071811
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350071810
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T10:28:54Z
Chris Mengying Xia is a Researcher in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, UK.