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,...

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...

Digitization causes fundamental shifts in economy and society. These changes will go in line with significant changes of corporate core competencies as well as the skills and capabilities of employees. Due to the increasing pace of technological development in production and service processes as well as the ongoing trend to automation classic educational approaches will no longer suffice to ens...

Metaphorical effects are commonly assumed to be unidirectional, running from concrete to abstract domains but not vice versa. Noting that metaphorical effects are often found to be bidirectional, we explore how they may be mediated and moderated according to the principles of knowledge accessibility and applicability. Using the example of "something smells fishy" (a metaphorical expression of s...

People's innate neurological perceptions, mental simulations, intuitions, and schemas provide the familiar source entities, relationships, and actions for a metaphor. People metaphorically project this information on to the target problem to construct new concepts, relationships and actions. People also reason metaphorically to: connect mathematical ideas, improve recall, understand mathematica...

The Metaphorical Brain Long considered a peripheral topic in linguistics, metaphor is increasingly viewed as a central feature of higher cognition and abstract thought. Investigation of the neural substrate of metaphor has, similarly, become more sophisticated, involving increasingly specific suggestions about the processes involved in its comprehension. This Frontiers Research Topic brings tog...

Why do people so often use metaphorical expressions when literal paraphrases are readily available? This study focuses on a comparison of metaphorical statements involving the source domain of taste (e.g., "She looked at him sweetly") and their literal paraphrases (e.g., "She looked at him kindly"). Metaphorical and literal sentences differed only in one word and were normed for length, familia...