aptness, defined as how the vehicle is well able to cover the salient features of the tenor (e.g., oil is like liquid gold vs. a train is like a worm), is claimed to be an important factor in the preference for metaphors over similes, or vice versa. this study was an attempt to test for the supposed correlation between the perceived degree of aptness and a priori stylistic preference for metaph...

Simile, which appears in different modes, is one of the major subjects of a branch of rhetoric called Bayan. Some of these modes, such as intellectual-intellectual and sensible-intellectual are not in harmony with the illuminating   role of simile; therefor, the books on Bayanhardlyhave positive attitudes towards these modes of simile, but contrary to this attitude, such similes appea...

Recent emphases on differences between metaphors and similes pose a quandary. The two forms clearly differ in strength, but often seem to require similar interpretations. In Experiment 1 we show that ratings of comprehensibility are highly correlated across simile and metaphor sentences differing only in the presence or absence of “like”. In Experiment 2 we show that comprehensibility ratings f...

Simile is widely viewed as a less sophisticated conceptual device than metaphor, not least because similes are explicitly marked and are frequently more obvious about the meanings they carry. Nonetheless, this lack of sophistication makes simile an ideal basis for acquiring the category-specific knowledge required to understand metaphor. In this paper we describe a computational approach to sim...

Language provides a wealth of stock images and formulaic expressions to speakers who wish to describe a topic in figurative terms. Speakers can also craft their own similes and metaphors, and frequently do, but their most creative efforts run the risk of being misunderstood. Ironic comparisons, in particular, can mistakenly impart the very opposite of what a speaker intends, by virtue of superf...

This study examines the application of Cognitive Constraint Theory (CCT) to Malay poetic similes. Based on this theory, poetic structures like simile, zeugma and synaesthesia are in fact, governed by certain cognitive principles. These principles or “cognitive constraints”, as they are better known within this approach, ensure the interpretability of the poetic structures on the part of the rea...

Comparisons are common linguistic devices used to indicate the likeness of two things. Often, this likeness is not meant in the literal sense—for example, “I slept like a log” does not imply that logs actually sleep. In this paper we propose a computational study of figurative comparisons, or similes. Our starting point is a new large dataset of comparisons extracted from product reviews and an...

In this paper we propose a method of automatic distinction between two types of formally identical expressions in Japanese: similes and “metonymical comparisosn”, i.e. literal comparisons that include metonymic relations between elements. Expression like "kujira no you na chiisai me" can be translated into English as "eyes small as whale's", while in Japanese, due to the lack of possessive case...