A developmental study of L1 idiom comprehension in Farsi Language

Abstract

This quantitative study investigated the comprehension of Farsi idioms with a developmental view and explored at what age, these idiomatic expressions are acquired. We also examined different categories of idiomatic expressions, embracing biological and cultural idioms to see whether they are acquired differently. To this end, three target age groups, including 6-year-olds (n = 20), 10-year-olds (n=20), and adults (n=20) were selected. To collect data, 40 most frequent Farsi idioms were selected as the material of the study and the participants were asked to orally provide a free explanation of the meaning of these idioms in their own words. To analyze data, descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and paired samples t-test were calculated. The findings indicated that around age 6 is almost the beginning of the idiom acquisition process and around age 10 children's idiomatic comprehension starts approximating that of adults. It was also found that primarily, children exhibit knowledge of transparent biological idioms rather than idiosyncratic cultural idioms. The conclusions and implications of the study are discussed.