LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:8 August 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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An Investigation into Open-class versus Close-class Metaphorical
Expression in Persian English Language Learners’
Argumentative Writings

Maryam Jafari, M.A. Student in TEFL
Vahid Mirzaeean, Ph.D.

Abstract

Metaphor is an indispensable part of our cognition and language. The dominance of metaphorical concept in conventional language of people is the main reason of ever increasing attention to metaphor on behalf of second language researchers, and researchers from other disciplines as well. All of these researchers unanimously agree upon the fact that reaching to conceptual fluency in second language is crucial in attaining native-like competency. But as it became clear form reviewing the literature, few empirical studies have been done for analyzing the uses of linguistic metaphor in a corpus of English language learner-written materials.

The present study, by taking an applied linguistics view to the study of metaphor, makes a representative, naturally-occurring empirical corpus from the argumentative essays written by Persian English language learners to analyze metaphor. Therefore the overall aim of this study was to identify and describe Persian English language learners’ use of metaphorical language in their writing. For a deeper look into the identified metaphor, the cases of close-class metaphorical items which include dead or sleeping metaphors (Muller 2008) and also open-class metaphorical items which are creative or novel are identified in this data. This calculation revealed the qualitative changes in the type of metaphor that learners use across the levels.

The results indicate that the proportion of open-class metaphorical use did not increase across levels as compared with the close-class ones. Generally, no case of open-class metaphors is found until the C1 level and its use does not overtake the use of close-class ones. It means that as the learners move through the higher levels of English proficiency their ability to use new concepts for expressing their ideas in appropriate English did not increase as well, hence this deficiency is an obstacle for providing a basis for developing competency to accurately use metaphor in the target language.

Key terms: Figurative Language, Metaphor, Linguistic metaphor, Conceptual metaphor, Open-class metaphor, Close-class metaphor, Corpus linguistics, Learner corpora

Introduction

In spite of the abundance of research about how learners acquire second language metaphors by researchers like Cook 1993 and Ellis 1994, the area of research in metaphor and idiom are still in infancy level. Although the proliferation of study about metaphor was noticed in the past, the application of metaphor to English language learning, pedagogical practice and the design of teaching materials is not widespread (Kellerman 2001). However, because of the prevalence of metaphorical language use in everyday language, reaching mastery level in appropriate use of the forms and functions of such conventional repertoire would be an essential part of knowing a language. This has been acknowledged as one of the main challenges faced by second language learners. Reaching to this level of competency requires the construction of reasonable meanings for semantic anomalies which exist in utterances, perception of the boundaries of a conventional metaphor, its extension and also the recognition of the intentions of the speaker.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Maryam Jafari, M.A. Student in TEFL
Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch
Arak, Iran
Fatemeh_jafari110@yahoo.com

Vahid Mirzaeean, Ph.D.
Department of English
University of Science and Research, Markazi Branch
mirzaeian224@yahoo.com

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