Idiomatic Expressions Use Figurative Language
June 10, 2022
If learning a second language isn’t already difficult enough, language students also have to allow for a speaker’s propensity for using figurative forms of speech to make their point. When words or phrases are used to express ideas in a more imaginative way, it is considered to have figurative meaning as opposed to being a literal statement.
"When Pigs Fly" - an impossible idiom (circa. 1600s)
The exact point in time when humans first decided that there should be more to language than merely a literal interpretation is not known, but many language experts point to the Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle to be one of the earliest analysts of human rhetoric. Centuries later Quintilian, a Latin teacher and Roman writer, expounded on figurative differences in prose and speech.
Outside the Confines of Explicit Language
Communicating with other native speakers allows one to venture outside the literal confines of “explicit language” and add character to what is being said by expressing themselves figuratively. Since figurative language is not literal, it can be used to deliver a more heartfelt comparison to something, so that one thing can be seen through the terms used to describe another.
This offshoot from tradition quickly found its place with writers, whose prose and poetry started to play to the reader’s imaginative inner-self.
Over the ages, great communicators and influential speakers took a page out of Aristotle’s playbook and used metaphors, idioms, and similes to master the art of persuasion. Today, it is not just writers, philosophers and poets that use figurative language to express something beyond the literal meaning. It is literally everyone.
Cultural Metaphors and Idioms Can Provide Deeper Insight
It is believed that a culture cannot sustain its existence without language. That makes it is easy to understand the role one’s native language plays in shaping the collective thoughts, feelings and personality of the group. Since cultural identity is directly impacted by one’s nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or other group distinctions, figurative expressions can be most useful in communicating cultural nuances, such as:
Cultural Metaphors – While idioms and metaphors are both figurative forms of communication, the big difference comes in how they are used in writing and speech. Plus, metaphors compare things whereas idioms offer a whimsical way to make a colloquial statement. Metaphors tend to sound poetic and idioms are clever sayings used to make a point in a figurative way.
Cultural metaphors are curious expressions that function to deliver a bigger statement than what each word denotes. Metaphorical and figurative, once the metaphor is understood, it then serves as a palpable and distinct feature of that language. For example, America is a “Melting Pot” doesn’t refer to cookery. It is a cultural metaphor for a society where many differing nationalities of people seek to become one in the same.
Cultural Idioms – Idioms are typically derived from local culture and customs. They are figurative phrases and expressions that are peculiar to that language. Today, cultural idioms are a specialized vocabulary that are among the most difficult phrases to accurately translate in any language. However, idioms help writers and speakers express abstract ideas in ways that add character and avoid an otherwise stale statement.
Idioms have a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined or atypical use of the words. Used correctly, cultural idioms can amplify a message in a way that draws you in and helps to awaken your creative senses. For example, “It’s Greek to Me” is a cross cultural idiom where the word “Greek” can be replaced by any other language but stills means “someone who didn’t understand” whatever was being communicated.
A less literal and more figurative application of language often makes it easier to be more entertaining as the listener or reader can visualize for themselves concepts of abstract ideas and deeper human emotions. Metaphors do tend to sound more poetic than idioms, but idioms are more commonly used in everyday speech. Nonetheless, writers most often prefer metaphors as the more effective way to reference cultural concepts.
Carpe-Diem Culture Never Makes Abstract Connections
Language researchers have long argued the principle of linguistic relativity where properties of language affect the structure and content of thought to determine how humans perceive reality. For example, the English language has one word for snow but the Inuit Eskimos use numerous words that better define particular types of snow. That said one of the world’s simplest languages is the Pirahã language used by Indigenous hunter-gatherer tribes in the Brazilian Amazon. Linguists have long focused on understanding what idioms and metaphors from around the world actually have in common. But what makes the language of this carpe-diem culture so significant is that it departs from what was believed to be essential features of all languages.
Simply living “in the now” fits with the fact that the Pirahã also do not have a creation myth to explain their existence.
Most languages have thousands of common idioms and millions of ways to use metaphors in writing or speech. That’s the norm. However, linguists argue that the Pirahã language totally lacks recursion, making it anomalous among other languages in the global village. Without recursion, the Pirahã have no philosophy and no leaders. Moreover, since they have no words for numbers, they can’t even begin to understand the basics of mathematics. Their concept of time is only in the moment and whatever isn’t important to them in the present is quickly forgotten. Nonetheless, when evaluated their intelligence is about the same as that of a first-year college student. The Pirahã idiom suggests their language comes from the simplest literal formula and is void of figurative thought.
Except for a few isolated carpe-diem cultures found in the Amazon and New Guinea, figurative language that includes many forms of cultural metaphors and idioms make communications much more interesting. When your message needs to be delivered in another language, accurate interpretations and translations can be crucial for getting your point across. Contact ProLingo today to discuss your multilingual needs.
