Metaphorical competence becomes an essential language learning’s goal within the perspective of cognitive linguistics that considers metaphor as a conceptual structure that forms and reflects in each language and culture the ways of thinking, living, and acting of speakers making ordinary, lexicalised, and unconscious the metaphorical expressions corresponding to the metaphorical concepts. This paper argues that metaphorical competence allows language learners not only to develop an ability to communicate appropriately in accordance with the metaphorical structures of the target language, but also to expand, in general, through use and practice, the lexical competence in the target language. This argument is supported by the presentation of a corpus-based analysis of concordance lists of the Italian phrasal verbs “tirare su”, “stare dietro”, “mandare giù” obtained from the query of the web corpus itTenTen20 available on Sketch Engine. This analysis demonstrates that these verbs are lexicalised metaphors. It also includes a comparison of the translations in the main European languages of the metaphorical meanings expressed by the Italian phrasal verb considered. It is argued that this type of analysis can be used in the classroom of Italian L2/FL, especially in a cooperative language education’s context, for developing a metaphorical competence, expanding the Italian lexicon of learners, and improving their communicative competence in an intercultural dimension.
All’interno della prospettiva della linguistica cognitiva che considera la metafora come una struttura concettuale che forma e riflette in ogni lingua e cultura i modi di pensare, vivere e agire dei parlanti rendendo quotidiane, lessicalizzate e inconsce le espressioni metaforiche corrispondenti ai concetti metaforici, la competenza metaforica diventa un obiettivo essenziale nell'apprendimento linguistico. In questo contributo viene argomentata l’idea che l’acquisizione di una competenza metaforica nella lingua target permetta agli studenti non solo di sviluppare una capacità di comunicare in modo appropriato in conformità con le strutture metaforiche della lingua che stanno apprendendo, bensì anche di espandere, in generale, attraverso l'uso e la pratica, la competenza lessicale nella lingua target. L’argomentazione viene supportata da un’analisi delle liste di concordanza dei verbi sintagmatici italiani “tirare su”, “stare dietro”, “mandare giù” ottenute dall’interrogazione del corpus web itTenTen20 disponibile su Sketch Engine. Tale analisi dimostra che questi verbi sono metafore lessicalizzate. Essa propone anche un confronto tra le traduzioni in inglese, tedesco, spagnolo e francese dei significati espressi dai verbi considerati laddove queste siano rintracciabili. Si tratta di un’analisi che può essere utilizzata nelle classi di italiano L2/LS, specialmente in un contesto di educazione linguistica cooperativa, per sviluppare la competenza metaforica, ampliare il lessico italiano degli studenti e migliorare la loro competenza comunicativa in una dimensione interculturale.
LA COMPETENZA METAFORICA COME STRATEGIA DI ESPANSIONE DEL LESSICO DELL’APPRENDENTE NELLA CLASSE DI ITALIANO L2/LS. UN’ANALISI DI ALCUNI VERBI SINTAGMATICI BASATA SUI CORPORA
De Iaco, Moira
2023-01-01
Abstract
Metaphorical competence becomes an essential language learning’s goal within the perspective of cognitive linguistics that considers metaphor as a conceptual structure that forms and reflects in each language and culture the ways of thinking, living, and acting of speakers making ordinary, lexicalised, and unconscious the metaphorical expressions corresponding to the metaphorical concepts. This paper argues that metaphorical competence allows language learners not only to develop an ability to communicate appropriately in accordance with the metaphorical structures of the target language, but also to expand, in general, through use and practice, the lexical competence in the target language. This argument is supported by the presentation of a corpus-based analysis of concordance lists of the Italian phrasal verbs “tirare su”, “stare dietro”, “mandare giù” obtained from the query of the web corpus itTenTen20 available on Sketch Engine. This analysis demonstrates that these verbs are lexicalised metaphors. It also includes a comparison of the translations in the main European languages of the metaphorical meanings expressed by the Italian phrasal verb considered. It is argued that this type of analysis can be used in the classroom of Italian L2/FL, especially in a cooperative language education’s context, for developing a metaphorical competence, expanding the Italian lexicon of learners, and improving their communicative competence in an intercultural dimension.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.