LINGUIST List 11.1253

Sun Jun 4 2000

Qs: Loanwords/Metaphors, References/L2 Acquisition

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. petek kurtboke, Loanwords and metaphors
2. jstevens, References: L2 proficiency level and rate of SLA?

1) In a recent study of Italian loanwords in the Bank of English (*) we have 
come across an average culinary loan which has acquired metaphorical uses:

'spaghetti straps'
'spaghetti junction'
'spaghetti westerns' (?)

This seems a rare phenomenon however. Is anyone aware of research on 
loanwords in relation to metaphor? Can anyone think of loans in their 
language/s with metaphorical uses?

2) Has there been research on the Italian verb PIACERE?

pkurtbokehotmail.com

(*) Petek Kurtboke and Liz Potter 2000 Cooccurrence Tendencies of Loanwords 
in Corpora. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 5:1 
(http://www.benjamins.nl/jbp/index.html)

Dear Colleagues:

I'm looking for references that address the issue of how L2 learners' 
profiency level may relate to their rate of progress in the L2, especially
with respect to differences between the acquistion of grammar and
pronunciation. 

Any orientation in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

John J. Stevens
University of Southern California
jstevensscf.usc.edu