Creative Metaphors Research Articles

The Role of Figurative Complexity in the Comprehension and Appreciation of Advertisements

AbstractTo date, research in advertising has focussed almost exclusively on metaphor, with linguists and marketing scholars paying very little attention to alternative types of figurative expression. Beyond the finding that metaphor leads to an increased appreciation of advertisements, there has been surprisingly little research into how consumer response is affected by metonymy, or by metaphor–metonymy interactions. In this article, we present findings from a study that investigated the depth to which participants (n = 90) from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds (the UK, Spain, and China) were found to process 30 real-world adverts featuring creative metaphor and metonymy in multimodal format. We focus on the cross-cultural variation in terms of time taken to process, appreciation and perceived effectiveness of adverts, and on individual differences explained by different levels of need for cognition. We found significant variation in the understanding of advertisements containing metaphor, metonymy, and combinations of the two, between subjects and across nationalities in terms of (i) processing time, (ii) overall appeal, and (iii) the way in which participants interpreted the advertisements.

ПРАГМАТИЧНІ ФУНКЦІЇ СТИЛІСТИЧНИХ ЗАСОБІВ В АВТОРСЬКІЙ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИЦІ ГОЛОВНОГО ПЕРСОНАЖА (НА МАТЕРІАЛІ РОМАНУ «СМЕРТЬ ГЕРОЯ» РІЧАРДА ОЛДІНГТОНА)

The article dwells on the peculiarities of the author’s usage of different stylistic devices. Richard Aldington uses a variety of lexical and grammatical stylistic devices in his outstanding novel «Death of a Hero». He is trying to implicitly show his readers his real attitude towards both his main character and the setting the latter operates in. The author constantly leads an indirect dialogue with his readers in order to make them understand the real course of events, but instead of addressing them directly and persuading them to take his point of view as a truly accurate one, Richard Aldington uses a whole range of creative metaphors, similes, hyperbolas, allusions, epithets, parallel constructions and other stylistic devices to convey the true meaning of what he describes. His usage of figures of speeches serves a double purpose: a stylistic one, i.e. to beautify the text and make it linguistically and literary rich, and a pragmatic one, i.e to serve as a source of additional information. The article makes an attempt to find the correlation between these two functions and to come to the conclusions concerning their role in the description of the main character.

‘The tide, change, nobody can stop it’: Metaphor for social action

Based on critical approaches to discourse and metaphor, as well as on cognitive models of metaphorical creativity and recontextualization, this article analyses the origin and evolution of the marea (‘tide’) metaphor as a tool for social action within recent Spanish protest movements (2011–2016). From an initial image metaphor representing different protest groups, to the use of the expression to identify a number of grassroots political parties, among other new meanings, the metaphor has proved to be an important tool in the legitimation of recent social action and change in Spanish society since the eruption of the 15M movement in 2011. By tracking its development, the study explains not only how the source domain marea activates highly positive meanings and emotions within the targets social protest, political parties, change and so on, but also how this ideological, socio-culturally conditioned, cognitively situated metaphor is becoming entrenched in the community within a very specific socio-historical and cultural context.

Грани и границы метафорической креативности: метафоры безумия в произведениях С. Кинга

Грани и границы метафорической креативности: метафоры безумия в произведениях С. Кинга

Cognitive Mechanism of Analogy and its Role in Processes of Primary Metaphor Creation

The article deals with the problem of the cognitive nature of metaphor formed in the medium of mythological consciousness of the primitive human. It is supposed that such the main features of the mythological thinking as sensory concreteness and inability to form abstract notions caused the nature of the primary metaphor which was formed through the cognitive mechanism of analogy the surrounding objects and phenomena, and the inner mental states of the human – this metaphor was not linguistic, but concrete and sensory. It is ascertained that the direction of metaphorization in the primitive consciousness was inverted to modern one, because the modern people mind uses more intelligible concrete concepts to express abstract concepts, but the primitive humans conceiving themselves as a part of the nature and understanding their inner world as the outer one projected their inner states, which are comprehended as abstract now, onto the natural phenomena, which can be perceived through the organs of sense. It is argued that formation of critical abstract thinking is related with the development of the human cognitive abilities, what caused the metaphorization veer and also the transition from the mythological mind to linguistic one. It is analyzed three approaches to solving the problem of the relation between language and myth where an important argument was the metaphoricity both of thinking and language: 1) the linguistic theory of myth by M. Müller according to which the loss initial sense of the linguistic metaphor generated myth; 2) the theory of myth based not on the linguistic metaphor, but on the concrete sensory analogy of the real objects and human perceptions (E. Tylor, A. Potebnya); 3) Neo-Kantian theory by E. Cassirer which postulates the simultaneous development of language and myth which have the common sources. It is proved that metaphoricity is inherent in the human mind of every historical period, because the linguistic metaphor is based on the cognitive one, that is the latter makes it possible to comprehend the world and ourselves in this world and express the obtained knowledge by means of language. At the same time, metaphoricity and abstractness of thinking are harmonious processes which provides the productive cognizing of the world and the creative working its results out through the fixation of them in the linguistic forms.

Figurative Language, Mental Imagery, and Pragmatics

ABSTRACTMany people report experiencing mental imagery (visual, auditory, and/or kinetic) when they comprehend verbal metaphors. The question whether imagery is merely an incidental side-effect of processes of metaphor understanding or plays a key role in comprehension remains unresolved, with diametrically opposed views expressed among psychologists, philosophers, and literary theorists. I survey a wide array of evidence (behavioral and neurocognitive) concerning the activation and use of imagery in language processing generally and metaphor processing in particular. I conclude that mental imagery is not an essential component in the comprehension of language, whether literal or metaphorical, but it is often automatically activated in the minds of hearers or readers as a by-product of their linguistic and pragmatic processes. Writers may exploit this fact and enhance the impact of imagery by producing extended and/or creative metaphors, so that, although not essential, imagistic effects can be as significant as propositional cognitive effects.

Creativity in Sport: Originality, Transformation, Indeterminacy, and New Concepts in the Arts

For the latter, in particular, it is both a metaphor and parable of creativity through various sports such as boxing, baseball, the high jump, football, the mile run, basketball, figure skating, soccer, swimming, hockey, wrestling, golf, and tennis. [...] Eisenberg accepts the basic notion of Howard Gardiner's theory of multiple intelligences although he extends it to include a public awareness and recognition for a "creative athletic performance as intelligent, as involving the highest functioning of the mind in conjunction with a highly skilled body" (2004a, p. 6). Creativity in Sport (2004a) and Exploring Creativity (2004b) that are able to stimulate discussion of sports and creativity at a higher level than ever before; hi other words, he (along with his co-authors who have been inspired by his ideas on indeterminacy) is able to view sport at the fringes and parameters of art and the ultimate ineffability of indeterminate and transformative acts of creativity through its very own and most creative practitioners.

Means of Multimodal Impact of Cognitive Metaphors in Cinema Discourse

The paper deals with semantic and cognitive analysis of modes in building sense effects as the means of multimodal impact on the cinema discourse addressee. A short story of the research study of the cinema discourse is given. A brief overview of the cinema discourse components, its ontological features and basic modes is presented, as well as the theoretical rationale of cognitive metaphor research approach. The study is undertaken on the material of the film ''They Live'' (1988) directed by John Carpenter. The possibility of domineering of visual and cognitive means for metaphor creation in cinema discourse is observed and proved, as well as of the images’ creation on their basis, without the text component of this discourse type being more functionally dominant. The following cognitive metaphor modes are studied: the film text (written), visual elements and colour in the opposition to a black-and-white scheme. The simplicity of the chosen discourse means is underlined, as well as its pragmatic purpose: the message of the film was intended to be easily understood by any addressee, with practically any informational background. Association chains developing in the process of cognitive metaphors’ interpretation are presented, as well as their link with the development of the film images. The multilayer characteristics of the film metaphors are demonstrated. The objects of the paper’s study are understood as the main pictorial and cognitive constituents in the film’s system of images and cognitive metaphors to convey the film messages. It is shown that the development of cognitive metaphors in the discourse dynamics can create an informational and imagery system making the basic sense of a film’s impact on the addressee. The perspective of further research is seen in the application of the suggested methodology to the study of other objects of the cinema discourse.

Fluency or Similarities? Cognitive Abilities that Contribute to Creative Metaphor Generation

This study focused on the cognitive abilities that contribute to creative metaphor generation. A concept explanation task was used to test conventional and novel (creative) metaphor generation. Conceptual fluency and similarities were measured using the Tel-Aviv Creativity Test (TACT). The main goal was to investigate how fluency of ideas and similarities contribute to creative metaphor generation. Fifty-four children (M = 12.59, SD = 2.05) participated in the study. The findings demonstrated that fluency of ideas contributed to the prediction of creative potential, but not conventional metaphor generation, beyond similarities, cognitive abilities, executive functions, verbal abilities, and age. The results thus show that novel metaphor generation is unique and separate estimate of creative potential, which is reciprocally related to conceptual fluency.

Conceptual Blending Monitoring Students’ Use of Metaphorical Concepts to Further the Learning of Science

The aim of this study is to explore how tertiary science students’ use of metaphors in their popular science article writing may influence their understanding of subject matter. For this purpose, six popular articles written by students in physics or geology were analysed by means of a close textual analysis and a metaphor analysis. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the students. The articles showed variation regarding the occurrence of active (non-conventional) metaphors, and metaphorical concepts, i.e. metaphors relating to a common theme. In addition, the interviews indicated that students using active metaphors and metaphorical concepts reflected more actively upon their use of metaphors. These students also discussed the possible relationship between subject understanding and creation of metaphors in terms of conceptual blending. The study suggests that students’ process of creating metaphorical concepts could be described and visualised through integrated networks of conceptual blending. Altogether, the study argues for using conceptual blending as a tool for monitoring and encouraging the use of adequate metaphorical concepts, thereby facilitating students’ opportunities of understanding and influencing the learning of science.

Embedded blends and meaning construction in Modest Musorgsky’sPictures at an Exhibition

Conceptual blending is a cognitive theory positing the combination of diverse conceptual spaces for the creation of novel blended spaces. Musical conceptual blending can be intra-musical, pertaining to the combination of diverse structural elements for the creation of new melodies, harmonies or textures, as well as cross-domain, involving the integration of musical and non-musical spaces for the creation of novel analogies or metaphors. This article presents a structural and hermeneutical analysis of “Il vecchio castello” and “Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle” from Modest Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in an attempt to disclose both the intra-musical (combination of modal, tonal or coloristic harmonic spaces and rhythmic/textural structure) and extra-musical (contextual, symbolic and programmatic aspects) conceptual blending that the works incorporate. The reductional/prolongational analyses provide input for two distinct Conceptual Integration Networks, the first describing the intra-musical blending of melodic harmonization and the second proposing the cross-domain blending of the musical and pictorial input spaces into a blended hermeneutical space that projects the works’ narrative/programmatic/emotional potential. The proposed analyses show how musical structure promotes creative listening and meaning construction through complex cross-domain integration. This research suggests that conceptual blending theory as an analytical tool can promote a richer structural interpretation and experience of music, even in cases of instrumental, non-vocal compositions.

Semantics of Dialect Verbs with Negative Manifestation of Interpersonal Relationships: Cognitive Aspect

The article analyzes the semantics of dialect verbs derivatives with the aim of studying pragmatic aspects of linguistic meaning. Cognitive models of characterizing names of actions associated with interpersonal conflict relations are defined. The cognitive models of functional and characterizing the names have been compared, and the reasons for their differences have been determined. It is established that characterizing verbs of the investigated group can have monoand poly-propositional structures. It was determined that one of the verb propositions may reflect the objective properties of the named action, the other is the result of evaluating these properties. The evaluation is contained in derivative verbs formed from evaluative, expressive nouns or arises in the process of word-formation on the basis of metaphor. In the process of metaphor creation, the properties of different objects can be compared in the likeness. Propositions can be complicated by a fictitious modality that identifies unrelated actions of an object. In the structure of the propositions of certain verbs, various kinds of causal connection are observed. The presence of metaphorical names is explained by the group’s anthropocentrism and special discourse. It turned out that it is important not only to describe the situation and evaluate it, but also to influence the listener.

Let's Think Creatively: Designing a High School Lesson on Metaphorical Creativity for English L2 Learners

This article reports on a practitioner research study exploring how creative thinking activities can be designed and integrated into high school English classes. It delineates the process of developing a metaphorical creativity workshop for year 11 students in Taiwan and demonstrates the students’ workshop experiences and learning outcomes. Results of the study reveal that the workshop stimulated the students’ metaphorical creativity and expanded their English-language knowledge. Findings also suggest that the workshop can be further improved in several ways, such as including more diverse topics about language creativity and combining creativity training with textbook content. Overall, this study provides essential insights that can help English teachers design creative thinking activities and integrate them into high school English curricula effectively.

Big Data from the South: The Beginning of a Conversation We Must Have

What would datafication look like seen… ‘upside down’? What questions would we ask? What concepts,theories, and methods would we embrace or have to devise? What do we miss if we stick to the mainstream, Western perspective(s)? This paper calls for exploring the question of 'Big Data from the South'. It acknowledges that, while many scholars of various disciplines have started to critically explore the implications of datafication across the social, cultural and political domains, much of this critical scholarship has emerged along a Western axis ideally connecting Silicon Valley, Cambridge, MA and Northern Europe. But how does datafication unfold in countries with fragile democracies, flimsy economies, and impending poverty? Is our conceptual and methodological toolbox able to capture and to understand the dark developments and the amazing creativity emerging at the periphery of the empire? Our South is not just a geographical area, it is primarily a place (and a metaphor) of resistance, subversion and creativity.

SWEARWORDS USED IN DETECTED MOVIE VIEWED BY SPEECH ACT THEORY

Abstract This thesis examines the swearwords using the speech act theory in Accepted movie directed by Steve Pink. The objectives of this research are ; (1) To find kinds of swearwords used by the characters. (2) To classify the speech act categories used by the characters when they uttered the swearwords. (3) To investigate the contexts of swearing. The dominant kind of speech act in the swearwords that the characters use is expressive because Americans get used to express their feelings spontaneously. The most dominant context that appeared is dysphemistic context that makes the movie more interesting with the creative metaphors . Keywords : Swearwords, Speech Act, Accepted

Figuring the Shame of Corruption in Jordanian Sociopolitical Discourse through a Range of Creative Metaphorical Scenarios

Using the tenets of the Cognitive Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the pragmatic approach of the Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA), this paper investigates a variety of novel metaphoric scenarios targeting the conceptualization of the abstract concept of corruption in Jordanian sociopolitical discourse. My central argument is that by employing a range of conceptual domains to elicit a strong visceral reaction in his readership, the columnist Ahmad Hasan Al-Zu’bi connects the conceptual domain of CORRUPTION back to the equally abstract (but also deeply felt) conceptual domain of SHAME as the embedded running theme in the data under investigation. Unlike the corresponding model, which is primarily concerned with mapping elements from the source domain onto the target counterpart, these scenarios provide us with mini-narratives or storylines, shedding more light on the concept of SHAME which is crystallized through the diverse source domains utilized in the columnist’s writings. The study is based on the analysis of 19 extracts taken from the writings of a popular Jordanian columnist Ahmad Hasan Al-Zu’bi in his well-known website Sawalief.com. Two main research questions are raised in this paper: 1. What types of creative metaphoric scenarios are used to frame the abstract target concept of corruption? 2. Why are these particular creative metaphors exploited in the conceptualization of the problem of corruption? Findings of the study reveal that the creative power of these metaphoric scenarios does highlight and connect back to a powerful and emotionally resonant emotion that is important in traditional Jordanian society: SHAME.

Two analogy strategies: the cases of mind metaphors and introspection

ABSTRACTAnalogical reasoning is often employed in problem-solving and metaphor interpretation. This paper submits that, as a default, analogical reasoning addressing these different tasks employs different mapping strategies. In problem-solving, it employs analogy-maximising strategies (like structure mapping, Gentner, D., & Markman, A. B. (1997). Structure mapping in analogy and similarity. American Psychologist, 52, 45–56); in metaphor interpretation, analogy-minimising strategies (like ATT-Meta, Barnden, J. A. (2015). Open-ended elaborations in creative metaphor. In T. R. Besold, M. Schorlemmer, & A. Smaill (Eds.), Computational creativity research: Towards creative machines (pp. 217–242). Berlin: Springer). The two strategies interact in analogical reasoning with conceptual metaphors. This interaction leads to predictable fallacies. The paper supports these hypotheses through case-studies on “mind” metaphors from ordinary discourse, and abstract problem-solving in the philosophy of mind, respectively. It shows that (1) default metaphorical interpretations for vision- and space-cognition metaphors can be derived with a variant of the analogy-minimising ATT-Meta approach, (2) philosophically influential introspective conceptions of the mind can be derived with conceptual metaphors only through an analogy-maximising strategy, and (3) the interaction of these strategies leads to hitherto unrecognised fallacies in analogical reasoning with metaphors. This yields a debunking explanation of introspective conceptions.

The Final Fight: An Analysis of Metaphors in Online Obituaries of Professional Athletes.

In literature, obituaries from different cultures and languages have been studied on different levels and from different perspectives. One of the popular research topics is the use of metaphors, since metaphors help to cope with death, which in modern society is still a taboo. This article presents a bottom-up, primarily qualitative analysis of the metaphors in 150 obituaries of sportspeople, published in online versions of newspapers/magazines and on the Internet. As expected, the obituaries contain the traditional metaphors of death. Also more original, creative metaphors are introduced to describe death in a euphemistic way. Some of those have a link to sports but not systematically to the sport practiced by the deceased.

Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies César Hidalgo, New York 2015: Basic Books, 256 pp. $ 26.99. ISBN: 0141978031, 9780141978031

Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies César Hidalgo, New York 2015: Basic Books, 256 pp. $ 26.99. ISBN: 0141978031, 9780141978031

The Study of Metaphor Use in ESAP L2 Writing

This research studies the influence of professional competence of EFL learners on their metaphor production. The task was approached through analyzing metaphors in the English written texts produced by Russian students with different competence in economics – the non-professional and professional competence level. Findings highlight similarities and divergence of metaphor use in L2 writing in terms of learners’ professional competence. The results of comparative analysis of specific features in metaphors produced at different professional competence levels reveal the quantitative and qualitative differences of what functions metaphors are used to perform and to what extent they are used accurately. With the shift from the non-professional to the professional competence level learners are able to use metaphors that combine a function of presenting abstract concepts with a discourse organising function in a more balanced way and make much more use of creative metaphors, and their metaphor production tends to be less influenced by L1 background. Practical recommendations suggest an improved research methodology for studying metaphor production in ESAP as well as a deeper understanding of ESP content and its structure.