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Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading

In a self-paced reading study, we investigated how effects of biasing contexts in idiom processing interact with effects of idiom literality. Specifically, we tested if idioms with a high potential for literal interpretation (e.g., break the ice) are processed differently in figuratively and literal...

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Autores principales: Beck, Sara D., Weber, Andrea
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7572348/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32666211
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09719-2
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author Beck, Sara D.
Weber, Andrea
author_facet Beck, Sara D.
Weber, Andrea
author_sort Beck, Sara D.
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description In a self-paced reading study, we investigated how effects of biasing contexts in idiom processing interact with effects of idiom literality. Specifically, we tested if idioms with a high potential for literal interpretation (e.g., break the ice) are processed differently in figuratively and literally biasing contexts than idioms with a low potential (e.g., lose one’s cool). Participants read sentences that biased towards a figurative or literal reading of idioms and continued with resolutions that were congruent or incongruent with these biases (e.g., [The new schoolboy/the chilly Eskimo] just wanted to break the ice [with his peers/on the lake]…). While interpretations of high-literality idioms were strengthened by supporting contexts and showed costs for incongruent resolutions, low-literality idioms did not show this effect. Rather, interpreting low-literality idioms in a literal manner showed a cost regardless of context. We conclude that biasing contexts are used in a flexible process of real-time idiom processing and meaning constitution, but this effect is mediated by idiom literality.
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spelling pubmed-75723482020-10-21 Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading Beck, Sara D. Weber, Andrea J Psycholinguist Res Article In a self-paced reading study, we investigated how effects of biasing contexts in idiom processing interact with effects of idiom literality. Specifically, we tested if idioms with a high potential for literal interpretation (e.g., break the ice) are processed differently in figuratively and literally biasing contexts than idioms with a low potential (e.g., lose one’s cool). Participants read sentences that biased towards a figurative or literal reading of idioms and continued with resolutions that were congruent or incongruent with these biases (e.g., [The new schoolboy/the chilly Eskimo] just wanted to break the ice [with his peers/on the lake]…). While interpretations of high-literality idioms were strengthened by supporting contexts and showed costs for incongruent resolutions, low-literality idioms did not show this effect. Rather, interpreting low-literality idioms in a literal manner showed a cost regardless of context. We conclude that biasing contexts are used in a flexible process of real-time idiom processing and meaning constitution, but this effect is mediated by idiom literality. Springer US 2020-07-14 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7572348/ /pubmed/32666211 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09719-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Beck, Sara D.
Weber, Andrea
Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading
title Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading
title_full Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading
title_fullStr Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading
title_full_unstemmed Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading
title_short Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading
title_sort context and literality in idiom processing: evidence from self-paced reading
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7572348/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32666211
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09719-2
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