It is argued that communicative principles cannot account for selection between a literal and a metaphorical interpretation. Standard semantic and pragmatic theories are contrasted, and both are held to be inadequate for the construction of a theory of metaphor understanding. A review of experimental research shows that literal and metaphorical interpretations are constrained in the same way by communicative principles and that communication needs are irrelevant to the process. Metaphorical and literal statements are distinguished instead by the purposes for which they are used, metaphors expressing inheritance. The communicative function of metaphors is to mark the strength of implied attributes. (Copyright 1993, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (J. Hitchcock in LLBA 1993, vol. 27, n. 3)