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A Holistic Approach To English Idioms For Non-native Speakers

Posted on:2006-09-04Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360212484561Subject:English Language and Literature
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Idioms belong to the vast family of fixed expressions including collocations, proverbs, cliches, speech formulas, and so forth that shares some degree of conventionalization of meaning yet at the same time differs in semantic as well as syntactic properties. A large part of our everyday linguistic repertoire is formed by these conventionalized ways of saying things. Nonetheless, the task of describing what an idiom is, and how it is processed and understood, is still a rather challenging and controversial one, particularly in second or foreign language acquisition. Idioms remain to be viewed by a good many language teachers as mere quirks of the language, used randomly or without much motivation. They have been relegated to the sidelines of language teaching. Students are usually left with memorizing idioms as chunks and using them in some gap-filling exercises without much context. With only a superficial knowledge of idioms, they find themselves at a distinct disadvantage in their readings, discussions, debates and communication with native speakers. How idioms are processed by non-native speakers is definitely a non-negligible area deserving keen observation and detailed investigation.This dissertation starts with a synchronic and diachronic delineation of distinctive properties of idioms, then proceeds on to a critical review of different approaches (formal, functional, and psycholinguistic) and models for processing idioms (the Lexical Processing Model, the Simultaneous Processing Model, the Configuration Model, The Decomposition Processing Model) and finally focuses on a conceptual structure-based approach from the perspective of holistic integration — a holistic approach to English idioms for non-native speakers.As opposed to atomism, holism is concerned with wholes rather than analysis or separation into parts and emphasizes the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its components. The holistic approach to English idioms motivated by this theory can be epitomized as follows.One of the hallmarks of this approach is the holistic integration of informationfrom background knowledge, the concepts underlying constituent word meanings and the assumptions and implications arising from them.Secondly, this approach aims at organizing parts into an organic, unified whole. To be more specific, holism-based idiom access involves integrating syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, cognitive and sociocultural factors into an organic, unified whole when an idiom is processed.Thirdly, as a dynamic approach, the holistic approach treats an idiom as a conceptual structure occurring as an on-line, real-time construction in an actual environment or in a particular text or context.By way of illustration, evidence is provided to fortify the arguments as presented in this dissertation.true to form: being or behaving as expected; in the usual, typical or characteristic way (dictionary explanation)True to form, John turned up late.True to form, when it came to his turn to buy the drinks, he said he 'd left hiswallet at home.Ture to form, Hurricane Wilma is projected to come ashore near Naples, Floridain just a few hours.True to form, Britain has promoted the interests of corporations, not of Africa, atthe G8 (the Group of the Eight Countries).(Melbourne Indymedia, July 2005)A structural analysis of the idiom shows that it is invariably positioned at the beginning and separated by a comma from the main framework of the sentence. A holistic examination of the idiom as it occurs in the particular context will reveal the inadequacy of the sole reliance on the syntactic analysis and make it necessary to improve the dictionary explanation. In the last case for instance, the idiom true to form in that particular context conveys an indirect reproach of the G8 agreement made for the benefit of rich countries. It hints at the G8's undesirable practice of requiring African countries to pursue the free trade policy and create more favorite business environment for western companies. This goal of free trade for poor countries is aauthentic discourse. It shows further how idiom compositionality combines with context as well as general world knowledge to constrain or motivate idiom variation and productivity.Chapter Five brings forth a holistic approach to English idioms for non-native speakers and recommends developing different types of competence and different strategies for holistic access to English idioms. This approach is intended to provide learners with constructive guidelines to make idiom comprehension and language learning more enjoyable and fruitful.Chapter Six is mainly concerned with pedagogical implications of the present study and suggestions for further exploration.
Keywords/Search Tags:a holistic approach, idiom comprehension, idiom decomposability, idiom flexibility
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