Context and Literality in Idiom Processing: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading

• Published in: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
• Main Authors: Beck, Sara D., Weber, Andrea
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Springer US 2020
• Subjects: Article; eskimo*
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7572348/; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32666211; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-020-09719-2

In a self-paced reading study, we investigated how effects of biasing contexts in idiom processing interact with effects of idiom literality. Specifically, we tested if idioms with a high potential for literal interpretation (e.g., break the ice) are processed differently in figuratively and literally biasing contexts than idioms with a low potential (e.g., lose one’s cool). Participants read sentences that biased towards a figurative or literal reading of idioms and continued with resolutions that were congruent or incongruent with these biases (e.g., [The new schoolboy/the chilly Eskimo] just wanted to break the ice [with his peers/on the lake]…). While interpretations of high-literality idioms were strengthened by supporting contexts and showed costs for incongruent resolutions, low-literality idioms did not show this effect. Rather, interpreting low-literality idioms in a literal manner showed a cost regardless of context. We conclude that biasing contexts are used in a flexible process of real-time idiom processing and meaning constitution, but this effect is mediated by idiom literality.