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Abstract Abstract: The vast majority of previous studies on the influence of time metaphors on time cognition have mainly focused on natives speakers in different languages and cultures. Little attention has been paid to second language learners. The current study examined the effects of spatial metaphoric representation of time on Chinese advanced English learners’ time cognition through two experiments. Experiment 1 showed that, in neutral context, Chinese advanced English learners’ use of time-moving/ego-moving time metaphor had no difference, suggesting that both L1 and L2 have influence on time cognition. Experiment 2 showed that, in a difficult semantic processing task, Chinese advanced English learners tended to depend on Chinese time thinking to infer time. The results indicate that, when testing the Language Relativity Hypothesis, we should pay attention to the different influence of language on different conceptual categories and that context may offset the influence of language on cognition.
Key words: Chinese advanced English learners; spatial-temporal metaphor; time-moving metaphor; ego-moving metaphor; Language Relativity Hypothesis
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