Figurative language

Abstract

Abstract The present paper discusses two aspects of the production of figures of speech. The first one is their relatedness, which is established on the basis of an analysis of their cognitive configuration in terms of combinations of cognitive operations. Such operations are applied to the creation of basic figures of speech such as metaphor, metonymy, understatement, overstatement, irony, paradox, and oxymoron. Other traditional figurative uses of language are then accounted for with reference to these more basic ones. The second aspect that this paper addresses is the question of constraints on figurative thinking. In this respect, it reviews previous proposals on the topic and extends their application to other cases of figurative language use. The resulting account links figurative language up with the notion of embodied cognition.

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