Familiarity and Transparency in Idiom Explanation

Marilyn A. Nippold · Mishelle Rudzinski

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Language Development and Disorders Reading and Literacy Development Second Language Acquisition and Learning

Abstract

Idioms differ widely in their degree of difficulty for children and adolescents. Two factors that might account for these differences, familiarity and transparency, were examined. Children and adolescents ages 11, 14, and 17 years (N = 150) were asked to explain in writing the meanings of 24 different idiomatic expressions, each presented in a brief story context. Results showed that performance on the task gradually improved as subject age increased and that high-familiarity idioms were generally easier to explain than moderate- or low-familiarity expressions. Easier idioms also tended to be more transparent. The results are consistent with the "language experience" view of figurative development and question the hypothesis that idioms are learned as giant lexical units.

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1927The Language and Thought of the Child 1980Spilling the beans on understanding and memory for idioms in conversation 1978Interpreting metaphors and idioms: Some effects of context on comprehension 2018Cognition and Figurative Language 1992Children's comprehension and production of idioms: the role of context and familiarity 1987Linguistic factors in children's understanding of idioms 1989Idiom Interpretation in Isolation versus Context 1982On comprehending idioms: Do children get the picture?

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2004The relation between children’s reading comprehension level and their comprehension of idioms 2004Factors Supporting Idiom Comprehension in Children With Communication Disorders 1995Idiom Understanding in Youth: Further Examination of Familiarity and Transparency 2002Judgments of Idiom Familiarity and Transparency 2008The development of idiom comprehension: An investigation of semantic and contextual processing skills 1999

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