On the function of analogies in informative texts

Abstract

Following a previous research into the role of digressive material in informative texts (Giora, 1990), the present study concentrates on the contribution of analogies to text comprehension. In this study, analogy is taken to be a piece of new information which constitutes a topic change, and is consequently marked as a digression by an explicit semantic connector. This new information functions as an example from a distant domain and requires a between‐domain comparison. Contrary to the view held by the main thrust of cognitive and discourse research (e.g., Esher, Raven, & Earl, 1942; Gentner, 1983; Labov, 1972; Polanyi, 1985; Reinhart, 1984, in press; R.J. Sternberg, 1977, 1985; Vosniadou & Ortony, 1983), this study demonstrates that analogies are not functional in text comprehension. Rather, they impair recall and inhibit processing. It is argued that a coherent informative text has a transparent structure which spells out both its topic of discourse and its importance hierarchy (Giora, 1985b, 1988). Hence the superfluity of analogies. In terms of ease of processing, then, analogies are redundant.

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