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Producing Figurative Expression: Theoretical, experimental and practical perspectives
Edited by John Barnden and Andrew Gargett
[Figurative Thought and Language 10] 2020
► pp. 237–262

Producing figurative meanings

The case of idioms

| Macquarie University

This paper explores the hypothesis that definiteness marking can be used as a tool for the speaker to trigger idiomaticity. In an experiment, we asked participants to produce the content of newly created figurative expressions. The results showed that the manipulation of a single parameter, definiteness marking, gave rise to a difference in the type of content participants produced for the novel figurative expressions. In particular, figurative expressions that contained a pragmatically unlicensed definite article gave rise to greater idiomaticity than expressions that contained a (licensed) indefinite article. Violating the felicity conditions on the use of a definite article is therefore one way for the speaker to produce figuration.

Keywords: figurative expressions, idiomaticity, definiteness marking, Dutch
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Definiteness and idiomaticity
  • 3.Producing figurative meanings
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Materials and design
    • 3.3 Procedure
    • 3.4Results
      • 3.4.1Types of meanings for non-existing idioms
      • 3.4.2Transparency rating
      • 3.4.3Discussion of experimental findings
  • 4.General discussion and future directions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.10.09kor
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