Comprehension of idiomatic expressions in Japanese - Auditory and visual presentations

Journal/Book: J Psycholinguist Res. 1996; 25: 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013. Plenum Publ Corp. 659-676.

Abstract: This study reports on the auditory and visual comprehension of Japanese idioms having both literal and figurative meanings. Experiment I conducted the rating of the semantic distance between the two meanings. Experiment II investigated the difference of comprehension between semantically far and close idioms. Here the materials are presented in isolation both auditorily and visually. Experiment III conducted the same investigation as Experiment II, except that idioms were presented embedded in literally and figuratively induced contexts. Experiment IV reinvestigated the findings obtained from the previous experiments. The results of these experiments show that in isolation visual presentation precedes auditory presentation, and that both in the auditory and visual presentations semantically far idioms are comprehended more accurately than semantically close idioms.

Note: Article I Miura, Fushimi Ku, Fujinomoricho 1, Kyoto 612, Japan

Keyword(s): METAPHOR; CHILDREN; CONTEXT; MEMORY; SENTENCES

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