LINGUIST List 22.2362 Sat Jun 04 2011 Diss: Lang Acq: Sia: 'The Metaphorical Competence of Anger for ...' Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang <mfonlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Jennifer Sia , The Metaphorical Competence of Anger for Advanced Spanish-English L2 Users Message 1: The Metaphorical Competence of Anger for Advanced Spanish-English L2 Users Date: 03-Jun-2011 From: Jennifer Sia <jensiayahoo.com> Subject: The Metaphorical Competence of Anger for Advanced Spanish-English L2 Users E-mail this message to a friend Institution: Birkbeck College, University of London Program: Applied Linguistics and Communication Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2010 Author: Jennifer Sia Dissertation Title: The Metaphorical Competence of Anger for Advanced Spanish-English L2 Users Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition Subject Language(s): Spanish (spa) Dissertation Director: Jean-Marc Dewaele Dissertation Abstract: Studies of metaphor have recently impacted the field of second language acquisition (SLA) in a number of ways. One early researcher proposed two interesting constructs relating metaphoric understanding and language to second language acquisition, metaphorical competence and conceptual fluency. However, an analysis of that work and later work based on it reveals a number of issues to be resolved for further research. This thesis outlines the theoretical and methodological improvements, focused on four aspects. The first is viewing proficient Spanish-English second language (SPENL2) users as multicompetent rather than deficient English users to establish a benchmark for other such L2 users. The second is improved theoretical grounding in the universality and cultural-specificity of metaphor inventories in English and Spanish, using cross-linguistic contrastive analysis of the inventories. Thirdly, it improves the methodology by examining both production and perceptions to give a broader picture of the knowledge both groups hold. Finally, it examines one abstract concept, anger, to narrow the concern to knowledge of one concept. In two dual-part investigations, the study reveals that SPEN L2 users share much knowledge, i.e. metaphorical competence, with English first language (ENL1) users in terms of distributions of metaphors of anger and perceptions of the relatedness of metonymic effects. At the same time, it finds differences in the nature of the linguistic expressions, which show some degree of acquisition of English-unique forms, a greater degree of mixed forms, and some L1 transfer. It also shows differences in the knowledge of the linguistic forms used to carry metaphorical understandings. This study primarily adds to studies of SLA by providing both a realistic benchmark for SPENL2 users and identifying specific ways in which their performance in terms of linguistic expressions and knowledge of linguistic expressions differs from ENL1 users. It provides suggestions for those differences based on the established inventories of metaphors and metonymies in English and Spanish. In terms of metaphor studies, this study contributes some information on ENL1 user expressions of anger and perceptions of metonymic projections of anger, in a few instances contrasting with the established literature. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 04-Jun-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.