What’s figurative about figurative language?

Abstract

Traditional accounts of figures of speech identify a long list of rhetorical devices that collectively comprise the domain of figurative language. But what does it really mean to say that some instance of speech or writing is part of “figurative language”? This article considers several possible ways of thinking about figurative language by taking a closer look at what “figurative” really means. A main theme of this assessment views figurative in terms of the human figure or body. I outline one possible way that diverse, even more peripheral, figures of speech relate to bodily experience and embodied thought. Figurative language may be special precisely because it demonstrates, and not simply describes, speakers’ thoughts and attitudes regarding mostly distal events and abstract ideas. These demonstrations are evoked via embodied simulation processes in which listeners imagine themselves enacting the actions referred to in different figures of speech. This perspective offers a distinct theory of how diverse figures of speech ultimately fit within larger psychological and linguistic theories of meaning and interpersonal communication.