What proverb understanding reveals about how people think.

Gibbs, Raymond W.; Beitel, Dinara

doi:10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.133

Cited by 117 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 135 publications

(154 reference statements)

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“…Importantly, Brüne and Bodenstein [20] reported a strong correlation between the schizophrenics' concretistic interpretations of the proverb test and the patients' ability to infer mental states of others (ToM). Proverbs generally express abstract, well-known truths, social norms, or moral concerns [21] . Thus the comprehension process strongly involves pragmatic abilities and may explain the strong relationship between impaired ToM and incorrect proverb interpretations by schizophrenics.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation of Ambiguous Idiomatic Statements in Schizophrenic and Depressive Patients. Evidence for Common and Differential Cognitive Patterns

Iakimova

Passerieux²,

Hardy-Baylé³

2006

Psychopathology

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Background: This study is concerned with the comprehension of ambiguous idiomatic statements in schizophrenic and depressive patients. Aims: Using a multiple-choice procedure, we simultaneously tested the presence of concrete and literal elements in the understanding of idiomatic statements. Method: Fourteen schizophrenic and 10 patients undergoing a major depressive episode as well as 14 control subjects completed a questionnaire with 10 idiomatic expressions with two possible interpretations (figurative and literal) of equivalent prominence. The participants had to choose one word linked with the different interpretations of these idioms (figurative, literal, concrete or inappropriate meaning). Results: The main results show that, in all the subjects, the contextual characteristics of the task induced a bias in favor of figurative interpretations despite the equivalent prominence of the literal interpretations of the idioms. The selection of responses relating to the concrete meaning of a single word in the idiom constituted a response mode common to both the schizophrenic and depressed patients. Despite the contextual constraints of the task, the schizophrenics opted for the literal responses more often than the other participants. The descriptive analysis argues in favor of a cognitive and clinical heterogeneity of schizophrenic patients. Conclusion: Results support the idea that literality and concreteness in idiomatic interpretation are possibly due to distinct cognitive impairments, though only some are specific to schizophrenic patients.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpretation of Ambiguous Idiomatic Statements in Schizophrenic and Depressive Patients. Evidence for Common and Differential Cognitive Patterns

Iakimova

Passerieux²,

Hardy-Baylé³

2006

Psychopathology

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“…Such an assumption is best corroborated by what is known in the literature as idiomatic proverbs [5]. On the premise that such sub-category exists, one has to admit that, at least meanings of idiomatic proverbs are conventionalized, and somehow stored in memory 1 . The neural modeling of language provides another strong piece of evidence in favor of such an assumption [7]; [8]; [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…The main reason is that, as Gibbs & Beitel [1] put it clear, "people have much more specific interpretations of what proverbs mean than is stated by the literal paraphrases of these sayings [and that is] because proverbs are partly motivated by conceptual metaphors" (p. 139). Gibbs & Beitel's claim is worth discussing here because of the particular stress they put on the primacy of preexisting conceptual metaphors in proverbs understanding at large.…”

Section: First Application: the Paradigm Of Proverbs With Opposite Mementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Linguists and paramiologists are still at pains to define proverbs -Gibbs & Beitel [1] point out that "Empirical attempts to define proverbs have revealed as many as 55 different definitions" (p.134). Yet, they all seem to be agreed that proverbs have many common characteristics ( [2]; [3]; [4]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These characteristics provide a strong basis upon which proverbs can be identified as such, that is, as being distinct from non proverbial statements. One important common characteristic proverbs share resides in their relatively fixed form [1]: "Proverbs have relatively fixed form, similar to idioms, clichés, and other speech formulas" (p. 134). This fact has a crucial implication relative the nature of proverbs meanings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conceptual Metaphors as Motivation for Proverbs Lexical Polysemy

Lemghari¹

2017

IJLL

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This paper deals with the lexical polysemy of proverbs from the standpoint of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory.The thesis that proverbs take on many meanings is widely discussed and commonly accepted in the literature on proverb understanding and use at large (Milner, 1969;Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 1973;Lakoff & Turner, 1989;Honeck, 1997; Gibbs & Beitel 1995, etc.). Yet much attention has been paid only to the proverb discursive polysemy. On the premise that proverbs have stable meanings, there is every reason to believe that some proverbs are lexically polysemous because of their metaphorical structurings. That is, the lexical polysemy of proverbs is motivated by some given conceptual metaphors the interplay of which gives rise to a range of lexical meanings, which may serve, in turn, as bases for inferring eventual contextual meanings.

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Increasing sensitivity of clinical proverb tests for diagnosis of dementia

Kljajevic

2024

Alzheimer's & Dementia

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Increasing sensitivity of clinical proverb tests for diagnosis of dementiaCases of dementia worldwide are estimated to double, if not triple, by 2050. 1 Since there is no cure for dementia, prevention, early diagnosis and interventions that slow down cognitive decline are critical. However, early diagnosis of dementia remains a challenge. Chakrabarty et al. 2 propose that certain cognitive tests, such as those targeting pragmatic skills, may facilitate early detection of cognitive decline in dementia. The authors argue that disruption to pragmatic processing may precede a deficit in episodic memory, which is considered a hallmark of unfolding Alzheimer's disease (AD), 3 and that the hippocampus, which is a locus of early neurodegenerative changes in AD, 4 also supports pragmatic processing.The idea that comprehension of figurative language may provide a window into cognitive decline is not new. Since the early 20th century, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists have used proverbs for evaluative and diagnostic purposes. 5 Proverbs are fixed

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What proverb understanding reveals about how people think.

Cited by 117 publications

References 135 publications

Interpretation of Ambiguous Idiomatic Statements in Schizophrenic and Depressive Patients. Evidence for Common and Differential Cognitive Patterns

Interpretation of Ambiguous Idiomatic Statements in Schizophrenic and Depressive Patients. Evidence for Common and Differential Cognitive Patterns

Conceptual Metaphors as Motivation for Proverbs Lexical Polysemy

Increasing sensitivity of clinical proverb tests for diagnosis of dementia

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