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Lada A, Paquier P, Dosi I, Manouilidou C, Sprenger S, Keulen S. Four hundred Greek idiomatic expressions: Ratings for subjective frequency, ambiguity, and decomposability. Behav Res Methods 2024:10.3758/s13428-024-02450-z. [PMID: 39160444 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-024-02450-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 08/21/2024]
Abstract
Idioms differ from other forms of figurative language because of their dimensions of subjective frequency, ambiguity (possibility of having a literal interpretation), and decomposability (possibility of the idiom's words to assist in its figurative interpretation). This study focuses on the Greek language and aims at providing the first corpus of 400 Greek idioms rated for their dimensions by 113 native Greek students, aged 19 to 39 years. The study aimed at (1) rating all idioms for their degree of subjective frequency, ambiguity, and decomposability, and (2) investigating the relationships between these dimensions. Three different assessments were conducted, during which the participants were asked to evaluate the degree of idioms' subjective frequency, ambiguity, and decomposability. The idioms were selected from a dictionary of Greek idioms titled "Dictionary of Idioms in Modern Greek" (Vlaxopoulos, 2007). This study resulted in the first database of Greek idioms assessed for their dimensions. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) (two-way mixed, absolute agreement) demonstrated high internal consistency in the ratings given for each dimension, for the same idiom, by the different individual raters. Correlational analyses showed that subjective frequency was positively moderately correlated with decomposability, and positively weakly correlated with ambiguity, while decomposability was positively moderately correlated with ambiguity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastasia Lada
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Philippe Paquier
- Faculté de Psychologie, Sciences de l'Education et Logopédie, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
- Department of Translational Neurosciences (TNW), Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Ifigenia Dosi
- Department of Greek Philosophy, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece
| | - Christina Manouilidou
- Department of Comparative and General Linguistics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Simone Sprenger
- Center for language and cognition, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Stefanie Keulen
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
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Carrol G. Old Dogs and New Tricks: Assessing Idiom Knowledge Amongst Native Speakers of Different Ages. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2023; 52:2287-2302. [PMID: 37530926 PMCID: PMC10703978 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-023-09996-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/09/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
Idioms, along with other formulaic multiword phrases, represent a substantial part of vocabulary knowledge. This study investigates how idiom knowledge develops through the adult lifespan, comparing familiarity and transparency ratings for a large set of common English idioms. A total of 237 participants, ranging from 18 to 77 years old, collectively rated 200 idioms. They also completed a short single-word vocabulary test and provided information about their educational background. Results showed a clear increase in idiom and single-word knowledge throughout the lifespan. For idioms, this represented a jump from the youngest age-group, then a steady increase from the age of around 25 onward. Single word vocabulary knowledge increased more evenly as a function of age. Perceptions of transparency were not affected in the same way. I discuss what these results suggest about the development of vocabulary through the lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gareth Carrol
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
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Arnon T, Lavidor M. Cognitive control in processing ambiguous idioms: evidence from a self-paced reading study. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2023; 52:261-281. [PMID: 35316445 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-022-09861-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Idioms entail a competition between bottom-up and top-down activations of literal and figurative meanings. The present study explored the involvement of cognitive control in processing Hebrew ambiguous idioms. Fifty subjects have completed a self-paced reading task and a response inhibition, stop-signal task (SST). Subjects read 26 matched pairs of almost-identical sentences, which included ambiguous idioms (e.g., "break the ice"). The ambiguity was resolved only in the third part of the sentence, which was either literal ("on the parking lot") or figurative ("with funny stories"). Figurative disambiguation parts were read significantly faster than literal ones. The means of the absolute RT difference between the literal and figurative sentences significantly correlated with the SST cognitive control measure. A comparison between three groups of cognitive control levels validated that "Good inhibitors" in the SST were also faster in processing ambiguities. The paper discusses the generality of cognitive control in linguistic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamar Arnon
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Centerr, Bar-Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel.
| | - Michal Lavidor
- Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
- The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Centerr, Bar-Ilan University, 5290002, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Koller S, Müller N, Kauschke C. The Elephant in the Room: A Systematic Review of Stimulus Control in Neuro-Measurement Studies on Figurative Language Processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 15:791374. [PMID: 35126074 PMCID: PMC8814624 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.791374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The processing of metaphors and idioms has been the subject of neuroscientific research for several decades. However, results are often contradictory, which can be traced back to inconsistent terminology and stimulus control. In this systematic review of research methods, we analyse linguistic aspects of 116 research papers which used EEG, fMRI, PET, MEG, or NIRS to investigate the neural processing of the two figurative subtypes metaphor and idiom. We critically examine the theoretical foundations as well as stimulus control by performing a systematic literature synthesis according to the PRISMA guidelines. We explicitly do not analyse the findings of the studies but instead focus on four primary aspects: definitions of figurative language and its subtypes, linguistic theory behind the studies, control for factors influencing figurative language processing, and the relationship between theoretical and operational definitions. We found both a lack and a broad variety in existing definitions and operationalisation, especially in regard to familiarity and conventionality. We identify severe obstacles in the comparability and validation potential of the results of the papers in our review corpus. We propose the development of a consensus in fundamental terminology and more transparency in the reporting of stimulus design in the research on figurative language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nadine Müller
- Department of German Studies and Arts, Institute of German Linguistics, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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Girard P, Le Maner-Idrissi G, Dardier V, Seveno T, Levenez C, Le Sourn-Bissaoui S. Compréhension du langage figuré par les enfants et adolescents avec un trouble du spectre de l’autisme : étude longitudinale des processus inférentiels. ANNALES MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGIQUES 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.amp.2021.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Gavilán JM, Haro J, Hinojosa JA, Fraga I, Ferré P. Psycholinguistic and affective norms for 1,252 Spanish idiomatic expressions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254484. [PMID: 34270572 PMCID: PMC8284670 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
This study provides psycholinguistic and affective norms for 1,252 Spanish idiomatic expressions. A total of 965 Spanish native speakers rated the idioms in 7 subjective variables: familiarity, knowledge of the expression, decomposability, literality, predictability, valence and arousal. Correlational analyses showed that familiarity has a strong positive correlation with knowledge, suggesting that the knowledge of the figurative meaning of an idiom is highly related to its frequency of use. Familiarity has a moderate positive correlation with final word predictability, indicating that the more familiar an idiom is rated, the more predictable it tends to be. Decomposability shows a moderate positive correlation with literality, suggesting that those idioms whose figurative meaning is easier to deduce from their constituents tend to have a plausible literal meaning. In affective terms, Spanish idioms tend to convey more negative (66%) than positive meanings (33%). Furthermore, valence and arousal show a quadratic relationship, in line with the typical U-shaped relationship found for single words, which means that the more emotionally valenced an idiom is rated, the more arousing it is considered to be. This database will provide researchers with a large pool of stimuli for studying the representation and processing of idioms in healthy and clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- José M. Gavilán
- Department of Psychology, Research Center for Behavior Assessment (CRAMC), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Juan Haro
- Department of Psychology, Research Center for Behavior Assessment (CRAMC), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - José Antonio Hinojosa
- Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Ciencia Cognitiva—C3, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
| | - Isabel Fraga
- Department of Social Psychology, Basic Psychology and Methodology, Cognitive Processes & Behavior Research Group, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Pilar Ferré
- Department of Psychology, Research Center for Behavior Assessment (CRAMC), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
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Hubers F, Cucchiarini C, Strik H, Dijkstra T. Normative Data of Dutch Idiomatic Expressions: Subjective Judgments You Can Bank on. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1075. [PMID: 31139119 PMCID: PMC6527779 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The processing of idiomatic expressions is a topical issue in empirical research. Various factors have been found to influence idiom processing, such as idiom familiarity and idiom transparency. Information on these variables is usually obtained through norming studies. Studies investigating the effect of various properties on idiom processing have led to ambiguous results. This may be due to the variability of operationalizations of the idiom properties across norming studies, which in turn may affect the reliability of the subjective judgements. However, not all studies that collected normative data on idiomatic expressions investigated their reliability, and studies that did address the reliability of subjective ratings used various measures and produced mixed results. In this study, we investigated the reliability of subjective judgements, the relation between subjective and objective idiom frequency, and the impact of these dimensions on the participants' idiom knowledge by collecting normative data of five subjective idiom properties (Frequency of Exposure, Meaning Familiarity, Frequency of Usage, Transparency, and Imageability) from 390 native speakers and objective corpus frequency for 374 Dutch idiomatic expressions. For reliability, we compared measures calculated in previous studies, with the D-coefficient, a metric taken from Generalizability Theory. High reliability was found for all subjective dimensions. One reliability metric, Krippendorff's alpha, generally produced lower values, while similar values were obtained for three other measures (Cronbach's alpha, Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, and the D-coefficient). Advantages of the D-coefficient are that it can be applied to unbalanced research designs, and to estimate the minimum number of raters required to obtain reliable ratings. Slightly higher coefficients were observed for so-called experience-based dimensions (Frequency of Exposure, Meaning Familiarity, and Frequency of Usage) than for content-based dimensions (Transparency and Imageability). In addition, fewer raters were required to obtain reliable ratings for the experience-based dimensions. Subjective and objective frequency appeared to be poorly correlated, while all subjective idiom properties and objective frequency turned out to affect idiom knowledge. Meaning Familiarity, Subjective and Objective Frequency of Exposure, Frequency of Usage, and Transparency positively contributed to idiom knowledge, while a negative effect was found for Imageability. We discuss these relationships in more detail, and give methodological recommendations with respect to the procedures and the measure to calculate reliability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferdy Hubers
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Centre for Language and Speech Technology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Catia Cucchiarini
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Centre for Language and Speech Technology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Helmer Strik
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Centre for Language and Speech Technology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ton Dijkstra
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Bonin P, Méot A, Boucheix JM, Bugaiska A. Psycholinguistic norms for 320 fixed expressions (idioms and proverbs) in French. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 71:1057-1069. [PMID: 28326893 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1310269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
We provide psycholinguistic norms for a new set of 160 French idiomatic expressions and 160 proverbs: knowledge, predictability, literality, compositionality, subjective and objective frequency, familiarity, age of acquisition (AoA) and length. Different analyses (reliability, descriptive statistics and correlations) performed on the norms are reported and discussed. The norms can be downloaded as Supplemental Material .
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bonin
- 1 LEAD-CNRS (UMR 5022), Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Alain Méot
- 2 LAPSCO, CNRS (UMR 6024), Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | | | - Aurélia Bugaiska
- 1 LEAD-CNRS (UMR 5022), Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
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