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The University of Southampton
Centre for Linguistics, Language Education and Acquisition Research

The Creative Use of Metaphor and Metonymy in Language Learning and Intercultural Communication Seminar

Time:
16:00 - 18:00
Date:
18 November 2015
Venue:
Lecture Theatre C Avenue Campus University of Southampton SO17 1BF

For more information regarding this seminar, please email Prof Roumyana Slabakova at R.Slabakova@southampton.ac.uk .

Event details

Studies of figurative language (particularly metaphor) have shown that it performs key functions, such as: the signalling of evaluation; agenda management; mitigation and humour; reference to shared knowledge; and topic change. An ability to use metaphor appropriately can thus contribute to a language learner’s communicative competence. In this talk I focus on the use of creative metaphor and metonymy by language learners and those who communicate with them, looking at the challenges it presents and the opportunities that it affords. I then move on to look at the creative use of metaphor and metonymy in advertising and in computer-generated tweets, and report on findings from two studies investigating how creative metaphor and metonymy are understood and appreciated by people with different linguistic backgrounds.

Speaker information

Prof Jeannette Littlemore, University of Birmingham. I am a Professor of Applied Linguistics in the English Language Department at the University of Birmingham. I teach a range of courses and supervise PhD students in English Language and Applied Linguistics. My research focuses on the acquisition and use of metaphor and other types of figurative language by second language learners. I am also interested in applications of cognitive linguistics to second language learning and teaching.

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