Article published In:
Cognitive Linguistic StudiesVol. 2:2 (2015) ► pp.349–360
Abstract and concrete representations in structure-mapping and class-inclusion
This article presents an Abstract Algebraic framework within which two major theories of metaphor comprehension, the class-inclusion and structure-mapping, are incorporated. Looking at Gentner’s structure-mapping model from this perspective, this article suggests that any comparison between two systems of relations is made by the mediation of an abstract system of relations rather than by a direct comparison between two concrete systems of relations. Regarding class-inclusion model, it is proposed that the class in which the topic is directly included is the class of abstract representation (deep representation) of vehicle. In this way, two levels of meaning are defined for the vehicle of a metaphor. The first level is the abstract representation or deep representation, which includes one or at most several salient semantic features. This is the metaphorical meaning of vehicle, which might be shared by a set of words with different degrees of typicality. The second level of meaning is the surface representation or literal meaning. This level includes a large number of semantic features. Therefore, metaphorical meaning includes one or at most several very salient semantic aspects, while literal meaning includes a large number of semantic features.
References (16)
Bowdle, B.F., & Gentner, D. (1999). Metaphor comprehension: From comparison to categorization. In M. Hahn & S.C. Stoness (Eds.), Proceedings of twenty-first annual conference of cognitive science society (pp. 90–95). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
Falkenhainer, B., Forbus, K.D., & Gentner, D. (1989). The structure-mapping engine: Algorithm and examples. Artificial Intelligence, 411, 1–63. 
Gentner, D. (1983). Structure-mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy. Cognitive Science, 71, 155–170.
Gentner, D., & Clement, C.A. (1988). Evidence for relational selectivity in interpreting analogy and metaphor. In G.H. Bower (Ed.). The psychology of learning and motivation. New York: Academic Press.
Glucksberg, S., & Keysar, B. (1990). Understanding metaphorical comparisons: Beyond similarity. Psychological Review, 971, 3–18.
. (1993). How metaphors work. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed., pp. 401–424). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Glucksberg, S., McGlone, M.S., & Manfredi, D. (1997). Property attribution in metaphor comprehension. Journal of Memory and Language, 361, 50–67.
Glucksberg, S., Manfredi. D.A., & McGlone, M.S. (1997). Metaphor comprehension: How metaphors create categories. In T.B Wards, S.M. Smith, & J. Vaid (Eds.), Creative thought: An investigation of conceptual metaphors and processes (pp. 326–350). Washington, DC: American Psychology Association.
Glucksberg, S., Newsome, M.R., & Goldvarg, Y. (1997). Filtering out irrelevant material during metaphor comprehension. In M.G. Shafto & P. Langely (Eds.), Proceeding of 19th annual conference of the cognitive society (p. 932). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
. (2001). Inhibition of the literal: Filtering metaphor-irrelevant information during metaphor comprehension. Metaphor & Symbol, 161, 277–293.
Glucksberg, S. (2001). Understanding figurative language: From metaphors to idioms. Oxford University Press.
Jones, L., & Estes, Z. (2005). Metaphor comprehension as attributive categorization. Journal of Memory and Language, 531, 110–124.
Keysar, B., & Glucksberg, S. (1992). Metaphor and communication. Poetics Today, 131, 632–658.
Murphy, G.L. (1997). Polysemy and the creation of novel word meanings. In T.B. Wards, S.M. Smith, & J. Vaid (Eds.), Creative thought: An investigation of conceptual structures and processes (pp. 235–265). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Shen, Y. (1992). Metaphors and categories. Poetics Today, 131, 771–794.
Tourangeau, R., & Rips, L. (1991). Interpreting and evaluating metaphors. Journal of Memory and Language, 301, 452–472.
Cited by (16)
Cited by 16 other publications
Banaruee, Hassan, Danyal Farsani, Omid Khatin-Zadeh & Zahra Eskandari
2024. Metaphors across cultures. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 60:2 ► pp. 133 ff. 
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Danyal Farsani, Zahra Eskandari, Lin Li & Hassan Banaruee
2024. Prime effects in metaphor comprehension: comparing congruent and opposite schematic primes. Frontiers in Psychology 15
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Zahra Eskandari, Florencia Reali, Hassan Banaruee & Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
2023. Are metaphorical classes essentially abstract?. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 10:1 ► pp. 85 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Mirko Farina, Babak Yazdani-Fazlabadi, Jiehui Hu, David Trumpower, Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos & Danyal Farsani
2023. The Roles of Gestural and Symbolic Schematizations in Inhibition as a Component of Executive Functions. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science 57:3 ► pp. 950 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Jiehui Hu, Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos & Danyal Farsani
2023. The impact of gestural representation of metaphor schema on metaphor comprehension. Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 59:1 ► pp. 117 ff.
Torrens-Urrutia, Adrià, Maria Dolores Jiménez-López & Susana Campillo-Muñoz
2023. Dealing with Evaluative Expressions and Hate Speech Metaphors with Fuzzy Property Grammar Systems. Axioms 12:5 ► pp. 484 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid & Danyal Farsani
2022. The understanding of abstract concepts: a perspective from distributed models of conceptual representation. Discover Psychology 2:1
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid & Hooshang Khoshsima
2021. Homo-schematic Metaphors: A Study of Metaphor Comprehension in Three Different Priming Conditions. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 50:4 ► pp. 923 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Hassan Banaruee, Zahra Eskandari & Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
2019. Isomorphism: Abstract and Concrete Representations. Activitas Nervosa Superior 61:3 ► pp. 152 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Zahra Eskandari, Yousef Bakhshizadeh-Gashti, Sedigheh Vahdat & Hassan Banaruee
2019. An algebraic perspective on abstract and concrete domains. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 6:2 ► pp. 354 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Hooshang Khoshsima, Nahid Yarahmadzehi & Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
2019. The Impact of Metaphorical Prime on Metaphor Comprehension Processes. Australian Journal of Linguistics 39:3 ► pp. 375 ff.
Gathigia, Moses Gatambuki, Ruiming Wang, Manqiong Shen, Carlos Tirado, Oksana Tsaregorodtseva, Omid Khatin-Zadeh, Ricardo Minervino & Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
2018. A cross-linguistic study of metaphors of death. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 5:2 ► pp. 359 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Hooshang Khoshsima & Nahid Yarahmadzehi
2018. Suppression from the Perspective of Distributed Models of Conceptual Representation. Activitas Nervosa Superior 60:3-4 ► pp. 90 ff.
Khatin-Zadeh, Omid, Nahid Yarahmadzehi & Hassan Banaruee
2018. A Neuropsychological Perspective on Deep or Abstract Homogeneity Among Concretely Different Systems. Activitas Nervosa Superior 60:2 ► pp. 68 ff.
Banaruee, Hassan, Hooshang Khoshsima, Omid Khatin-Zadeh, Afsane Askari & Mireille Besson
2017. Suppression of semantic features in metaphor comprehension. Cogent Psychology 4:1 ► pp. 1409323 ff.
Marmolejo-Ramos, Fernando, Omid Khatin-Zadeh, Babak Yazdani-Fazlabadi, Carlos Tirado & Eyal Sagi
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.