Feng Yin, Zhou Rong
School of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Center for Language Cognition and Assessment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2021 Nov 3;12:759175. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.759175. eCollection 2021.
Distinct from nominal metaphors, predicate metaphors entail metaphorical abstraction from concrete verbs, which generally involve more action and stronger motor simulation than nouns. It remains unclear whether and how the concrete, embodied aspects of verbs are connected with abstract, disembodied thinking in the brains of L2 learners. Since English predicate metaphors are unfamiliar to Chinese L2 learners, the study of embodiment effect on English predicate metaphor processing may provide new evidence for embodied cognition and categorization models that remain controversial, and offer practical insights into L2 metaphor processing and pedagogy. Hence, we aim to investigate whether the embodiment of verbs, via the activation of sensorimotor information, influences two groups of L2 learners during their comprehension of conventional and novel predicate metaphors. The results show a significant effect of embodiment: a stronger facilitation for novel predicate metaphors in both higher-level and lower-level groups, and a weaker facilitation for conventional predicate metaphors in the lower-level group. The findings demonstrate preliminary evidence for a graded effect of embodiment on predicate metaphors processing, modulated by L2 proficiency and metaphor novelty. The study supports a hybrid view of embodied cognition and reveals that sensorimotor aspects of verbs may be the intermediate entity involved in the indirect categorization.
与名词隐喻不同，谓语隐喻需要从具体动词中进行隐喻抽象，动词通常比名词涉及更多的动作和更强的运动模拟。目前尚不清楚动词的具体、具身方面是否以及如何与二语学习者大脑中的抽象、非具身思维相联系。由于中国二语学习者对英语谓语隐喻并不熟悉，研究具身效应在英语谓语隐喻加工中的作用，可能为仍存在争议的具身认知和分类模型提供新证据，并为二语隐喻加工及教学提供实用见解。因此，我们旨在研究动词的具身化，即通过激活感觉运动信息，在两组二语学习者理解常规和新颖谓语隐喻的过程中是否会产生影响。结果显示具身效应显著：在高水平组和低水平组中，新颖谓语隐喻都有更强的促进作用，而在低水平组中，常规谓语隐喻的促进作用较弱。研究结果为具身化对谓语隐喻加工的分级效应提供了初步证据，该效应受二语水平和隐喻新颖性的调节。该研究支持具身认知的混合观点，并揭示动词的感觉运动方面可能是间接分类中涉及的中间实体。
