Eye See What You Mean: Emotional Experience of Metaphors in an Additional Language

Abstract

Recent research into metaphor processing has found that metaphorical phrases elicit greater pupil dilation compared to literal paraphrases or concrete/imageable phrases. Other studies indicate that there may be a difference in emotional experience when operating in a second/additional language (L2) as opposed to a first language (L1). In the present study, a follow-up to Mon et al. (2021), we investigated whether conventional metaphors are still more engaging than literal paraphrases even when a listener hears them in an additional language. We predicted that metaphors would still be more engaging in an additional language and that engagement would positively correlate with English proficiency. Fifty-three highly proficient English speakers (34 simultaneous bilinguals and 19 English L2 speakers) listened to metaphorical, literal, and concrete sentences while their pupil dilation was recorded as a measure of emotional and attentional engagement. For the L2 speakers, metaphorical sentences elicited greater, sustained pupil dilation compared to literal and concrete sentences, but this effect was not seen for the bilinguals. Pupil dilation did not correlate with English proficiency, which did not vary much across participants. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that conventional metaphors are more engaging than other types of sentences even when heard in an additional language.