EFL Learners’ Anger Metaphor Production and Influence of the Native Language and Culture: Cognitive Linguistic Study
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Date
2021
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi –Ouzou
Abstract
The present study is concerned with the impact of EFL learners’ mother tongue and culture (Kabyle) on the cognitive process involved in the production of English anger metaphors. This research aims at investigating Kabyle language and culture’s interference in the production of both ANGER IS FIRE and ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER metaphors. Three theories have been used in the present study: The Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the Cross-cultural Cognitive Theory, and Contrastive Analysis. In this research, the latter has focused on three parameters suggested by Barcelona (2001): conventionality, specificity, and elaboration. Adding to this, similarity within universality is another parameter that has been used in (CA). In this piece of work, the study of metaphor production has also relied on four parameters proposed by Kövesces (2010): the immediate cultural context, what we know about major entities participating in the discourse, the physical setting, and the social setting. Language interference is a serious problem that any second or foreign language learner may suffer from. Thus, it is worth to explore Kabyle language and culture’s influence in the production of some English anger metaphors. In this work, a questionnaire has been used as a data collection tool. It has been distributed to first and second year master students enrolled in the program “Language and Communication‟ at the Department of English in Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi-Ouzou. The results obtained have been analysed using two data analysis tools. The first one is Contrastive Analysis. It involved a comparison of two corpora: Kabyle and English anger metaphors. The differences between the two languages may be an important factor that helps checking the influence of the native language and culture in the production of anger metaphors Lado (1957: Preface). The second one is The Corpus of Contemporary American English. It requires the use of Metaphor Identification Procedure to facilitate and better analyse the data. As a result, the analysis of the EFL students’ metaphor productions has revealed that Kabyle language and culture interfere most in learners’ productions of ANGER IS FIRE metaphor. In addition, it has been discovered that a significant number of students’ metaphor productions including ANGER IS FIRE and ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER has shown creativity. Adding to this, it has been observed that the cultural context influences students’ production of creative metaphors.
Description
65p. ; 30cm. (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Kabyle learners of English, interference, anger metaphors’ production, Contrastive Analysis, creativity
Citation
Language and Communication