The study of the influence of metaphor use on bilingual's memory performance

In this study we have tried to compare the difference of overall performance between metaphorical and non- metaphorical expressions on bilinguals’ memory performance; and therefore 30 volunteer Azari bilingual participants were selected. To study the memory performance of the subjects, first we provided thirty metaphorical and non- metaphorical Azari expressions for students and then administered a free recall test. Then, we provided thirty metaphorical Farsi and Azari expressions for subjects in order to compare the memory performance in the first and second language. The research hypotheses were tested using dependent-groups t-test. Findings of the study showed that participants’ remembrance of metaphorical expressions is significantly more than non-metaphoricals; bilinguals have remembered metaphors of the first language more than the second language, and this difference was statistically significant. With regards to these findings, we can conclude that metaphoric concepts, because of specific characteristics of the cognitive properties, have features which using them will increase the power to remember materials; in the first language also, the transfer of emotional concepts, is more than in the second language; and therefore, the metaphors of the first language have cognitive priority.