Predictability and Familiarity Assessments for Greek Idiomatic Expressions: the Role of Reading Habits and Language Profiles

Abstract

This study examines the predictability and familiarity ratings of 199 Greek idiomatic expressions, building on the random sample used by Lada et al. (2024). The primary goals are to explore correlations between predictability, familiarity, and idiom dimensions such as decomposability, subjective frequency, and ambiguity, and to investigate the relationships between idiom familiarity, predictability, and participants' bilingual/multilingual profiles and reading habits. Sixty-three native Greek-speaking students at Democritus University of Thrace completed familiarity and predictability assessments based on a random selection of idioms from Vlaxopoulos (2007). Correlational analyses, aligned with Lada et al. (2024), show that subjective frequency is positively correlated with both ambiguity and decomposability. In addition, familiarity is weakly correlated with ambiguity, moderately correlated with decomposability, and strongly correlated with subjective frequency and predictability. Furthermore, predictability is weakly correlated with ambiguity, moderately correlated with subjective frequency and decomposability, but strongly correlated with familiarity. Logistic regression analyses reveal that the number of foreign languages spoken negatively predicts correct idiom completion in the predictability task, with more languages associated with lower predictability scores. Mixed-effects linear models indicate that higher reading frequency is linked to lower familiarity ratings, whereas more books read is associated with higher familiarity. These findings provide novel insights into idiom comprehension among bilinguals, highlighting the influence of language profiles and reading habits on idiom familiarity and predictability. Limitations include the binary approach to predictability scoring and the lack of language-specific details. We hence suggest future studies consider typological factors and alternative results’ interpretation for idiom predictability.