Linguistic and metalinguistic resemblance

Abstract

Similarity judgments are fundamental to cognition. They are part and parcel of our ability as humans to deal with the world around us. This ability shows in how we structure and use language. In this context, this chapter addresses the role of perceived similarity, or resemblance, in language use. It starts from a basic distinction between linguistic and metalinguistic resemblance. The former addresses similarities between entities and states of affairs, while the latter addresses metarepresentational aspects of language, which can be treated in terms of the notion of echo. It further distinguishes three dimensions of linguistic resemblance: attribute-based resemblance, structural resemblance, and high versus low-level resemblance. It pays special attention to the important theoretical status of high-level resemblance as a constraining factor on experiential correlation, which is also active in synesthesia and situation and event-based metaphors. The paper then discusses the role of resemblance in cross-domain relations in irony, hyperbole, and understatement, and it ends with an analysis of the role of metalinguistic resemblance as a pre-requisite for the inferential activity which arises from ironic, parodic, and metonymy-based implicational echoes.