Age-related differences in metaphor types of response words among L2 English users: a semiotic perspective

Abstract This study explores age-related differences in metaphor usage among L2 English users through a semiotic lens, analyzing word association data from two age groups of Chinese English teachers: younger (30–40 years, N = 30) and older (61–70 years, N = 27). Integrating Peirce’s semiotic framework (1931/1958. The collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce . Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Volume I: 145; Volume IV: 447) and Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson 1980. The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive Science 4. 195–208), we examine structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors to identify age-specific patterns. Results reveal that older participants employed more ontological metaphors, while younger counterparts favored structural metaphors. Semiotic analysis suggests that older L2 users’ enriched bilingual experience enhances interpretant generation, facilitating superior metaphor processing. These findings provide novel semiotic insights into bilingual cognitive aging, highlighting the interplay between linguistic experience and metaphor production across age groups.