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

Abstract

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.

When the Idiom Advantage Comes Up Short: Eye-Tracking Canonical and Modified Idioms

“…When a preceding context is neutral, meaning selection and integration may occur outside the idiom region, so that disambiguation occurs in the post-idiom regions that follow, especially if these clarify the intended meaning of the phrase. However, post-idiom regions tend to vary considerably in terms of lexico-syntactic properties (i.e., they are not matched) and are therefore often overlooked in idiom studies because comparisons are difficult if not impossible to make ( Titone and Connine, 1999 ; Titone et al, 2019 ; Beck and Weber, 2020 ). Therefore, previous idiom studies may have failed to observe processing difficulties related to idiom processing as they typically focus on the idiom region alone.…”

“…Clearly, if literal phrases are contextually inappropriate, or are poorly matched with respect to idioms, then this will create an idiom advantage. Finally, the location and strength of context has more often been examined in relation to how it might affect the activation of the literal versus the figurative meaning of an idiom (e.g., Titone and Connine, 1994 ; Fanari et al, 2010 ; Cacciari and Corradini, 2015 ; Beck and Weber, 2020 ), as opposed to the processing of an idiom versus a matched literal phrase.…”

“…For example, greater frequency and familiarity may lead to early idiom recognition, while literal plausibility may delay recognition due to the (equal) viability of the literal meaning of the phrase ( Titone and Libben, 2014 ; Mancuso et al, 2020 ), and transparency may affect idiom processing at later stages (i.e., after the phrase offset). However, studies have shown that high literalness facilitates rather than hinders idiom processing ( Mueller and Gibbs, 1987 ; Cronk and Schweigert, 1992 ; Beck and Weber, 2020 ), but an effect of transparency is less conclusive. Some studies report a processing benefit for transparent idioms ( Gibbs and Nayak, 1989 ; Gibbs et al, 1989 ; Caillies and Butcher, 2007 ), others for less transparent ones ( Titone and Libben, 2014 ; Carrol and Conklin, 2020 ), and yet some others report a null effect ( Van de Voort and Vonk, 1995 ; Libben and Titone, 2008 ; Tabossi et al, 2008 ; Carrol and Conklin, 2014b ).…”

Exploring Individual Differences in Recognizing Idiomatic Expressions in Context

“…It has been shown that in order to select the intended meaning from the two alternatives, readers make use of context, which may bias either the figurative or the literal interpretation (Cacciari & Tabossi, 1988;Holsinger, 2013). Beck and Weber (2020) conducted a self-paced reading study to investigate the effects of context on the processing of idiomatic expressions. Their participants read idioms embedded in sentences that varied in how literally plausible the idiom was and in whether the preceding context was figuratively or literally biasing.…”

“…One open question resulting from this body of research concerns the extent to which contextual facilitation in idiom processing is subject to individual differences. That is, given the results by Beck and Weber (2020) demonstrating facilitatory effects of context on self-paced reading times as well as the individual differences data by Cacciari et al (2018), it is likely that there is considerable individual variation in how figuratively and literally biasing contexts affect readers' processing of idiomatic expressions. The present study addressed this question.…”