Chapter published in:
Producing Figurative Expression: Theoretical, experimental and practical perspectives
Edited by John Barnden and Andrew Gargett
[Figurative Thought and Language 10] 2020
► pp. 469–510

Figurative language

Relations and constraints

| University of La Rioja
The present paper discusses two aspects of the production of figures of speech. The first one is their relatedness, which is established on the basis of an analysis of their cognitive configuration in terms of combinations of cognitive operations. Such operations are applied to the creation of basic figures of speech such as metaphor, metonymy, understatement, overstatement, irony, paradox, and oxymoron. Other traditional figurative uses of language are then accounted for with reference to these more basic ones. The second aspect that this paper addresses is the question of constraints on figurative thinking. In this respect, it reviews previous proposals on the topic and extends their application to other cases of figurative language use. The resulting account links figurative language up with the notion of embodied cognition.
Keywords: cognitive operations, constraints on figures of speech, embodied cognition, figurative language, figures of speech, pragmatic inferencing
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The analytical tools: A thumbnail account
    • 2.1Cognitive operations: Definition and types
    • 2.2Inferential cognitive operations
      • 2.2.1Formal operations
      • 2.2.2Content operations
    • 2.3Benefits of the account
  • 3.Figures of speech revisited
    • 3.1Metaphor, simile, and related figures
      • 3.1.1Allegory
      • 3.1.2Analogy
      • 3.1.3Paragon
      • 3.1.4Synesthesia
      • 3.1.5Hypocatastasis
    • 3.2Metonymy and related figures
      • 3.2.1Synecdoche
      • 3.2.2 Hypallage
      • 3.2.3Anthimeria
      • 3.2.4 Anthonomasia
      • 3.2.5Merism
      • 3.2.6Aphorisms
    • 3.3 Overstatement
    • 3.4 Understatement, meiosis, and litotes
    • 3.5 Irony
      • 3.5.1 Antiphrasis
      • 3.5.2Prolepsis
      • 3.5.3Sarcasm
    • 3.6Paradox and oxymoron
  • 4. Constraining figurative language
    • 4.1The extended invariance principle
    • 4.2 The correlation principle
    • 4.3 Figure-specific principles: Adjusting scalar concepts and maximizing echoes and contrasts
      • 4.3.1 Scalar symmetry and scalar pragmatic adjustment
      • 4.3.2 Maximization of echoes and contrasts
  • 5. Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 December 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.10.17rui
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