Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker
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 en...
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| Format: | Article |
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SAGE Publications
2011
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28901/ |
| _version_ | 1848793670135840768 |
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| author | Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna Conklin, Kathy Schmitt, Norbert |
| author_facet | Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna Conklin, Kathy Schmitt, Norbert |
| author_sort | Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:03:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-28901 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:03:59Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | SAGE Publications |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-289012020-05-04T20:23:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28901/ Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna Conklin, Kathy Schmitt, Norbert 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. SAGE Publications 2011-04 Article PeerReviewed 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 language comprehension figurative and literal language mental lexicon disambiguating context recognition point http://slr.sagepub.com/content/27/2/251 doi:10.1177/0267658310382068 doi:10.1177/0267658310382068 |
| spellingShingle | language comprehension figurative and literal language mental lexicon disambiguating context recognition point Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna Conklin, Kathy Schmitt, Norbert Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| title | Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| title_full | Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| title_fullStr | Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| title_short | Adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| title_sort | adding more fuel to the fire: an eye-tracking study of idiom processing by native and non-native speaker |
| topic | language comprehension figurative and literal language mental lexicon disambiguating context recognition point |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28901/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28901/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28901/ |