Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations

This study investigates the relationship between literature and poetry reading frequency and participants’ ratings of metaphors on key features: quality, aptness, familiarity, and comprehensibility. Using a set of Serbian poetic metaphors, we explored two main questions: how reading habits correlate...

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Main Authors: Mitić Aleksandra Janić, Mitić Ivana, Stamenković Dušan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2025-06-01
Series:Open Linguistics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2025-0053
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author Mitić Aleksandra Janić
Mitić Ivana
Stamenković Dušan
author_facet Mitić Aleksandra Janić
Mitić Ivana
Stamenković Dušan
author_sort Mitić Aleksandra Janić
collection DOAJ
description This study investigates the relationship between literature and poetry reading frequency and participants’ ratings of metaphors on key features: quality, aptness, familiarity, and comprehensibility. Using a set of Serbian poetic metaphors, we explored two main questions: how reading habits correlate with metaphor feature ratings, and whether the type of reading material (i.e., literature vs poetry) influences sensitivity to these features. The sample consisted of 140 native Serbian-speaking students from varied academic disciplines. Participants rated metaphors based on reading frequency (literature and poetry) using a 7-point Likert scale. Analysis showed that frequent readers generally gave higher overall metaphor ratings than infrequent readers, with significant differences noted particularly in familiarity and comprehensibility. Specifically, familiarity ratings yielded the most substantial differences between infrequent and frequent readers, which can indicate the influence of reading experience on the perceived recognition and understanding of metaphors. Aptness and quality ratings showed no significant differences, which suggests that familiarity and comprehensibility are more sensitive to variations in reading habits.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2300-9969
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series Open Linguistics
spelling doaj-art-7cdb57e939e24ce2a74eef57fb927d042025-08-20T03:45:48ZengDe GruyterOpen Linguistics2300-99692025-06-011115577010.1515/opli-2025-0053Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relationsMitić Aleksandra Janić0Mitić Ivana1Stamenković Dušan2Department of Serbian Language and Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Niš, SerbiaDepartment of Serbian Language and Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš, Niš, SerbiaSchool of Culture and Education, Södertörn University, Alfred Nobels allé 7, 141 89, Huddinge, SwedenThis study investigates the relationship between literature and poetry reading frequency and participants’ ratings of metaphors on key features: quality, aptness, familiarity, and comprehensibility. Using a set of Serbian poetic metaphors, we explored two main questions: how reading habits correlate with metaphor feature ratings, and whether the type of reading material (i.e., literature vs poetry) influences sensitivity to these features. The sample consisted of 140 native Serbian-speaking students from varied academic disciplines. Participants rated metaphors based on reading frequency (literature and poetry) using a 7-point Likert scale. Analysis showed that frequent readers generally gave higher overall metaphor ratings than infrequent readers, with significant differences noted particularly in familiarity and comprehensibility. Specifically, familiarity ratings yielded the most substantial differences between infrequent and frequent readers, which can indicate the influence of reading experience on the perceived recognition and understanding of metaphors. Aptness and quality ratings showed no significant differences, which suggests that familiarity and comprehensibility are more sensitive to variations in reading habits.https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2025-0053metaphorreadingliteraturepoetrymetaphor features
spellingShingle Mitić Aleksandra Janić
Mitić Ivana
Stamenković Dušan
Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations
Open Linguistics
metaphor
reading
literature
poetry
metaphor features
title Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations
title_full Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations
title_fullStr Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations
title_full_unstemmed Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations
title_short Can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation? Exploring key relations
title_sort can reading habits affect metaphor evaluation exploring key relations
topic metaphor
reading
literature
poetry
metaphor features
url https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2025-0053
work_keys_str_mv AT miticaleksandrajanic canreadinghabitsaffectmetaphorevaluationexploringkeyrelations
AT miticivana canreadinghabitsaffectmetaphorevaluationexploringkeyrelations
AT stamenkovicdusan canreadinghabitsaffectmetaphorevaluationexploringkeyrelations