Modifiers in metaphors: Effects of constituent phrase similarity on the interpretation of figurative sentences

Abstract

Previous research has shown that the ease of metaphor interpretation and judgments of metaphor goodness are correlated with the degree of similarity between the two nouns linked in a metaphor. This study was designed to investigate the effects of adding adjective modifiers to the nouns constituting metaphorical sentences. Four types of associative relationships, between adjectives and nouns were defined. It was found that different patterns of adjective modification influenced constituent phrase similarity (e.g., the ADJECTIVE-NOUNA is an ADJECTIVE-NOUNB), and such differences were consistent with changes in metaphor goodness and interpretability. However, the intercorrelations among these variables were a function of the level of similarity between unmodified constituent nouns. With initially similar constituent nouns, the three variables were about equally intercorrelated. With initially dissimilar constituent nouns, constituent phrase similarity and metaphor goodness were highly correlated, but interpretability was not predictable from a linear model. Results are discussed in terms of a cognitive-feature model of association and metaphor processing.