Familiarity Integration in Idiom Classification A Cross-linguistic Study
| Author | Yousif, Latifa Shamsan. | |
|---|---|---|
| metadata.dc.contributor.department | University of Manchester, SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES | |
| metadata.dc.date.accessioned | 2026-09-20T15:53:32Z | |
| Publication date | 2011 | |
| Degree level | Doctoral | |
| Abstract | Abstract : This thesis is an experimental study that investigates the idiom decomposition hypothesis and its wider implications on idiom representation and comprehension. It further develops a psycholinguistic model for idiom classification that incorporates semantic compositionality and idiom familiarity. In this thesis, an idiom is defined as: A group of two or more words that has a conventionalized meaning and which might vary in compositionality (from opaque to compositional ones). A total of one hundred and fifty one Bahraini idioms were collected by the author. These idioms were used in five experiments that investigated the main claims of the idiom decomposition hypothesis: (1) that people can reliably classify idioms into normally decomposable, abnormally decomposable, and nondecomposable; (2) people's intuitions on the semantic analyzability of idioms determine their judgements of the acceptability of syntactic variation. We proposed and investigated the hypotheses that the classification in (1) is contingent on lexical and/or conceptual familiarity, and that the judgements in (2) are contingent on conceptual familiarity. Furthermore, a range of cognitive linguistic analyses were conducted to examine the source and target domains of Bahraini idioms, and determine how these domains as well as the mappings between source and target domains relate to familiarity. The results of experiments 1 and 2 show that Bahraini speakers agree on the classification of idioms according to their degree of semantic compositionality into normally and abnormally decomposable, but not into the nondecomposable category. This classification is contingent on the lexical and/or conceptual familiarity of idioms because it is difficult to separate the two when testing idioms with native speakers of the language. Experiments 3 and 4 show that English spcakers agree on the classification of idioms according to their degree of semantic compositionality into normally decomposable, abnormally decomposable, and nondecomposable. This classification is contingent on the conceptual familiarity of idioms. Experiment 5 indicates that the syntactic flexibility of idioms varies according to the degree of semantic compositionality. However, this variation is affected by the conceptual familiarity of idioms. The cognitive linguistic analyses show that idioms grounded in general human experience are more familiar than those grounded in geo-cultural human experience. Finally, this thesis proposes the Familiarity Integration Model (FIM) for idiom classification that incorporates semantic compositionality and idiom familiarity. According to the FIM, compositionality is a continuum with three main categories of idioms that partially overlap. The three categories are as follows: (1) idioms with familiar source domains and mappings (normally or abnormally decomposable), (2) idioms with familiar source domains and unfamiliar mappings (abnormally or nondecomposable), and (3) idioms with unfamiliar source domains and mappings (nondecomposable). | |
| metadata.dc.identifier.other | Drupal node 4489 | |
| metadata.dc.identifier.other | https://digitalrepository.uob.edu.bh/en/dar/familiarity-integration-idiom-classification-cross-linguistic-study | |
| metadata.dc.identifier.uri | http://165.227.56.122/handle/123456789/7477 | |
| Language | en | |
| Link | https://digitalrepository.uob.edu.bh/en/_flysystem/fedora/2025-09/001940_familiarity_integration_in_idiom_classification_-_a_cross-linguistic_study.pdf | |
| Title | Familiarity Integration in Idiom Classification A Cross-linguistic Study | |
| Type | Doctoral Dissertation |
Files
Original bundle
1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
- Name:
- node-4489-1-001940_familiarity_integration_in_idiom_classification_-_a_cross-linguistic_study.pdf
- Size:
- 8.96 MB
- Format:
- Adobe Portable Document Format