A cognitive understanding of old people's reference to technological devices via metaphtonymy

What is it about?

This study focuses on the linguistic behavior of old people, and more specifically South Tunisian old people. It was noted that this category of people do not refer to technological devices using the right names. They invent new names, and when data was collected and analysed, it was concluded that their naming procedure is unique. On the basis of a cognitive analysis and more specifically the concept of construal, a recurrent pattern was identified: All the names invented are based on a specific type of coneptual metaphor, namely metaphtonymy. The motivation behind this linguistic behavior is also investigated, and it is concluded that the psychological state plays an important role.

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Why is it important?

It paves the way for further interest in the linguistic behavior of the old as it has been revealed that language acquisition is an on going process. Moreover, this category of people need care, and this can be done through the analysis of their linguistic behavior.