We present a novel approach to automatic metaphor identification, that discovers both metaphorical associations and metaphorical expressions in unrestricted text. Our system first performs hierarchical graph factorization clustering (HGFC) of nouns and then searches the resulting graph for metaphorical connections between concepts. It then makes use of the salient features of the metaphorically...

Recent developments in cognitive linguistics have highlighted the importance and the ubiquity of metaphors in language. Their effect has been instrumental in making significant headway into the pedagogical practice and design of teaching materials. The current study was carried out to explore the efficacy of focus-on-form (FonF) and focus-on-forms (FonFs) instructions on learning metaphorical l...

Decades of lexical ambiguity research has rigorously studied effects of relative sense frequency on sense disambiguation in biased contexts, while fundamental semantic issues such as distinction of different types of ambiguities, or influences from lexical meanings’ semantic nature (e.g., literal or metaphorical) as well as these meanings’ degrees of conventionalization, have received less atte...

In this paper, we discuss Lepore and Stone’s account of metaphor which is based on three of Davidson’s proposals: (i) the rejection of metaphorical meanings; (ii) the rejection of metaphors as conveying metaphorical propositional contents; and (iii) the defence of analogy as the key mechanism for understanding metaphors. Lepore and Stone defend these proposals because the non-sceptic strategy o...

The purpose of this article is to present a study of metaphorical expressions in the Swedish forest-discourse, and thereby, to demonstrate a special function of metaphorical constructions in discourse, that is, to indicate contexts relevant to ongoing discourse. Traditionally, theorizing about metaphorical expressions has lacked considerations of discourse processes and temporary contexts, and,...

This project examined whether the cultural and linguistic experiences of English and Chinese speakers can result in different metaphorical representations of emotion in those individuals. The Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT) technique was used to measure how strongly various colors are associated with anger, sadness, happiness, fear, envy, shame and shyness. The results showed that some m...

In this article, we offer a critical view of Thibodeau and Boroditsky who report an effect of metaphorical framing on readers' preference for political measures after exposure to a short text on the increase of crime in a fictitious town: when crime was metaphorically presented as a beast, readers became more enforcement-oriented than when crime was metaphorically framed as a virus. We argue th...

In order for a person to comprehend metaphoric expressions, do metaphor-irrelevant aspects of literal information need to be inhibited? Previous research using sentence-verification paradigms has found that literal associates take longer to process after reading metaphorical sentences; however, it is problematic to infer inhibition from this research. Moreover, previous work has not distinguish...