6. A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding
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Chongying Wang
Abstract
This chapter was an attempt to investigate the similarities and differences in the metaphoric understanding in Chinese and English children and adults. 115 and 123 participants took part in two experiments respectively. Participants’ interpretations were classified as perceptual, psychological, behavioural, functional, no-response, evaluative, descriptive, cross-sensory or associative, etc. Psychological and perceptual explanations were found to be the two main explanations people gave. Results showed that adults gave a larger number of psychological interpretations than children in the explanation task, but similar in multiple-choice task which indicated that there were fewer obvious differences between children and adults in the understanding of psychological interpretations than in their production; Chinese people gave more psychological interpretations than English in each age group; and English adults gave more perceptual interpretations than Chinese adults.
Abstract
This chapter was an attempt to investigate the similarities and differences in the metaphoric understanding in Chinese and English children and adults. 115 and 123 participants took part in two experiments respectively. Participants’ interpretations were classified as perceptual, psychological, behavioural, functional, no-response, evaluative, descriptive, cross-sensory or associative, etc. Psychological and perceptual explanations were found to be the two main explanations people gave. Results showed that adults gave a larger number of psychological interpretations than children in the explanation task, but similar in multiple-choice task which indicated that there were fewer obvious differences between children and adults in the understanding of psychological interpretations than in their production; Chinese people gave more psychological interpretations than English in each age group; and English adults gave more perceptual interpretations than Chinese adults.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction vii
- 1. The wonderful, chaotic, creative, heroic, challenging world of Researching and Applying Metaphor 1
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1. Metaphor and language learning
- 2. Can people be cold and warm? 21
- 3. Grasping the point 35
- 4. “Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests” 63
- 5. The gaps to be filled 81
- 6. A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding 105
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2. Capturing and analysing metaphors
- 7. Love, metaphor and responsibility 125
- 8. A critical look at the desktop metaphor 30 years on 145
- 9. Pragglejaz in practice 165
- 10. Mapping principles for conceptual metaphors 185
- 11. Systematicity in metaphor and the use of invariant mappings 209
- 12. Attitude, style and context 245
- 13. A genre approach to imagery in winespeak 265
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3. The function of metaphor in discourse
- 14. Wot no similes? 291
- 15. Metaphor marking and metaphor typological and functional ranges in business periodicals 309
- 16. Critical analysis of creative metaphors in political speeches 321
- 17. Metaphor in physical-and-speech action expressions 333
- 18. The evaluative properties of metaphors 357
- Index of names 375
- Index of terms 381
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction vii
- 1. The wonderful, chaotic, creative, heroic, challenging world of Researching and Applying Metaphor 1
-
1. Metaphor and language learning
- 2. Can people be cold and warm? 21
- 3. Grasping the point 35
- 4. “Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests” 63
- 5. The gaps to be filled 81
- 6. A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding 105
-
2. Capturing and analysing metaphors
- 7. Love, metaphor and responsibility 125
- 8. A critical look at the desktop metaphor 30 years on 145
- 9. Pragglejaz in practice 165
- 10. Mapping principles for conceptual metaphors 185
- 11. Systematicity in metaphor and the use of invariant mappings 209
- 12. Attitude, style and context 245
- 13. A genre approach to imagery in winespeak 265
-
3. The function of metaphor in discourse
- 14. Wot no similes? 291
- 15. Metaphor marking and metaphor typological and functional ranges in business periodicals 309
- 16. Critical analysis of creative metaphors in political speeches 321
- 17. Metaphor in physical-and-speech action expressions 333
- 18. The evaluative properties of metaphors 357
- Index of names 375
- Index of terms 381
