Idioms In the Light of the Cognitive Theory of Metaphor: Research Evidence

Abstract This paper shows results of a study that analyzed some metaphoric and metonymic mappings. These were composed by twenty students of Brazilian Portuguese as an foreign language (L2) - namely, Spanish speakers as mother language (L1) - concerning two specific Brazilian Portuguese idioms (IDs), “meter os pés pelas mãos (to drop the ball) and “ter mão leve” (to be light-fingered; stealing unnoticed). In addition, th study analyzed a possible influence of the opacity level in the IDs with regard to the meaning apprehension process. As methodology, this research used individual interviews, through verbal protocols, to collect the data. The study findings corroborate the thesis where metaphoric knowledge influences online comprehension and processing of idioms in an L2 (GIBBS, 1995; KÖVECSES; SZABÓ, 1996; KAZEMI et al., 2013). Furthermore, those findings manifest two additional factors that influence both processes: transparency versus opacity levels between L1 and L2 idioms, and singularity versus multiplicity of meaning between them.