Abstract

The present study examined the characteristics of Chilean deaf people's metaphoric language and its relevance in linguistic comprehension. This key question is based in the scarcity of studies conducted in Chile. A qualitative study was developed, on the basis of analysis of videos of Chilean deaf people spontaneous sign language. A list of conceptual and no conceptual metaphors in Chilean sign language was developed. The comprehension of these metaphors was evaluated in a group of deaf subjets, educated using sign language communication. The results identify the existence of metaphors of the deaf culture. These methaphors would be coherent with the particular experiences of deaf subjets and do not necessarily agree with spoken language. Copyright 2008 by Psykhe.