Publications

Publication details [#10681]

Thomas, Michael S. C. and Denis Mareschal. 2001. Metaphor as categorization: A connectionist implementation. Metaphor and Symbol 16 (1-2) : 5–27. 23 pp.

Abstract

A key issue for models of metaphor comprehension is to explain how, in some metaphorical comparison "A is B," only some features of B are transferred to A. The features of B that are transferred to A depend both on A and on B. This is the central thrust of Black's (1979) well-known interaction theory of metaphor comprehension. However, this theory is somewhat abstract, and it is not obvious how it may be implemented in terms of mental representations and processes. In this article, we describe a simple computational model of online metaphor comprehension that combines Black's interaction theory with the idea that metaphor comprehension is a type of categorization process (Glucksberg & Keysar, 1990,1993). (Michael Thomas and Denis Mareschal)