Metaphor comprehension: Meaning and beyond

Abstract

Preliminary evidence on non-propositional effects as indispensable to the informational content of metaphorical utterances is provided in Ifantidou (2019), Ifantidou and Hatzidaki (2019). The idea put forward was that the aesthetic apprehension of linguistic metaphors extends to enriching underdetermined aspects of propositional content. In this paper, I further examine the distinguishing aspects of metaphors during interpretation. Following Sperber and Wilson 2015, Wilson and Carston 2019, I argue that an emotional response is triggered to the situation represented by the metaphor (see also Ifantidou 2019). I will suggest that metaphors enhance comprehension by being vehicles for emotions such as affection or dislike, as in texts which present difficulties in language comprehension. Ιn these cases, metaphors evoke non-propositional effects, such as images or emotional responses, by connecting to interpreters’ perceptions, memories, previous experiences, imagining, and beliefs. Evidence that addressees are able to derive meaning more frequently from metaphors than from literal sentences in equally supportive linguistic contexts (in terms of length, complexity, linguistic under-determinacy) attenuates the idea that metaphors enhance understanding as a merely linguistic tool, and reinforces the view that metaphorical processing involves a blend of language information with perceptual experience. © 2021 John Benjamins Publishing Company