Metaphorical Utterances Research Articles

Distinguishing two kinds of fictionalism: metaphor, autism, and the imagination

Fictionalist theories of metaphor hold that metaphorical utterances aim at fictionality. Fictionalism successfully explains speaker judgments about the truth and aptness of metaphorical utterances, and it also accurately predicts the data around metaphor and autistic individuals (who have deficits in both imaginative play and metaphor comprehension). But fictionalism is not a viable theory of metaphor, despite these merits, because of (what I call) the problem of semantic entailment: semantic entailments that are normally valid fail under metaphorical interpretation, but fictionalism predicts otherwise. I argue this to ultimately show that theorists of metaphor should reject the linguistic side of the fictionalist story; but this leaves open the possibility of accepting psychological fictionalism, i.e., the hypothesis that fiction/make-believe is central to the cognitive processing of metaphor. Coupling psychological fictionalism with a different theory of metaphorical meaning and content (such as contextualism) promises to keep the explanatory upsides of traditional fictionalism while avoiding the problem of semantic entailment.

Online Metaphor Comprehension in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Eye Tracking Study

AbstractThe aim of this study was to investigate novel metaphor comprehension in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous literature is conflicting about whether individuals with ASD have impairment in this particular type of figurative language. Participants in the study completed a visual world paradigm eye-tracking task, which involved selecting an interpretation of an auditorily presented sentence (i.e. a picture-sentence matching task), where images corresponded to literal and metaphorical interpretations. Thus, the study also investigated online processing, via reaction times and eye movements. Forty adults participated in the study (18 with ASD and 22 typically-developing controls). Each participant completed the AQ questionnaire and had their vocabulary assessed. Results showed that participants with ASD comprehended metaphorical utterances with the same accuracy as controls. However, they had significantly slower reaction times, and specifically, were approximately 800 ms slower. Analysis of eye movements revealed that participants with ASD showed significantly longer fixation times on both the target and distractor image, the latter of which suggests difficulty overcoming the literal interpretation. Consistent with some prior studies, we showed that adults with ASD are not impaired in novel metaphor comprehension, but they were clearly less efficient. Verbal abilities did not significantly relate to performance. Finally, our online processing measure (eye tracking) provided us with insights into the nature of the ASD inefficiency (i.e. a literality bias).

Метаморфозы «Кошки Дэн Сяопина» (на материале испаноязычной публицистики)

The aim of the research is to identify the specifics of realization of the cognitive potential of Deng Xiaoping’s metaphorical utterance ‘No importa el color del gato, lo importante es que cace ratones’ (It does not matter what color the cat is, as long as it catches mice), widely used in a transformed form in the Spanish-language media discourse as a source of speech metaphors created by the authors of publications to achieve their cognitive, communicative and pragmatic goals. The work is novel in that it is the first to conduct a comprehensive study of the techniques and methods of metaphor transformation and its consequences. The research findings showed high productivity of grammatical modification techniques, the extension of the attributive component and variations of the syntactic structure of the phrase, a direct interpretation of the cognitive feature “color” as a metaphorical designation of a certain ideology; replacing the significative-denotative ratio and components of the metaphor, using a simple metaphor, role inversion, giving new metaphorical consequences for the composition of the model (“cat”, “color”, “functioning” and “the state of the model”), taking into account the contextual environment, which increases the pragmatic potential and the impact of the metaphor.

Translation Method of Metaphorical Speech in Dead Poets Society Movie: A Qualitative Analysis

This study aims to explore the method of translating metaphorical utterances in the Dead Poets Society movie, given the challenges metaphors pose in conveying meanings through comparisons. The research design adopts a qualitative approach, with data collected through direct observation, including watching, understanding, classifying, and analyzing 26 randomly selected metaphorical samples. The study reveals that semantic translation dominates the transmission of metaphorical meaning, with translators oriented towards the semantic and syntactic structure of the source language. Translators tend to employ word-for-word, literal, semantic, and faithful translation techniques. The implications of the findings suggest that semantic translation is more prevalent than communicative translation in conveying messages and meanings, with literal translation being the most widely used method. However, some sentences were left untranslated in the target language. This study provides valuable insights for translation studies, contributing to a better understanding of metaphor translation and its impact on communication in movie contexts. Highlight: Methodological Approach: The study adopts a qualitative research design to explore translation methods used in metaphorical utterances in the Dead Poets Society movie. Dominance of Semantic Translation: The analysis reveals that semantic translation is the primary approach employed by translators in conveying metaphorical meaning, emphasizing the importance of semantic and syntactic structure of the source language. Implications for Translation: The study highlights the prevalence of word-for-word, literal, semantic, and faithful translation methods, shedding light on the challenges of translating metaphors and their impact on conveying messages and meanings. Keyword: Translation Methods, Metaphorical Utterances, Dead Poets Society Movie, Semantic Translation, Qualitative Research

Comprehending scientific metaphors in the bilingual brain: Evidence from event-related potentials.

While the processing mechanisms of novel and conventional metaphors were widely investigated in previous monolingual studies, little attention has been devoted to how metaphoric utterances are processed by the bilingual brain as well as how scientific context might modulate such processes. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), this paper investigates the way in which scientific metaphors are electrophysiologically processed in Chinese (L1) and English (L2), with the aim of investigating the different mechanisms for understanding metaphorical language in first (L1) and second (L2) languages. By time-locking the N400 and later LPC time windows, the research show how meaning integration differs between L1 and L2 at different stages when comprehending figurative language. We found that compared with Chinese scientific metaphors, English scientific metaphors elicited greater N400, smaller late positive component (LPC), and greater late negativity, and English literals elicited greater late negativity. Our findings suggest that the dynamics of processing figurative meaning in bilingual brains over time show a complex pattern, with language, context, inference and salience jointly modulating temporal dynamics and possible cerebral asymmetries, supporting the revised hierarchical model.

Approaching Vagueness: Teaching Critical Thinking With Sustainability as Metaphor

Students need to be prepared for a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. This paper is situated at the intersection of heuristics and pedagogy to answer the pressing question of how to teach in light of definitional vagueness. We build on Searle’s (1986) Open-ended Metaphorical Utterance Model and demonstrate through a systemic expert analysis that linguistic sense-making is derived via fuzzy logic. We discuss how metaphor can be a tool to teach critical thinking in the class room and apply the sustainability concept as metaphor. We conclude with a discussion for approaching vagueness in the classroom through teaching critical thinking with metaphor.

TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN REPRODUCING THE EXPRESSIVE MEANS OF PUBLIC POLITICAL SPEECH: PECULIARITIES AND TECHNIQUES

The paper considers the peculiarities of the application of translation strategies in reproducing the expressive potential of modern samples of the political speech genre in their specific national and linguistic variants. Political speech, which aims at embodying a certain ideological influence, will be effective if it combines rational and emotional elements. Speeches by politicians are usually expressive. Expressive political speech produces the most intended effect on the audience, its purpose is to increase the influence of what is said by the speaker and the presence of expressive function in political speeches is almost mandatory. When translating speeches of well-known politicians, the translator is interested in a certain choice of language means because the taget text should influence the foreign audience in the same way as the original own. Metaphorical utterances and phraseological units are important elements of a political speech that cause difficulties in translation. In order to transfer the expressive function in the translation of metaphors, the translator resorts to a number of stylistic modifications, transformations in which instead of the units belonging to one stylistic register, the units belonging to another one are used. Expressiveness in the speeches of the English-speaking politicians is also achieved through the use of not only metaphor but also metonymy, antithesis, epithet, hyperbole, litotes and lexical repetition. Among the types of lexical repetition anadiplosis, anaphora, epiphora and symploce are considered in the paper. When choosing a translation strategy, it is necessary to take into account the linguistic and cultural features of American rhetoric, the reaction of recipients, as well as the political situation in the country.
 

Metaphorical Argumentation

It is a fact that novel metaphorical utterances appear in natural language argumentation. It seems, moreover, that these put forward metaphorical propositions that can have different roles (data, warrants or claims) in argument structure. There can even be good argumentation which is indispensably metaphorical. However, not all metaphor theories provide an explanation of metaphorical meaning compatible with these claims. In this article, we explain the three main views on metaphorical meaning and show, analysing some examples, their consequences for metaphorical argumentation. Our analysis shows that only the cognitive view can explain that there are arguments which can only be generated using novel metaphors.

Populist discourse and active metaphors in the 2016 US presidential elections

Abstract In recent years, the specter of populism has grown increasingly restless in the Western world and beyond. This new populism has been observed in different political movements in Europe; the Brexit movement in the UK, Podemos and Vox in Spain, Rassemblement National in France, Partij voor de Vrijheid in the Netherlands, and Viktor Orbán’s illiberal democracy in Hungary. Inevitably, it is most commonly associated with the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA in 2016. In this paper, a pragmatic interaction theory of metaphorical utterances is applied to a corpus of speeches given by candidates during the American 2016 presidential elections. First, speeches and candidates were graded for populism according to a holistic grading method. Secondly, speeches were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate if and how active metaphorical language was used to construct the populist frame. The findings suggest that active metaphors can be useful for politicians who wish to counter the dominant conventional frames, and so can serve the ideological purposes of populists and non-populists alike. Therefore, this paper also argues that novel metaphorical concepts and active metaphorical utterances make important contributions to the communication of ideologies in political discourse and should not be overlooked by analysts.

TRANSLATION STRATEGIES IN REPRODUCING THE EXPRESSIVE MEANS OF PUBLIC POLITICAL SPEECH: PECULIARITIES AND TECHNIQUES

The paper considers the peculiarities of the application of translation strategies in reproducing the expressive potential of modern samples of the political speech genre in their specific national and linguistic variants. Political speech, which aims at embodying a certain ideological influence, will be effective if it combines rational and emotional elements. Speeches by politicians are usually expressive. Expressive political speech produces the most intended effect on the audience, its purpose is to increase the influence of what is said by the speaker and the presence of expressive function in political speeches is almost mandatory. When translating speeches of well-known politicians, the translator is interested in a certain choice of language means because the taget text should influence the foreign audience in the same way as the original own. Metaphorical utterances and phraseological units are important elements of a political speech that cause difficulties in translation. In order to transfer the expressive function in the translation of metaphors, the translator resorts to a number of stylistic modifications, transformations in which instead of the units belonging to one stylistic register, the units belonging to another one are used. Expressiveness in the speeches of the English-speaking politicians is also achieved through the use of not only metaphor but also metonymy, antithesis, epithet, hyperbole, litotes and lexical repetition. Among the types of lexical repetition anadiplosis, anaphora, epiphora and symploce are considered in the paper. When choosing a translation strategy, it is necessary to take into account the linguistic and cultural features of American rhetoric, the reaction of recipients, as well as the political situation in the country.

Using the Theory of Conceptual Metaphor to Understand Utterance Metaphorical in English Version of Surah An-Nisa

This study discusses the results of the analysis performed to determine the meaning of the metaphor in the Surah An-Nisa English version. This study is carried by applying a systematic method. Through the observation method followed by the note-taking technique, researchers identified the Quran Surah An-Nisa English Version 176 verses to find metaphors and analyzed the data with understanding the meaning of each utterance that appeared by finding keywords from the source domain of the lexicon and the target domain in one metaphorical. The results of data analysis were presented through formal and informal methods. The findings are abstract meaning that are constructed more concrete by God as guidance to humans through metaphorical utterances. The implication of this study helps people to understand the messages of the verse in the Quran, especially the Surah An-Nisa.

Perception and Evaluation of the Balkans as a Powder Keg in the German-language Press Discourse

Media reports have employed the metaphor Pulverfass “Pulverfass Balkan (Balkan Powder Keg)” in the past century to describe the Balkans in general, and the former Yugoslavia in particular, as an area in which unrest has repeatedly occurred and might continue to occur. In everyday and mass media discourse, the use of metaphors has an evaluation function, whereas in the representation of politically relevant processes a persuasive function through which the attitudes and evaluations of the text producer are conveyed to the readers. In this article we will use the example of the metaphor “Pulverfass Balkan (Balkan Powder Keg)” to show how it has become a rating pattern for German-speaking Balkan perceptions since the First World War. The focus of this paper is the analysis of this metaphor in the German-language media reports from the beginning of the First World War to the present - a century later – with the aim of finding out which functions they serve as a pattern of interpretation in the German-language media discourse on the security situation in the Balkans, more specifically in the former Yugoslavia. The concept of the metaphor used in this article draws on both conceptual metaphor theory and blending theory. Schwarz-Friesel (2015) examines the metaphorical utterance of the Balkan powder keg in the context of critical cognitive linguistics (CCL). The corpus for this paper consists of archives and articles available online (such as comments, reports, and interviews). The potential significance of the metaphorical expression of the Balkan powder keg is examined on the basis of the selected corpus.

Demystifying metaphor: a strategy for literal paraphrase

There is a long philosophical tradition of skepticism about the possibility of adequate paraphrases for metaphorical utterances. And even among those who favor paraphrasability, there is a tendency to think that paraphrases of metaphorical utterances may themselves have to be non-literal. I argue that even the most evocative and open-ended metaphorical utterances can be literally and adequately paraphrased, once we recognize that they are actually indirect speech acts—specifically, indirect directives that command the hearer to engage in an open-ended comparison. This leads to an overall picture in which trite, unevocative metaphorical utterances admit of just straightforward, usually non-directive literal paraphrases, while the most evocative metaphorical utterances admit of only indirect directive paraphrases, and metaphorical utterances in a third category admit of two literal paraphrases, one of which is straightforward and usually non-directive, and the other of which takes the indirect directive form. This argument for literal paraphrasability is intended to demystify metaphor, but not to undercut metaphor’s tremendous value as a communicative device.

The Art of Scientific Metaphors

Metaphor has no place in science, some claim; no, others argue, metaphor is crucial to science. Science is a rational enterprise with its own distinctive logical structure; no, it isn’t essentially different from literature, equally a kind of world-making. There is a distinctive metaphorical kind of meaning; no, metaphorical utterances have only their literal meanings, in which they are just plain false. Conspicuous by its absence is the reasonable middle ground Haack will be mapping here. Metaphor is useful, but not essential, to scientific work; metaphors don’t have a special kind of meaning, but they do have a special pragmatic role; scientific work and the writing of fiction do have important things in common, but there are also significant differences between the two enterprises. Once we understand how science works (§1), and then how metaphors work (§2), we can articulate the similarities, and differences, between scientific metaphors and literary ones (§3).

'HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?' – OR THE POWER OF METAPHORICAL UTTERANCES

The aim of this paper is to analyse the metaphorical utterances used in the advertising messages in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, 2017. The framework of analysis is provided by Forceville (1996), who applied the relevance theory to metaphors used in advertising. The three billboards feature simple messages in black capital letters against a crimson red background, without any pictures, which however trigger thoughts and events not necessarily anticipated or expected by the sender. The journey of the intended message to the desired action meant by the communicator is long and twisted, and makes the tragi-comedy enthralling, despite its lack of verisimilitude. The POLICE ARE GUARDIANS metaphor is challenged (hence the question mark in the message printed on the third billboard) throughout the movie and the fantasy-like ending offers no redemption at all (ex-officer Dixon is no longer lawfully entitled to pursue the alleged culprit). The police are ultimately and undeniably useless, trust is shattered, traditional institutions are contested, as they can no longer provide justice. Controversially enough, there is a backward trajectory for Dixon, who almost achieves redemption at the end of the movie, in joining forces with Frances, in order to fight a righteous cause.

The strategy of slang words translation in “the kissing booth” movie subtitle

This study sets out to describe the translation strategy and the impacts of the strategy to the accuracy and acceptability of slang words translation in “The Kissing Booth” movie subtitle. The research data were collected from “The Kissing Booth” movie file along with the subtitles, both in English and Indonesian. The data were all slang words found in “The Kissing Booth” movie dialogue and subtitle. This study employed descriptive qualitative method to analyze the slang words from the dialogue in the movie. The result of the research shows that the slang words found in the movie are divided into 8 (eight) categories which are: Euphemism with 4 (four) data, Dysphemism with 11 (eleven) data, Typical in Spoken Language with 8 (eight) data, Typical in Informal Situation with 11 (eleven) data, Metaphorical Utterance with 5 (five) data, Proverb with 2 (two) data, Untranslatability with 4 (four) data, and Neutral Syntactic Level with 5 (five) data.

The Possibility of a Nonpoetic Conversion of Technology

Identifying the layer of metaphorical utterances that are always present in media research and distinguishing it from the conscious construction of fabulation and fiction in philosophy, the author turns to the theory of language metaphors to describe a “technique of metaphor.” Locating it through a series of operations allows, first, to discuss metaphor as tension. A comparison of this tension with the intensified lines of drawings involving the appearance and disintegration of forms permits, second, to examine the existence of “couplings” (as in Lev Manovich) rather than of plasticity (as in Catherine Malabou) in the process of interaction with technological devices. At the same time, noncommunicative limits that are also denoted by metaphor can serve as further processes of interaction that reveal their greater operability compared to processes of mediation.

DMIP: A Method for Identifying Potentially Deliberate Metaphor in Language Use

This paper introduces the Deliberate Metaphor Identification Procedure (DMIP), a method for the systematic and reliable identification of potentially deliberate metaphor in language use. We take a semiotic approach to deliberate metaphor, and propose that, on a semiotic level, the distinction between potentially deliberate and non-deliberate metaphor hinges on the question whether the source domain functions as a distinct referent in the meaning of a metaphorical utterance. We present DMIP and illustrate the procedure in practice on the basis of the analysis of a series of real-world examples. We also report on inter-rater reliability testing. Finally, we discuss the implications of adopting DMIP as a tool for deliberate-metaphor analysis, and point out how this approach can contribute to the further development of Deliberate Metaphor Theory.

Metaphor, Meaning and Translation

Over the last decades, metaphor has been subject to intensive research within philoso-phy, psychology, psychiatry, pedagogics, etc., whereas there has been less focus on the study of metaphor as a linguistic utterance. But to a translator metaphor is a very intriguing practical linguistic problem. How do we translate for instance the Danish metaphor blæksprutte? In this article, we will discuss to what extent ordinary dictionaries may be of use (can you look up the metaphor blæksprutte?) and will describe the data-base of metaphors that we are establishing with examples from economic and political texts in Danish, French and Italian. The database is organized as a thesaurus where metaphorical utterances are categorized under Meaning and Source domain and where translators may find inspiration when having to render metaphors in the three lan-guages.

Individual differences in the processing of written sarcasm and metaphor: Evidence from eye movements.

The present study examined individual differences in the processing of different forms of figurative language. Sixty participants read sarcastic, metaphorical, and literal sentences embedded in story contexts while their eye movements were recorded, and responded to a text memory and an inference question after each story. Individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC), need for cognition (NFC), and cognitive-affective processing were measured. The results showed that the processing of metaphors was characterized by slow-down during first-pass reading of the utterances, whereas sarcasm produced mainly delayed effects in the eye movement records. Sarcastic utterances were also harder to comprehend than literal or metaphorical utterances as indicated by poorer performance in responses to inference questions. Individual differences in general cognitive factors (WMC and NFC) were related to the processing of metaphors, whereas individual differences in both general cognitive factors (WMC) as well as processing of emotional information were related to the processing of sarcasm. The results indicate that different forms of figurative language pose different cognitive demands to the reader, and show that reader characteristics play a prominent role in figurative language comprehension.