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Positive and negative effects of mother tongue knowledge on the interpretations of figurative expressions

Research Project

Project/Area Number 18520469
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Foreign language education
Research InstitutionKobe Design University

Principal Investigator

AZUMA Masumi  Kobe Design University, Professor (-2006) ; Emeritus Professor (2007-) (80212504)

Project Period (FY) 2006 – 2007
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2007)
Budget Amount *help
¥3,650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥3,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000)
Keywordsfigurative expressions / metaphors / idioms / schemas / cognition / image schemas / semantic fields / the expansions of meanings / language and culture / vocabulary / vocabulary knowledge
Research Abstract

This research investigates the effects of knowledge originated in or generated from the mother tongue on the understanding of figurative expressions. A test, Metaphor Cognition Test, was designed to obtain quantitative data and administered on Japanese EFL students and native English speakers to investigate the aspects of figurative interpretations and the differences in interpretations by different mother tongue users. The test consisted of a descriptive type test (40 items) and a multiple choice type test (19 items), and the items were featured with the expressions having shared concepts/wordings and the, expressions originated in English and Japanese. To collect qualitative information, interviews with a number of participants took place.
The assumption was that the interpreters would activate their cognitive processes, for example, resorting to the knowledge of their mother tongue, utilizing schemas, and/or logical thinking as interpretation strategies; however, these cognitive proc … More esses might have ambivalent (positive and negative) effects on certain test items of the Metaphor Cognition Test.
The quantitative and qualitative investigation indicates that the positive effects of mother tongue knowledge are found on the majority of the items having shared concepts/wordings between Japanese and English while ambivalent effects are found on the items of the same/similar wordings with different concepts/meanings between the languages. A unique phenomenon in the latter is that there is a blurred area, where a branching-off occurs, especially in a non-native language. The branching-off leads to a correct or incorrect interpretation. If it is true to the original meaning (usually as an idiom or a proverb), it creates no/few problems, however, if it takes a branching-off not commonly used in the original language, though figurative, logical thinking is appropriate, it is problematic or a failure in that language. Here specific cultural elements involve greatly. We should be cautious about these phenomena in our language teaching. Less

Report

(3 results)
  • 2007 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 2006 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (14 results)

All 2007 Other

All Presentation (13 results) Remarks (1 results)

  • [Presentation] 英語にナマ直訳した日本語の比喩は英語のネイティブスピーカーに通じるか2007

    • Author(s)
      東 眞須美
    • Organizer
      日本時事英語学会
    • Place of Presentation
      国際基督教大学
    • Year and Date
      2007-10-07
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Annual Research Report 2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] How did English native speakers interpret raw(literally translated) Japanese figurative expressions?(presented in Japanese)2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Japan Association of Current English Studies
    • Place of Presentation
      International Christian University, Tokyo
    • Year and Date
      2007-10-07
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] Benefits and risks of the effects of mother tongue knowledge on understanding figurative expressions2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      British Association of Applied Linguistics
    • Place of Presentation
      University of Edinburgh,UK
    • Year and Date
      2007-09-08
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Annual Research Report 2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] Benefits and risks of the effects of mother tongue knowledge on understanding figurative expressions2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      British Association of Applied Linguistics
    • Place of Presentation
      University of Edinburgh, U.K.
    • Year and Date
      2007-09-08
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] How does knowledge of the mother tongue effect the interpretation of figurative expressions-culture,schemas and figurative expressions-2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      UK Cognitive Linguistics Association
    • Place of Presentation
      Cardiff University,UK
    • Year and Date
      2007-08-30
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] How does knowledge of the mother tongue affect the interpretation of figurative expressions?-culture, schemas and figurative expressions-2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      UK Cognitive Linguistics Association
    • Place of Presentation
      Cardiff University, U.K.
    • Year and Date
      2007-08-30
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] How does knowledge of the mother tongue affect the interpretation of figurative expressions?-culture,schemas and figurative expressions2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      UK Cognitive Linguistics Association
    • Place of Presentation
      Cardiff Uiversity,UK
    • Year and Date
      2007-08-30
    • Related Report
      2007 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] How does knowledge of the mother tongue effect the interpretation of figurative expressions?2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Applied Linguistics Association of Australia
    • Place of Presentation
      University of Wollongong,Australia
    • Year and Date
      2007-07-03
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] How does knowledge of the mother tongue affect the interpretation of figurative expressions?2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Applied Linguistics Association of Australia
    • Place of Presentation
      University of Wollongong, Australia
    • Year and Date
      2007-07-03
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] How does knowledge of the mother tongue affect the interpretation of figurative expressions2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Applied Linguistics Association of Australia
    • Place of Presentation
      University of Wollongong,Australia
    • Year and Date
      2007-07-03
    • Related Report
      2007 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] Establishing the standards of metaphorical competence in EFL situations2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Asia EFL
    • Place of Presentation
      韓国Korea University
    • Year and Date
      2007-05-26
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] Establishing the standards of metaphorical competence in EFL situations2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Asia EFL
    • Place of Presentation
      Korea University. Korea
    • Year and Date
      2007-05-26
    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Presentation] Establishin the standards of metaphorical competence in EFL situations2007

    • Author(s)
      Masumi Azuma
    • Organizer
      Asia EFL
    • Place of Presentation
      韓国Korea University
    • Year and Date
      2007-05-26
    • Related Report
      2007 Annual Research Report
  • [Remarks] 「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より

    • URL

      http://www.cnglishaustralia.com.au/ca_conference2006

    • Related Report
      2007 Final Research Report Summary

URL: 

Published: 2006-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

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