Psycholinguistic and Affective Variables of Metaphorical Sentences in L2 Speakers of English

Metaphors are complex and often pose difficulties for second language learners. This thesis investigates how Croatian learners of English as a second language perceive metaphorical meaning, with the aim of comparing their ratings of metaphorical, literal, and concrete sentences to those of native English speakers. A total of 124 undergraduate students of English at the University of Zagreb participated in the questionnaire. They rated six sentence triplets, a total of 18 sentences, based on their level of metaphoricity and familiarity. The results revealed that Croatian L2 speakers of English did not differ significantly from native English speakers in their metaphoricity ratings. Participants consistently distinguished metaphorical sentences from their literal and concrete counterparts, indicating an intuitive awareness of figurative meaning. No systematic correlation was found between metaphoricity and familiarity ratings, nor did reading habits or choice of majors significantly influence outcomes. These findings suggest that advanced Croatian learners of English possess a metaphorical competence comparable to that of native speakers, which may stem from high language proficiency and conceptual transfer between L1 and L2. The study contributes to psycholinguistic research on metaphor processing and highlights the importance of metaphor awareness in second language acquisition. Future research is encouraged to expand to broader participant groups and a wider range of metaphor types.