Interpreting Figurative Meaning
Interpreting Figurative Meaning
Herbert L. Colston , University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Interpreting Figurative Meaning critically evaluates the recent empirical work from psycholinguistics and neuroscience examining the successes and difficulties associated with interpreting figurative language. There is now a huge, often contradictory literature on how people understand figures of speech. Gibbs and Colston argue that there may not be a single theory or model that adequately explains both the processes and products of figurative meaning experience. Experimental research may ultimately be unable to simply adjudicate between current models in psychology, linguistics and philosophy of how figurative meaning is interpreted. Alternatively, the authors advance a broad theoretical framework, motivated by ideas from 'dynamical systems theory', that describes the multiple, interacting influences which shape people's experiences of figurative meaning in discourse. This book details past research and theory, offers a critical assessment of this work and sets the stage for a new vision of figurative experience in human life.
- Suitable for students and scholars in philosophy, linguistics and psychology
- Will be especially attractive to those working in the interdisciplinary field of cognitive studies
Product details
July 2012Paperback
9781107607279
390 pages
228 × 153 × 20 mm
0.53kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Identifying figurative language
- 3. Models of figurative language comprehension
- 4. Interpreting specific figures of speech
- 5. Indeterminacy of figurative experience
- 6. Factors shaping figurative language understanding
- 7. Broadening the scope of figurative language studies.
