(2021). Back to the Poem: A Call for A Special Issue on the Poetics of Metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 61-62.

ABSTRACT Research on metaphors has shown that individuals form associations between the verticality, brightness, and distance of stimuli and their valence. Building on the literature on conceptual metaphor theory, the pitch–valence hypothesis predicts an association between the pitch of spoken words and their valence. A study was conducted recording participants’ accuracy and response latencies in

ABSTRACT Previous psycholinguistic studies have suggested that English and Spanish express temporal duration through different metaphors. English tends to use the time-as-length metaphor (e.g. I have been waiting for a long time), while Spanish prefers the time-as-quantity metaphor (e.g. he esperado mucho tiempo; ‘I have waited much time’). However, these results conflated two different construals:

ABSTRACT Studies have suggested that metaphors (Lawyers are sharks) and similes (Lawyers are like sharks) have distinct representations: metaphors engender more figurative and abstract properties, whereas similes engender more literal properties. We investigated to what extent access to such representations occurs automatically, during on-line reading. In particular, we examined whether similes convey

(2021). Irony and Sarcasm. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 116-118.

ABSTRACT This work analyzes the conceptual metaphors of depression in a corpus of 23 blogs written in Catalan by people suffering major depressive disorder. Its main aim was comparative, in order to check whether metaphors detected in previous studies were also used in a new genre and a new language. Their use was confirmed, thus reinforcing the metaphors’ relevance and their conceptual (i.e. non language-dependent)

ABSTRACT We analyzed the processing of noun-noun metaphors (e.g., velvet lips), which have been relatively understudied, compared to other types of figurative expressions, such as X is Y metaphors (e.g., Her lips are velvet) and similes (e.g., Her lips are like velvet). Experiment 1 revealed that noun-noun metaphors are semantically comparable to X is Y metaphors and similes, in the sense that the

ABSTRACT One of the compelling events during the 2020 spring coronavirus pandemic is the extent to which people call-out “irony” in regard to the speech and actions of other individuals, as well as, in some cases, their own behaviors. These frequent call-outs are evidence of the cognitive realization of some discrepancy between prior expectations and unfolding reality, but also reveal people’s communicative

ABSTRACT This study investigated the interconnected relationship between playful metaphors and sex jokes at the linguistic, conceptual, and discourse levels. Two ontological conceptual metaphors and two specific-level metaphors emerged. They demonstrated that variations in the form of empty metaphors and the creative invention of metaphors are still fundamentally iconic. The conceptual representation

ABSTRACT Religious symbols are often treated as mysterious, and even magical, links between the visible and the invisible worlds. They also lie in the nature of Christianity: they are present in its language, liturgy, as well as various forms of religious art. On the one hand, taking the cognitive-linguistic standpoint, it can be claimed that religious symbols are metonymical in nature. However, in

ABSTRACT Conceptual metaphor theory implies that ubiquitous metaphors become mere descriptions or concepts if they are not embedded in competing discursive communities. This paper demonstrates that weaponiz- retained its meaningfulness after becoming ubiquitous despite being used by all sides in contemporary contentious politics. Because metaphors derive their figurativeness through tension, weaponiz-

ABSTRACT In the literature, event metonymies have been used to explain how language users produce and interpret utterances in which certain events are understood in terms of their sub-events or the overall/complex events they are a part of. This paper attempts to discuss some pragmatic effects of event metonymies which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been explored to date. The first section

ABSTRACT We report a study examining the role of linguistic context in modulating the influences of individual differences in fluid and crystalized intelligence on comprehension of literary metaphors. Three conditions were compared: no context, metaphor-congruent context, and literal-congruent context. Relative to the baseline no-context condition, the metaphor-congruent context facilitated comprehension

(2020). Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 302-305.

ABSTRACT An eye-tracking while listening study based on the blank screen paradigm was conducted to investigate the processing of literal and metaphorical verbs of motion. The study was based on two assumptions from the literature: that language comprehension by default engages mental simulation, and that looking behavior (measured through patterns of eye movements) can provide a window into ongoing

ABSTRACT English speakers use vertical language to talk about power, such as when speaking of people being “at the bottom of the social hierarchy” or “rising to the top.” Experimental research has shown that people automatically associate higher spatial positions with more powerful social groups, such as doctors and army generals, compared to lower spatial positions, which are associated with relatively

ABSTRACT Countless conceptual metaphors related to human experience (e.g., LIFE IS A JOURNEY) have been identified and discussed in the literature. In most conceptual metaphors, a concrete, experiential source domain (e.g., JOURNEY) is used as a basis for partially structuring a more abstract target domain (e.g., LIFE). However, in some conceptual metaphors, concrete source domains (e.g., FLUID) structure

ABSTRACT In this paper we test the hypothesis that tautologies (An X is an X; X is X) are actually not tautologies (i.e., not repetitive). Indeed, when exploring natural language use, it seems that, having expressed such “uninformative” statements, speakers, most often, spell out their specific intended interpretation, rendering these messages informative (Section 2). Visual/pictorial tautologies are

ABSTRACT Most research of figurative language production examines naturalistic discourse. However, laboratory studies of elicited figurative language production are useful because they provide insight into whether specific individual differences are associated with differences in figurative language production ability. In this sense, elicited figurative language production studies mirror the approach

ABSTRACT In health communication metaphor studies, mental and terminal diseases are often the center of attention. Yet, one of the most important life stages especially for many women, pregnancy, has received little attention to date. This paper seeks to close the gap by investigating the use of metaphors in 411,362 words of internet pregnancy discussions. In particular, it compares how forum contributors

ABSTRACT People regularly encounter metaphors in a variety of different communicative settings, but most studies of metaphor framing have relied exclusively on written materials. Across three experiments (N = 2399), we examined the relative power of metaphor framing in different communication formats. Participants read, heard, or watched someone report a series of metaphorically framed issues. They

(2020). My Great Life with “Metaphor and Symbol”. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 1-1.

(2020). “… If We Look Slightly Askance, We See it All”. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 2-11.

(2020). Perception Metaphors. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 73-76.

ABSTRACT Ploke, the scheme of perfect lexical repetition, is utterly fundamental to language and thought. If that sounds like someone talking about metaphor, it is because ploke is to schemes as metaphor is to tropes. Like metaphor, ploke is the linguistic reflex of a neurocognitive pattern bias (repetition to metaphor’s similitude). Like metaphor, ploke is not a single figure but many (epanaphora

ABSTRACT Traditional Turkish love is identified with suffering. This study investigates how suffering in love is metaphorically conceptualized in Turkish via natural phenomena and disasters. Based on figurative expressions in sad love songs of Arabesque and Art music genres, the study reveals that love pain/suffering is expressed through three salient metaphors: 1) love paın/sufferıng ıs natural phenomena

ABSTRACT The present study investigated whether distinctive features influence speakers’ evaluations of metaphor aptness and their preference for metaphor use. We examined three types of topic-attributed features: (i) distinctive features of the target metaphor, (ii) distinctive features of the competitive metaphor (unique features of a metaphor that has the same topic as the target metaphor but a

(2019). Metaphors in the Mind: Sources of Variation in Embodied Metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 258-261.

(2019). Metaphor Wars: Conceptual Metaphors in Human Life. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 262-264.

ABSTRACT We suggest that disability is metaphorically represented in people’s minds as heaviness. In three studies we demonstrate the existence of a mental association between physical weight (light vs. heavy) and disability (non-disabled vs. disabled) as well as its bi-directional causal effects (from weight to disability and from disability to weight). In Study 1 (N = 250), participants exhibited

ABSTRACT Drawing extends the capacity to communicate, since it allows individuals to use graphic objects and symbols to articulate complex ideas not easily communicated using words alone. Similarly, theorists argue that metaphors are commonly used to communicate complex and abstract concepts. Though, the interpretation of visual metaphors has been studied in relation to film and advertising, referencing

ABSTRACT People often use metaphors to discuss their financial prospects – for example, finding a fortune or searching for wealth. The purpose of the present research was to utilize conceptual metaphor theory to study the effect of metaphor use on money anxiety and spending intentions. Specifically, in three experiments, participants were randomly assigned to complete a word search puzzle where they

ABSTRACT This research investigates the cross-linguistic exploitations of Lakoff’s “STRICT FATHER” and “NURTURING PARENT” frames. The British, American, Spanish, and French languages show significant variations of meaning of the metaphorical expression “Mother Earth/Nature” used in press articles discussing climate change. The shift from conceptual metaphor theory to metaphor scenarios operated in

ABSTRACT Despite the prolific literature on the metaphorical representations of time, research on subjective time has been relatively scarce and limited. Interestingly, the linguistic expression of subjective time manifests an asymmetric pattern, systematically favoring the use of Time-moving, rather than Ego-moving, metaphors (cf. “Time passes quickly” vs ?“We pass (our) time quickly”). The present

ABSTRACT This paper takes up the much-neglected figure of the closed simile, a simile in which the ground is explicitly stated, as in “the dress is as black as coal.” In the typical case, which we call standard, the ground is a highly-salient feature of the source term (e.g., black is a salient feature of coal), but our concern is with the non-standard closed similes, those in which the ground is a

ABSTRACT Within the framework of the Defaultness Hypothesis, automatic responses to “fully abstract phrasal patterns,” involving strong attenuation of highly positive concepts, are sarcastic. Such global constructional responses will be derived by default once their stimuli are free of factors known to affect processing of nonliteralness. They should, therefore, be (a) novel; (b), free of local cues

ABSTRACT The Moving Time metaphor and the Moving Ego metaphor are common in English speakers’ conceptualization of time. Previous research has suggested a broad range of factors influencing people’s perspectives on the movement of events in time and their concomitant interpretations of temporally ambiguous utterances. In the current study, we investigated whether the pace of life, a previously unexplored

(2019). Mixed metaphors: their use and abuse. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 139-140.

ABSTRACT The relationship between symbolic expression and affect tends to be investigated from the perspective of recipients in contexts like media, politics, and advertising. A more producer-centric context is picture-based counseling (PBC) where clients are prompted by counselors to interpret pictures creatively as part of the treatment process. Nevertheless, the affective and discursive outcomes

ABSTRACT This is a linguistic study of two primary metaphors with the same target concept, “DIFFICULTY IS WEIGHT” and “DIFFICULTY IS SOLIDITY,” in English and Chinese. The study employs both lexical and corpus-based approaches in order to gain insights into their manifestation in the two languages. In an attempt to show how the two primary metaphors manifest themselves at the linguistic level, the

ABSTRACT Since the publication of Susan Sontag’s highly influential Illness as Metaphor in 1978, many studies have provided follow-up analyses on her critique of metaphors for cancer, but none have investigated her claims about the uses and implications of cancer as a metaphor (e.g., the cancer of corruption), and her prediction that medical advances would make this metaphor obsolete. In this article

ABSTRACT This article discusses the complexity in ironic echoic mention from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics. It builds on the scenario-based approach to irony where ironic meaning is treated as a contextually adjustable meaning inference resulting from a clash between an echoed and an observed scenario. The article discusses five ways of endowing the ironic echo with complexity: (i) through

ABSTRACT This article presents a developmental ecological approach to the emergence and development of metaphor in children, based on the ecological psychology tradition following the work of J.J. Gibson, and its extension into developmental research and theory, as developed by E.J. Gibson and others. This framework suggests that a basic compatibility and meaningfulness exists between the knower and

ABSTRACT Ecological-cognition approaches share the overall assumption that cognition is enacted, extended, embedded, and embodied. In this article, these basic assumptions are illustrated and critically evaluated from the point of view of gesture and film studies. In a theoretical introduction, the idea of metaphorizing as embodied interactivity is developed and connected with these basic assumptions

ABSTRACT The revolution in metaphor studies has revealed the motivating presence of underlying conceptual metaphors in people’s use and understanding of metaphorical language and gesture. Metaphorical expression is typically viewed now as bodily enactment of mentally represented metaphorical concepts. My aim in this article is to advance the idea that metaphorical performances are always part of dynamical

ABSTRACT In this article, we argue for the need to further incorporate the study of metaphor with the newest tendencies within cognitive science. We do so by presenting an ecological view of cognition as a skull-and-body-transcending activity that is deeply entangled with the environment. Grounded in empirical examples we present and examine four claims fleshing out this ecological perspective on cognition

(2019). Correction. Metaphor and Symbol. Ahead of Print.

ABSTRACT The present study examines the relationship between pictorial similes and hybrid pictorial metaphors. The results suggest that hybrid pictorial metaphors are perceived more strongly than pictorial similes when they are presented on their own and in corrective convention but not when they are verbalized. We argue that hybrid pictorial metaphors have transformational effects as the fusion of

ABSTRACT When faced with hardship, how do we emotionally appraise the situation? Although many factors contribute to our reasoning about hardships, in this article we focus on the role of linguistic metaphor in shaping how we cope. In five experiments, we find that framing a person’s cancer situation as a “battle” encourages people to believe that that person is more likely to feel guilty if they do

ABSTRACT In this article, based on a critical metaphor analysis, we identify and describe multimodal metaphors involving the human body and its conceptualizations in five auteur films of the 2010s. Studies on the human body in cinema have documented how it changes according to underlying ideologies. Our research focuses on the role of image schemas and metaphors as they embody meanings and sociocultural

(2018). Conceptual Conflicts in Metaphors and Figurative Language. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 315-318.

ABSTRACT Although vector space models of word meaning have been successful in modeling many aspects of human semantic knowledge, little research has explored figurative language, such as metaphor, using word vector representations. This article reviews the small body of research that has applied such representations to computational models of metaphor. After providing a short review of vector space

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate the emotional impact of sarcasm. Previous research in this area has mainly required participants to answer questions based on written materials, and results have been mixed. With the aim of instead examining the emotional impact of sarcasm when used in a more conversational setting, the current study utilized animated video clips as stimuli. In each clip, one

ABSTRACT Theorists have debated whether our ability to understand sarcasm (pertaining here to verbal irony) is principally determined by the context or by properties of the comment itself. The current research investigated an alternative view that broadens the focus on the comment itself, suggesting that mitigating a highly positive concept by using negation generates sarcastic interpretations by default

ABSTRACT Many 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

ABSTRACT We report an experiment investigating how stimulus complexity and conceptual fluency (i.e., the ease of deriving meaning) influence aesthetic liking judgments for abstract artworks. We presented participants with paintings at two levels of complexity (high vs. low) and five levels of conceptual fluency (determined from a prior norming study) and requested separate ratings of beauty and creativity

(2018). Introduction: Defaultness, affect, and figurative language. Metaphor and Symbol: Vol. 33, Defaultness, Affect, and Figurative Language, pp. 144-147.

ABSTRACT A non-default interpretation is required whenever speakers creatively depart from established norms and defaults. But effective speakers do not travel alone when they move away from default meanings to novel, non-default destinations. Effective speakers bring their readers with them, sometimes by making the non-default destination the only meaningful destination that can be reached with an

ABSTRACT As the author has previously argued, a statement of form “Y is X” can often be taken as hyperbolic for a notably high degree of likeness between Y and X, or, instead, as hyperbolically stating how important Y is as a part of X. The present article goes further and argues that these types of hyperbole, as well as various others, are just special cases of reflexive hyperbole, a style that appears

ABSTRACT Defining defaultness in terms of an unconditional, automatic response to a stimulus allows the Defaultness Hypothesis to predict the speed superiority of default over nondefault counterparts. Here we examined the relative contribution of the cerebral hemispheres to the processing of default versus nondefault interpretations (of Hebrew items). Participants performed a lexical decision task