Metaphor and metonymy in Cantonese and English body-part idioms: A comparative, cognitive semantic study, with pedagogic applications

Idioms, which are a type of phraseological unit and are largely figurative in nature, are pervasive and ubiquitous in human language. A significant part of L1 everyday linguistic repertoire is formed by idioms and idiom-like constructions. In fact, the level of command of idioms serves as an important indicator of L2 proficiency. In other words, fluent and native-like language, a concern particularly for many advanced L2 learners, entails a good mastery of idioms.;Although it is generally accepted that L2 learners of English need to gain a good grasp of idioms, the teaching and learning of idioms in L2 is no easy task. One of the reasons is that idioms are enormous in number. The Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary (2002) lists over 6,000 idioms which are of contemporary, everyday, use. Another reason is that a considerable number of idioms are figurative in nature---that is, their overall meaning cannot be obtained by simply adding up the literal meanings of the components involved. Added and related to these factors is the fact that the traditional vocabulary listing method adopted in most ESL/EFL textbooks presents each idiom entry and its meaning in such a way that the choice of each single word in the idiom seems random, and the overall figurative meaning deriving from the combination of the constituent words appears inexplicable. Taken together, these factors make idioms one of the most difficult aspects of L2 teaching and learning.;In the light of the above problems, the present study, founded on Cognitive Linguistics (CL), aims to shed light on a more effective and manageable teaching and learning of L2 idioms by examining the CL theoretical assumptions compatible with L2 pedagogy. The CL feature which possesses the greatest potential for complementing language pedagogy is the notion of 'motivation.' In other words, the author explores, on the one hand, the potential of CL notions such as metaphor and metonymy for providing motivation for L2 idiom pedagogy, and, on the other, the potential of the above notions for comparing L1 and L2 idioms both linguistically and conceptually. Such a linguistic and conceptual comparative analysis of L1 and L2 idioms enables us to anticipate the possible difficulties encountered by L2 learners in learning idioms.;There are three methodologically independent but theoretically coherent research components in the present study. Study One is the elicitation of the body-part idioms in English (L2) and Cantonese (L1). Nine body parts are involved: head, eye/eyes, face, mouth, hand/hands, heart, foot/feet, body and bones. There is an examination of the underlying cognitive motivation (i.e. pure metaphor, pure metonymy, metaphor and metonymy) of each of the elicited idioms in both languages. Study Two is the think-aloud experiment which aims at eliciting from a group of Cantonese advanced L2 learners of English the mental images they produce in response to the English body-part idioms. These mental images should provide insight into the conceptual and linguistic similarities and differences between idioms in the two languages. Study Three is the experimental study. This aims at testing empirically the pedagogical soundness of teaching English idioms using conceptual metaphor and metonymy as well as an English-Cantonese idiom comparison. A total number of 106 Cantonese advanced L2 learners of English majoring in English were invited to participate in the experiment. They were divided into three groups, each of which was treated with a particular L2 idiom learning method. Experimental results show that students receiving the method involving conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and a cross-linguistic comparison (i.e. the '3Cs' method) outperformed students in the other two groups, thus implying the pedagogical soundness of the 3Cs method in enhancing L2 idiom teaching and learning.