Reading Proverbs in Context:The Role of Explicit Markers

Katz, Albert N.; Ferretti, Todd R.

doi:10.1207/s15326950dp3601_2

Cited by 30 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…A more recently developed position, called the Constraint-Satisfaction Approach [51], [72]–[74], seems to fit well with the present data. Following this proposal, all available information – such as lexical entries and contextual cues – are integrated as soon as they are relevant in order to derive a coherent representation of the speaker’s intent.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

What’s behind a P600? Integration Operations during Irony Processing

et al. 2013

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The combined knowledge of word meanings and grammatical rules does not allow a listener to grasp the intended meaning of a speaker’s utterance. Pragmatic inferences on the part of the listener are also required. The present work focuses on the processing of ironic utterances (imagine a slow day being described as “really productive”) because these clearly require the listener to go beyond the linguistic code. Such utterances are advantageous experimentally because they can serve as their own controls in the form of literal sentences (now imagine an active day being described as “really productive”) as we employ techniques from electrophysiology (EEG). Importantly, the results confirm previous ERP findings showing that irony processing elicits an enhancement of the P600 component (Regel et al., 2011). More original are the findings drawn from Time Frequency Analysis (TFA) and especially the increase of power in the gamma band in the 280–400 time-window, which points to an integration among different streams of information relatively early in the comprehension of an irony. This represents a departure from traditional accounts of language processing which generally view pragmatic inferences as late-arriving. We propose that these results indicate that unification operations between the linguistic code and contextual information play a critical role throughout the course of irony processing and earlier than previously thought.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

What’s behind a P600? Integration Operations during Irony Processing

et al. 2013

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“…Ferretti et al (2020) also examined the influence of the markers on interpreting familiar proverbs when they appeared after literal and figuratively biasing contexts. Similar to Katz and Ferretti’s (2003) reading time results, the presence of figuratively speaking in figuratively biasing contexts led to more difficulty interpreting the proverbs than when the marker was absent. In contrast, the presence versus absence of literally speaking had no influence when it appeared in literally biasing discourse contexts.…”

supporting

confidence: 66%

“…Katz and Ferretti (2003) examined reading times while participants read proverbs placed in rich contexts biased toward either their literal or figurative meanings. Commentary markers ( literally speaking , in a manner of speaking , proverbially speaking ) were placed immediately prior to the proverbial statements to communicate that the statements should be interpreted literally or figuratively.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of this property, proverbs are plausible in figurative and literal biasing contexts, and they often appear in discourse with markers that signal which of the plausible meanings was intended by the speaker (Honeck, 1997). Katz and Ferretti (2003) examined reading times while participants read proverbs placed in rich contexts biased toward either their literal or figurative meanings. Commentary markers (literally speaking, in a manner of speaking, proverbially speaking) were placed immediately prior to the proverbial statements to communicate that the statements should be interpreted literally or figuratively.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Interpreting pragmatic markers following proverbs.

Ferretti¹,

Hall²,

Mansour³

2021

Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne

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This research examined the interpretation of the pragmatic markers literally and figuratively when they followed familiar and unfamiliar proverbs (e.g., “Birds of a feather will flock together, literally”). Event-related brain potential methodology was used to measure costs associated with interpreting the markers during online comprehension, and an offline task provided additional insight into how sensible the markers were in the proverbial contexts. N400 potentials revealed that literally was less semantically congruent than figuratively with familiar and unfamiliar proverbial contexts, and differences in late positive potentials showed that resolving the interpretation of markers inconsistent with the salient meaning of the proverbs was more difficult following unfamiliar than familiar proverbs. Sensibility ratings showed that literally was less sensible than figuratively following both types of proverbs, and that both markers were more sensible following familiar proverbs. These results have implications for understanding how people interpret the pragmatic intent of these markers when they appear after the figurative statements they modify, and highlight the sensitivity of the markers to context.

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“…A final section of four papers goes beyond specific discussions of irony/sarcasm and idioms/metaphor to address the figurative and nonliteral language generally . The first two papers address a similar theme following from Katz and Ferretti (2003), who were literally the first to systematically examine how pragmatic marking impacts comprehension. Ferretti et al (2021) used ERPs to investigate the extent to which pragmatic markers are understood following presentation of familiar and less-familiar proverbs (e.g., “Birds of a feather flock together, literally/figuratively .”).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The psychology of saying what you don’t mean: Celebrating the research career of Professor Albert Katz.

Pexman¹,

Titone²

2021

Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne

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Public Significance StatementThe human capacity for language enables people to routinely produce and comprehend highly contextualized meaning, even when that meaning differs from or is completely opposite to the component words comprising an utterance or sequence of text (e.g., irony, metaphorical or idiomatic language, humor, and other forms of nonliteral language). In a career spanning more than 45 years, Professor Albert Katz of Western University has illuminated through his research the extraordinary ways that people accomplish this neurocognitive feat, which we all take for granted.

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Reading Proverbs in Context:The Role of Explicit Markers

Cited by 30 publications

References 16 publications

What’s behind a P600? Integration Operations during Irony Processing

What’s behind a P600? Integration Operations during Irony Processing

Interpreting pragmatic markers following proverbs.

The psychology of saying what you don’t mean: Celebrating the research career of Professor Albert Katz.

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