In this article, we examine the relationship between literal and figurative meanings in view of mental spaces and conceptual blending theory as developed by Fauconnier & Turner (2002). Beginning with a brief introduction to the theory, we proceed by analyzing examples of metaphor, fictive motion, and virtual change to reveal various processes of meaning construction at work in a range of exampl...

This paper presents a corpus of annotated motion events and their event structure. We consider motion events triggered by a set of motion evoking words and contemplate both literal and figurative interpretations of them. Figurative motion events are extracted into the same event structure but are marked as figurative in the corpus. To represent the event structure of motion, we use the FrameNet...

This study investigated whether verbs in figurative language activate different types of associations than do verbs in literal language. In a sentence-priming experiment, we compared sentences featuring verbs in idiomatic phrases with control sentences in which the same verbs were meant literally. Participants made lexical decisions about nouns that were associated with either the verb’s litera...

Figurative language is a fundamental characteristic of elaborate forms of linguistic communication. We currently have very poor models of how figurative language may be constructed in computational terms. The overall aim is to identify possible regularities, intuitions or heuristics that may at a later stage be employed to drive a text generator that is capable of using this type of

Semantic figurative metaphors modify visualization models and add non-data visual cues to visualizations. They result from an authorial intent to transmit stronger messages and emotionally connect with broad audiences. This article describes how I make use of semantic figurative metaphors across three applications, discussing design decisions and the limitations of this approach.

This paper is intended to provide a critical overview of experimental and clinical research documenting problems in figurative language processing in atypical populations with a focus on the Autistic Spectrum. Research in the comprehension and processing of figurative language in autism invariably documents problems in this area. The greater paradox is that even at the higher end of the spectru...

We develop a model of figurative or indirect speech, which may convey a meaning that differs from its literal meaning. The model yields analytical conditions for speech to be figurative in equilibrium and delivers a number of comparative statics results. For instance, it predicts that the likelihood of figurative speech is greater if the benefit to the listener of correctly understanding the sp...

We present a meta-analysis of studies that compare figurative language comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and in typically developing controls who were matched based on chronological age or/and language ability. A total of 41 studies and 45 independent effect sizes were included based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Group matching strategy, age, types of figurative ...

Individuals with High functioning autism (HFA) are distinguished by relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive skills. However, problems with pragmatic language skills have been consistently reported across the autistic spectrum, even when structural language is intact. Our main goal was to investigate how highly verbal individuals with autism process figurative language and whether mani...