METAPHOR PROCESSING IN TURKISH: AN EYE-MOVEMENT STUDY

Some studies about processing metaphors, which are accepted to be a natural product of the human cognitive system, focus on the processing where some focus on online processing of metaphors. Online studies where behavioral reactions are measured during silent reading are based on various methods such as self-paced reading, eye-movement and brain imaging techniques. This research will handle processing of prototypical and peripheral concepts and metaphors with varying degrees of familiarity during silent reading. This research aims to test behavioral reactions to prototypical and peripheral concepts and familiar and unfamiliar metaphors during silent reading. In this frame, behavioral reactions during silent reading in Turkish are measured by eye-movement method trying to answer how (a) prototypical concepts are processed, (b) peripheral concepts are processed, (c) metaphors with a high degree of familiarity are processed, (d) metaphors with a low degree of familiarity are processed. To answer these questions two pilot experiments and one main experiment has been carried out with separate subjects. In the research, where the findings of behavioral experiments which are applied as preparation to the main experiment with SMI RED 500 Hz eye-movement device are discussed as well, it is found that peripheral concepts are processed in a longer time compared to prototypical concepts, and metaphors with a low level of familiarity are processed in a longer time compared to metaphors with a high degree of familiarity.