Reductive and Nonreductive Simile Theories of Metaphor

Tirrell, Lynne

doi:10.2307/2027089

Cited by 26 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…We focus on the Hebrew adverbial intensifier MAMASH (roughly translated into the English intensifier really, as in This X is a real Y or this X really is a Y 2 ), and on the appositive genitive construction (Goatly, 1997). 3 Earlier studies have discussed these forms in association with metaphor processing (e.g., Bolinger, 1972;Goatly, 1997;Tirrell, 1991), but their role in imposing metaphorical interpretation has been largely neglected. The appositive genitive construction (AGC) was mainly discussed with regards to its expressive function (Foolen, 2004) or the question of headedness (e.g., HaLevi, 2001;Khudyakova, 2007).…”

Section: Metaphoricity-inducing Formsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imposed Metaphoricity

Porat

Shen

2015

Metaphor and Symbol

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We introduce a hitherto overlooked phenomenon in the cognitive and psycholinguistic study of metaphors that we termed imposed metaphoricity. We propose that a metaphorical reading can be imposed on a given expression regardless of its semantic content. We suggest that there is a class of constructions (e.g., this X is such a Y or what a Y this X is) that impose metaphorical interpretation. We present findings from three experiments and from corpus-based analyses that support our proposal. Experiments 1-2 compared interpretations of expressions that can have both a literal and a metaphorical meaning (e.g., this book is an encyclopedia) when embedded in a standard metaphorical form and in a form that imposes metaphoricity. In Experiment 3 we examine reaction time to such forms in an attempt to identify interference of form with early metaphorical processing. Two corpus-based analyses characterize the use of these two metaphorical constructions in natural language. We discuss the independence of metaphoricity from semantics, as demonstrated by forms that impose metaphorical interpretations. FORM, SEMANTICS, AND IMPOSED METAPHORICITYThe aim of this article is to introduce the novel concept of imposed metaphoricity. This concept refers to a phenomenon in which metaphorical processing is imposed on a given expression regardless of its semantic content. According to the dominant view, the content of the expression is considered inseparable from its semantic status. For example, a sentence such as This lawyer is a shark would be interpreted as a metaphor, while a sentence such as This fish is a shark would be understood literally. In contrast, we propose that certain figurative forms can impose metaphorical processing on (almost) any two nouns, regardless of their semantic content.Consider, for examples, the following sentences:a. This guy is a magnet. b. This guy is like a magnet. c. This guy is such a magnet. d. He is a magnet of a guy.In terms of metaphorical relations, these four examples convey the same basic meaning: they all draw some sort of connection between the target (guy) and the source (magnet) of the expressions, using magnet to highlight the attractiveness of this guy. Presumably, the metaphoricity in all four

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Section: Metaphoricity-inducing Formsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imposed Metaphoricity

Porat

Shen

2015

Metaphor and Symbol

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“…The Grammar of Metaphor Tirrell (1991) and Brooke-Rose (1970) have analyzed the grammar of metaphor. In particular, Tirrell distinguishes six grammatical types of metaphors.…”

Section: Metaphorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analogical Truth Conditions for Metaphors

Steinhart¹

1994

Metaphor and Symbolic Activity

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It has often been said that metaphors are based on analogies, but the nature of this relation has never been made precise. This article rigorously and formally specifies two semantic relations that do obtain between some metaphors and analogies. We argue that analogies often provide conditions of meaningfulness and truth for metaphors. An analogy is treated as an isomorphism from a source to topic domain. Metaphors are thought of as surface structures. Formal analogical conditions of meaningfulness and truth are fully and rigorously worked out for several grammatical classes of metaphors. By providing analogical meaningfulness and truth conditions for metaphors, this article shows that truth-conditional semantics can be extended to metaphors.

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“…For instance, in the sentence "[Socrates]LiT [iS]MET [a midwife]MET," the word "Socrates" is used literally, while the copula "is" and the noun-phrase "a midwife" are used metaphorically. Following Brook-Rose (1970) and Tirrell (1991), SFTM develops a grammar of metaphors. Traditional theories of metaphor have unfortunately focused almost exclusively on noun-identification metaphors of …”

Section: Generating Metaphorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

NETMET: A program for generating and interpreting metaphors

Steinhart

1994

Comput Hum

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Metaphors have computable semantics. A program called NETMET both generates metaphors and produces partial literal interpretations of metaphors. NETMET is based on Kittay's semantic field theory of metaphor and Black's interaction theory of metaphor. Input to NETMET consists of a list of literal propositions. NETMET creates metaphors by finding topic and source semantic fields, producing an analogical map from source to topic, then generating utterances in which terms in the source are identified with or predicated of terms in the topic. Given a metaphor, NETMET utilizes if-then rules to generate the implication complex of that metaphor. The literal leaves of the implication complex comprise a partial literal interpretation.

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Reductive and Nonreductive Simile Theories of Metaphor

Cited by 26 publications

References 0 publications

Imposed Metaphoricity

Imposed Metaphoricity

Analogical Truth Conditions for Metaphors

NETMET: A program for generating and interpreting metaphors

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