Verb Metaphoric Extension Under Semantic Strain

Abstract

This paper explores the processes underlying verb metaphoric extension. Work on metaphor processing has largely focused on noun metaphor, despite evidence that verb metaphor is more common. Across three experiments, we collected paraphrases of simple intransitive sentences varying in semantic strain-for example, The motor complained → The engine made strange noises-and assessed the degree of meaning change for the noun and the verb. We developed a novel methodology for this assessment using word2vec. In Experiments 1 and 2, we found that (a) under semantic strain, verb meanings were more likely to be adjusted than noun meanings; (b) the degree of verb meaning adjustment-but not noun meaning adjustment-increased with semantic strain; and (c) verb meaning extension is primarily driven by online adjustment, although sense selection also plays a role. In Experiment 3, we replicated the word2vec results with an assessment using human subjects. The results further showed that nouns and verbs change meaning in qualitatively different ways, with verbs more likely to change meaning metaphorically and nouns more likely to change meaning taxonomically or metonymically. These findings bear on the origin and processing of verb metaphors and provide a link between online sentence processing and diachronic change over language evolution.

When sequence matters: the processing of contextually biased German verb–object metaphors

“…This resulted in a literal interpretation of the word 'hyena' (significant preference for literal over metaphoric picture in the VEHICLE region). This finding is consistent with what has been dubbed the verb mutability effect (Gentner & France, 1988;King & Gentner, 2022). Under semantic strain (i.e., when a verb's selectional restrictions are not fully compatible with the lexical features of the subject), a verb's semantic features are more likely to be loosened than the semantic features of the verb's subject.…”

The effect of semantic content on the perception of audiovisual movieclips

“…In addition to this, interesting assumptions arise by theories of semantic change regarding reinterpretation or form-meaning remapping of listeners depending on task demands (Dubossarsky, Weinshall, & Grossman, 2016). A frequent observation of verbs' meaning adaptations has been reported which does not depend on the polysemy of verbs, rather on semantic strain contexts (King & Gentner, 2019). Taking these into consideration, can propose that our results may at some level provide further evidence of the semantic complexity of verbs and the flexible nature of their cognitive representations compared to the simpler and more stable nature of nouns.…”

“…For instance, nouns are related to objects, or subjects who perform actions, and can complete the meaning of actions, whereas verbs refer to actions and events, including also -in many languages-temporal information about the actions, and thus indicating the syntactic complexity of verbs (Geng et al, 2022;de Aguiar & Rofes, 2022). According to King and Gentner (2019), semantic context adaptations for verbs show to be driven by online adjustments whereas for nouns by sense-selection. Maguire et al (2015) provide evidence for higher neural activity demands in action-verb based identification compared to object-noun.…”

Semantic content affects crossmodal integration in audiovisual movieclips

“…For instance, nouns are related to objects, or subjects who perform actions, and can complete the meaning of actions whereas verbs refer to actions and events, including also -in many languages-temporal information about the actions, and thus indicating the syntactic complexity of verbs [27], [28]. According to King and Gentner [29], semantic context adaptations for verbs show to be driven by online adjustments whereas for nouns by sense-selection. Maguire et al [30] provide evidence for higher neural activity demands in action-verb-based identification compared to object-noun.…”

“…In addition to this, interesting assumptions arise by theories of semantic change regarding reinterpretation or form-meaning remapping of listeners depending on task demands [31]. A frequent observation of verbs' meaning adaptations has been reported which does not depend on the polysemy of verbs, rather on semantic strain contexts [29]. Additionally, the confusion observed in Experiment 2 during congruent movieclips induced by target-related verbs could be another evidence of the role that conceptual feature relevance plays in different neural circuits linked to verbs [32].…”