The practice of metaphor in conversation: an ecological integrational approach

IF 1.7 2区 文学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Language Sciences Pub Date : 2023-11-01 DOI:10.1016/j.langsci.2023.101588
Catherine Read
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Abstract

In this study an integrational linguistic approach to metaphor is used in the context of an ecological psychology study of novel metaphor creation by adults in a structured conversation setting. This paper forms an example of the proposed complementarity of integrational linguistics (Harris, 1981) and ecological psychology (Gibson, 1979; Jones and Read, 2023) by providing a study of novel metaphor that eschews the traditional “coded carrier of message” assumptions about language, as well as the traditional “knowledge is mental representation” assumptions of representationalist cognitive psychology. Instead, novel metaphor is presented as the sine qua non of the creation of signs in the process of communication, and that creation is proposed to be founded on the perception of invariants across different naturally occurring kinds of objects and events (cf., Read & Szokolszky, 2016). The practice of metaphor is taken as a special case of perceptually guided kinematic semiology. This study describes the practice of metaphor by adults in a structured experimental situation designed to present metaphoric resemblance and to encourage the practice of metaphor with guiding verbal instructions. Such a study allows explication of the integrational method as applied to structured conversational settings. Although the conversation and context were designed to draw attention to metaphoric resemblance and to encourage verbal metaphor, not everyone practiced metaphor, showing that the practice is not determined by context. When metaphor was created, the form often mirrored the perceptual invariants available to the perceiver, i.e., motion or stationary resemblances. No one created exactly the same metaphor even in this consistent context, which emphasizes the creative aspect of metaphor as a prototype of sign creation, with its core properties of novelty, enhanced interest and noticeableness. I make the following central points: communicating by creating and integrating signs is the foundation of language; metaphor is the prototype of the creation of signs, the creation of novel metaphor in conversation is a practice that enhances communication, even in structured experimental settings; and conversation can be studied as the ongoing process of sign integration, that is, as perceptually guided kinematic semiology. The current study shows that metaphor as a practice in conversation is closely coordinated with the perception of metaphoric resemblance and the request to talk about objects and events that are alike metaphorically. Finally, it is argued that direct perception is the best approach on which to found an account of metaphor in communication.

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隐喻在对话中的运用:一种生态整合的方法
在本研究中,隐喻的整合语言学方法被应用于一项关于成人在结构化会话环境中创造新隐喻的生态心理学研究。本文是整合语言学(Harris, 1981)和生态心理学(Gibson, 1979;Jones and Read, 2023),通过提供一种新颖的隐喻研究,避开了传统的关于语言的“信息的编码载体”假设,以及表征主义认知心理学的传统“知识是心理表征”假设。相反,新奇的隐喻被认为是在交流过程中创造符号的必要条件,而这种创造被认为是建立在对不同自然发生的物体和事件的不变量的感知之上的(参见Read &Szokolszky, 2016)。隐喻的实践被看作是感知引导的运动符号学的一个特例。本研究描述了成人在一个结构化的实验情境中的隐喻实践,该情境旨在呈现隐喻相似性,并通过指导性的言语指令鼓励隐喻的实践。这样的研究可以解释应用于结构化会话设置的整合方法。虽然对话和语境的设计是为了引起人们对隐喻相似性的注意,并鼓励言语隐喻,但并不是每个人都练习隐喻,这表明实践不是由语境决定的。当隐喻被创造出来时,其形式往往反映了感知者可用的感知不变性,即运动或静止的相似性。即使在这种一致的背景下,也没有人创造出完全相同的隐喻,这强调了隐喻作为标志创作原型的创造性方面,其核心属性是新颖性,增强了趣味性和引人注目性。我提出以下中心观点:通过创造和整合符号进行交流是语言的基础;隐喻是创造符号的原型,在对话中创造新颖的隐喻是一种加强交流的实践,即使是在结构化的实验环境中;对话可以作为符号整合的持续过程来研究,也就是说,作为感知引导的运动符号学。目前的研究表明,隐喻作为一种会话实践,与隐喻相似性的感知以及以隐喻方式谈论相似的物体和事件的要求密切相关。最后,本文认为直接感知是解释交际中隐喻的最佳途径。
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来源期刊
Language Sciences
Language Sciences Multiple-
CiteScore
2.90
自引率
0.00%
发文量
38
期刊介绍: Language Sciences is a forum for debate, conducted so as to be of interest to the widest possible audience, on conceptual and theoretical issues in the various branches of general linguistics. The journal is also concerned with bringing to linguists attention current thinking about language within disciplines other than linguistics itself; relevant contributions from anthropologists, philosophers, psychologists and sociologists, among others, will be warmly received. In addition, the Editor is particularly keen to encourage the submission of essays on topics in the history and philosophy of language studies, and review articles discussing the import of significant recent works on language and linguistics.
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