Attribution of discourse goals for using concrete- and abstract-tenor metaphors and similes with or without discourse context

Abstract

Although there has been considerable research on the comprehension of figurative language, investigation of its production has been much less common. A particularly neglected aspect has been the study of the attributions by the language receiver of the language producer's intentions in using various types of figurative language. Experiment 1 presented young-adult participants with 16 sentences containing metaphors ( The submarine was a whale) and similes ( The submarine was like a whale). They were asked to check as many of twelve discourse goals, reasons why they thought the author might have chosen that figure of speech, as they thought it to be relevant to that particular sentence. Materials were presented (1) orally, in written form, or both, (2) with or without a prior meaningful discourse context, and (3) with a concrete or abstract topic. The most frequently chosen goal was to Compare Similarities, the only goal on which similes (more often chosen) and metaphors differed. The pattern of nine discourse goals differed between the Abstract and Concrete sentences. The factor of discourse context affected the discourse goal attributions on Be Humorous and Compare Similarities, while the factor of modality affected only Add Emphasis. Experiments 2 and 3 examined stylistic preference and perceived aptness of the comparisons expressed in the sentences used in Experiment 1 as possible explanations for the results obtained. Findings were interpreted in terms of different discourse goals tapping into either the situation level model of representation or only the propositional textbase level.