The thorny path of LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphors; what error analysis reveals about the acquisition of metaphoric expressions in a foreign language

Abstract

In the present paper my aim was to glimpse into the acquisition of LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphors in the case of Japanese learners of Hungarian as a foreign language. In the first phase of the research, six linguistic metaphors related to the conceptual metaphor of LIFE IS A JOURNEY was introduced to the target group (B1-B2 level learners). In the second phase, the learners were asked to produce a written text about a fictitious life story, in 220-250 words, using the six linguistic metaphors. The texts were then subjected to error analysis regarding the use of the metaphors. The analysis revealed that the learners had difficulty using the metaphors both as regards their grammatical and their conceptual behavior. The results suggest that learners need extensive reinforcement to understand how metaphoric expressions fit into the target language grammatical system and also on the semantic-pragmatic contexts that they may appear in.