Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker

Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna, Conklin, Kathy and Schmitt, Norbert (2011) Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker. Second Language Research, 27 (2). pp. 251-272. ISSN 0267-6583

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Abstract

Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively (at the end of the day – ‘eventually’), literally (at the end of the day – ‘in the evening’), and novel phrases (at the end of the war). Native speaker results indicate a processing advantage for idioms over novel phrases, as evidenced by fewer and shorter fixations. Further, no processing advantage is found for figurative idiom uses over literal ones in a full idiom analysis or in a recognition point analysis. Contrary to native speaker results, non-native findings suggest that L2 speakers process idioms at a similar speed to novel phrases. Further, figurative uses are processed more slowly than literal ones. Importantly, the recognition point analysis allows us to establish where non-natives slow down when processing the figurative meaning.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1010127
Keywords: language comprehension, figurative and literal language, mental lexicon, disambiguating context, recognition point
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Arts > School of English
Identification Number: 10.1177/0267658310382068
Depositing User: Conklin, Dr. Kathy
Date Deposited: 26 May 2015 07:38
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 20:23
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/28901

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