Figurative Language Processing

The paper proposes a method for representing idioms (in particular, colour-related idioms) within the framework of Fluid Construction Grammar (FCG). The main purpose of this endeavour is to facilitate (figurative) language grounding in humanoid robots in the near future. There is sufficient evidence in the cognitive robotics literature that figurative language plays (or, will play) an important role in humanoid robots. Idioms pose a real challenge to satisfactory human-robot interaction due to the plethora of linguistic and contex-tual subtleties. In my approach, the starting point for encoding idioms within FCG was the selection of several colour-related idioms due to the fact that they could be well-integrated in current robotics experiments. Humanoid robots (for instance, the iCub) are frequently subjected to simple colour-related experiments (such as, learning how to lift and manipulate colourful objects, etc.). Introducing much more difficult tasks, such as recognising colour-idioms as abstract, is needed to achieve further robotic development. The paper presents some techniques on the theoretical encoding of idioms, as well as practical guidelines on how to implement custom figurative constructions within FCG.

We report an eye-tracking study in which we investigate the on-line processing of written irony. Specifically, participants’ eye movements were recorded while they read sentences which were either intended ironically, or non-ironically, and subsequent text which contained pronominal reference to the ironic (or non-ironic) phrase. Results showed longer reading times for ironic comments compared to a non-ironic baseline, suggesting that additional processing was required in ironic compared to non-ironic conditions. Reading times for subsequent pronominal reference indicated that for ironic materials, both the ironic and literal interpretations of the text were equally accessible during on-line language comprehension. This finding is most in line with predictions of the graded salience hypothesis, which, in conjunction with the retention hypothesis, states that readers represent both the literal and ironic interpretation of an ironic utterance.

Günümüzde daha pek çok çalışmayı gerektiren dilbilim ve psikoloji alanına giren sorunlar, dil edinimi ile ilgili çalışmalardan gelecek verilerle aydınlanma bulmakta ve ortaya çıkan bilgi ise bir takım soruları beraberinde getirmektedir. Kavram mı yoksa sözcük mü önce edinilir? Dil gelişimi ile birlikte öğrenilen yeni kavramların zihinde örgütlenmesi, nasıl bir düzeni takip eder? Bu soruları merkezinde bulunduran Öntür Kuramı, ulamın dereceli bir içyapısı olduğunu öne sürerek ulam öğelerinin, bulunduğu ulamı en iyi temsil eden öğeler etrafında odaklandığını savunmaktadır. Dereceli bir üyelik söz konusu olunca, zihinden çağrılma ve kavranma zorluğu üzerinde kavramın öntürlüğü etkili olmaktadır. İşte bu çalışma, deyimlerin bileşen adlarının öntürlüğü ve deyimin anlamlandırılması arasında bir koşutluğun olup olmadığını sorgulamaktadır. Araştırma grubu, anasınıfı, 3. sınıf, 5. sınıf ve 8. sınıflardan çocukları kapsamakta olup ilk uygulamada BEDEN BÖLÜMÜ üst ulamına ait kavramların bu yaşlara göre öntürlük değerleri sormaca yöntemiyle belirlenmiştir. Ortaya çıkan verilerden yola çıkarak seçilen kavram adlarını bileşeni olarak bulunduran ad + eylem yapısındaki deyimler, ad bileşeninin öntürlüğüne göre derecelendirilmiş ve her biri bir öykünün sonuç tümcesi olarak verilmiştir. Deyimlerin ya değişmeceli ya da gerçek anlamlarını yansıtan ya da konu dışı olan resimler hazırlanarak, bir kavrama testi oluşturulmuştur. Çocuk katılımcılar, öyküleri dinleyip sonundaki deyimi duydukları anda, öyküden anladıklarına dayalı olarak resimlerden birisini seçmişlerdir. Verilen yanıtların doğruluğu ve tepki süresi dikkate alınarak, deyimlerin anlamlandırılmasında bir öntürlük etkisi olup olmadığına yönelik çözümleme yapılmıştır. Anasınıfı grubu, ağırlıklı olarak gerçek anlamı seçmiş olup, diğer gruplarda ise ilerleyen yaşla birlikte değişmeceli anlama bir yönelim gözlenmiştir. Deyimlerin anlamlandırılmasında öntürlük etkisinden bahsetmeyi mümkün kılan bu bulgular, deyimlerin kalıplaşmış ve tek parça sözcükler olduğunu dolayısıyla bileşen sözcüklerin deyimin değişmeceli anlamı üzerinde bir etkisi olmadığını öne süren varsayımlara karşıt veri niteliğindedir. Diğer bir deyişle, deyimlerin anlamlandırılmasında, değişmeceli anlama erişildiği durumda bile gerçek anlama bir şekilde erişim sağlandığına dair, alanda yaygın çalışılmış tanınırlık ve saydamlık kriterlerinden farklı olarak, öntürlük kriteriyle kanıt sunulmuştur.

In the past two decades the cognitive neuroscience of language processing has been expanding at an unprecedented pace, for a large part thanks to novel brain imaging technologies. Even though metaphors are highly frequent in everyday language and crucial in scientific reasoning, processing models and experimental results are inconsistent. Profound questions are still open in their comprehension such as the role of the right hemisphere or whether there is a dedicated neural substrate for figures of speech. The experimental part of the present work attempts to resolve some of the contradictions by controlling the numerous variables suspected to pose a processing load on the right hemisphere, such as the effects of novelty, sentential context, imageability, emotional valence and arousal. According to the results, metaphors levy classical left hemispheric language areas, and require no specialized computations. Studies showing right hemispherical involvement could have observed poetic and/or contextual effects. In the second part, I propose a metaphor comprehension model based on abstract conceptual substitution, with an attempt to integrate the semantic and pragmatic aspects of metaphor processing. The extra cognitive effort necessary for metaphor comprehension is discussed in a relevance theory based framework, where I suggest two key pragmatic roles for metaphors: (1) covering up meaning in socially risky situations by letting the hearer make inferences, hence making meaning negotiable; and (2) highlighting meaning by creating analogies and mappings utilizing their expressive power. Finally, in a neural model of scientific endeavor, the cognitive dispositions (e.g., hemispheric preferences) of researchers are proposed to translate into various schools of scientific research programs via inventive metaphors. Thought-as-language might be preferred over thought-as-vision, or vice versa, by researchers whose personal brain architecture favors one work method over the other. In conclusion I suggest that instead of trying to resolve the ever debates of cognition between competing approaches, these perspectives could be reinterpreted as products of the human mind and could be integrated into a unified epistemological system.

Hyperbole is traditionally understood as exaggeration. I argue instead that the point of hyperbole is emphasis. By overstating that things are greater (lesser) than expected, hoped, or desired, we shift the salience of the target property, thus making it more emphatic. This enables to express surprise or other relevant affect in reaction to how much, or how little, our expectations have been either exceeded or thwarted. This purpose is well suited to hyperbolic expression. This is because hyperbole naturally draws a contrast between how things are and how they were expected to be, exaggerating the gap between them. I conclude by considering the characteristics of hyperbolic figures where hyperbole mixes with other figures of speech.

Not much is known about how people comprehend ironic utterances, and to date, most studies have simply compared processing of ironic vs. non-ironic statements. A key aspect of the graded salience hypothesis, distinguishing it from other accounts (such as the standard pragmatic view and direct access view), is that it predicts differences between processing of familiar and unfamiliar ironies. Specifically, if an ironic utterance is familiar, then the ironic interpretation should be available without the need for extra inferential processes, whereas for unfamiliar ironies, the literal interpretation would be computed first, and a mismatch with context would lead to a re-interpretation of the statement as being ironic. We recorded participants’ eye movements while they were reading (Experiment 1), and electrical brain activity while they were listening to (Experiment 2), familiar and unfamiliar ironies compared to non-ironic controls. Results showed disruption to eye movements, and an N400-like effect for unfamiliar ironies only, supporting the predictions of the graded salience hypothesis. In addition, in Experiment 2, a late positivity was found for both familiar and unfamiliar ironic materials, compared to non-ironic controls. We interpret this positivity as reflecting ongoing conflict between the literal and ironic interpretations of the utterance.

There are explosion studies of metaphor in multidisciplinary research since Lakoff and Johnson published "Metaphor We Live By" in 1980. Linguists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists have studied about metaphorical language processing since 1975. Many of experiments have done to find whether interpret metaphors are understood as automatic and as easy as literal? There are many complexities finding that opposed one in another. Many different theories of metaphor have been proposed yet we still have not come to general conclusions. This paper reviews all of the debate about metaphor, literal vs. metaphorical, since Grice and Searle proposed literal first hypothesis until recently researchers who reject it. Furthermore, this paper also tries to find answers on what actually makes metaphors become difficult to interpret.

Abstract

Two lexical decision semantic priming experiments examined when, in the course of reading a joke, the initial and the intended meanings are primed; whether the meanings overlap in time; and what happens to the initial reading when the punchline is encountered. In Experiment 1, probes related to the first activated sense (S1) vs. the second sense (S2), or true meaning, were presented at each of three temporal sites for visually displayed joke tests: shortly after joke onset, at an intermediary position, and at punchline offset, whereas in Experiment 2, probes were presented at joke offset following prolonged viewing. The results from Experiment 1 showed S1 priming effects at the initial and intermediary time point. Priming for S2 also emerged at the intermediary time point and persisted at the final time point. In Experiment 2, the priming effect at joke offset was reliable only for S2. The results are taken to support a concurrent meaning activation view [in line with Attardo, Humor 10 (1997) 395] at incongruity detection, and a selective activation view [in line with Giora, Journal of Pragmatics 16 (1991) 465] at incongruity resolution.

Cet article présente un schéma d’annotation multi-niveaux pour l’ironie dans les tweets ainsi que le corpus FrIC, un corpus de tweets français annotés selon ce schéma. Dans le schéma d’annotation proposé, nous nous focalisons sur les classes de l’ironie définies dans les travaux  linguistiques ainsi que les catégories liées à ces classes.

Although there is increasing evidence to suggest that language is grounded in perception and action, the relationship between language and emotion is less well understood. We investigate the grounding of language in emotion using a novel approach that examines the relationship between the comprehension of a written discourse and the performance of affect-related motor actions (hand movements towards and away from the body). Results indicate that positively and negatively valenced words presented in context influence motor responses (Experiment 1), whilst valenced words presented in isolation do not (Experiment 3). Furthermore, whether discourse context indicates that an utterance should be interpreted literally or ironically can influence motor responding, suggesting that the grounding of language in emo- tional states can be influenced by discourse-level factors (Experiment 2). In addition, the finding of affect-related motor responses to certain forms of ironic language, but not to non-ironic control sentences, suggests that phrasing a message ironically may influence the emotional response that is elicited.

One of the intriguing and sometimes controversial findings in figurative language research is a right- hemisphere processing advantage for novel metaphors. The current divided visual field study introduced novel literal expressions as a control condition to assess processing novelty independent of figurativeness. Participants evaluated word pairs belonging to one of the five categories: (1) conventional metaphorical, (2) conventional literal, (3) novel metaphorical, (4) novel literal, and (5) unrelated expressions in a semantic decision task. We presented expressions without sentence context and controlled for additional factors including emotional valence, arousal, and imageability that could potentially influence hemispheric processing. We also utilized an eye-tracker to ensure lateralized presentation. We did not find the previously reported right-hemispherical processing advantage for novel metaphors. Processing was faster in the left hemisphere for all types of word pairs, and accuracy was also higher in the right visual field - left hemisphere. Novel metaphors were processed just as fast as novel literal expressions, suggesting that the primary challenge during the comprehension of novel expressions is not a serial processing of salience, but perhaps a more left hemisphere weighted semantic integration. Our results cast doubt on the right- hemisphere theory of metaphors, and raise the possibility that other uncontrolled variables were responsible for previous results. The lateralization of processing of two word expressions seems to be more contingent on the specific task at hand than their figurativeness or saliency.

The paper attemts to answer Anscombe's challenge to the Kantian notion of Self-Legislation, utilizing Wittgenstein's ideas about figurative language.
I claim that the idea that we can self-legislate is best understood as a secondary use of language.

This paper provides a linguistic and pragmatic analysis of the phenomenon of irony in order to represent how Twitter's users exploit irony devices within their communication strategies for generating textual contents. We aim to measure the impact of a wide-range of pragmatic phenomena in the interpretation of irony, and to investigate how these phenomena interact with contexts local to the tweet. Informed by linguistic theories, we propose for the first time a multi-layered annotation schema for irony and its application to a corpus of French, English and Italian tweets.We detail each layer, explore their interactions, and discuss our results according to a qualitative and quantitative perspective.

L'analyse automatique du langage figuratif est l'un des défis majeurs du traitement des langues. Contrairement au langage littéral, le langage figuratif détourne le sens propre pour lui conférer un sens dit figuré ou imagé, comme la métaphore, l'ironie, le sarcasme, la satire et l'humour. La détection de ces phénomènes requiert des outils plus complexes que ceux utilisés pour l'analyse d'opinion. Dans ce contexte, nous nous focalisons sur l'ironie et le sarcasme. Nous présentons un panorama des définitions et principaux travaux existants. Nous décrivons ensuite une première expérimentation qui vise à détecter l'ironie dans un corpus de tweets en français.

Dilbilim ve psikoloji alanına giren ulamlama konusu, dil edinimi çalışmalarından gelen verilerle aydınlanma bulmaktadır. Dereceli bir içyapıyı savunan Öntür Kuramı’na göre, zihinden çağrılma ve kavranma zorluğu üzerinde öntürlük etkilidir. Mevcut çalışma, deyimin anlamlandırılması ve bileşen adların öntürlüğü arasındaki ilişkiyi sorgulamaktadır. Araştırma grubu, anasınıfı, 3., 5. ve 8. sınıf düzeyindeki Türkçe tek dilli çocukları kapsamaktadır. Sormacayla, BEDEN BÖLÜMÜ üst ulamına ait kavramların öntürlük değerleri yaşlara göre belirlenmiştir. Bu kavram adlarını bileşeni olarak bulunduran deyimler, ad bileşeninin öntürlüğüne göre derecelendirilmiş, her biri bir kavrama testi içerisinde öykü ve resimlerle sunulmuştur. Yanıtların doğruluğu ve tepki süresi dikkate alınarak çözümleme yapılmıştır. Anasınıfı ve 3. sınıf grubu, ağırlıklı olarak gerçek anlamı seçmiş, diğer gruplarda ise ilerleyen yaşla birlikte değişmeceli anlama yönelim gözlenmiştir. Deyimleri kavrama yeterliliği gösteren gruplarda öntürlük etkisine işaret eden bulgular, deyimlerin kalıplaşmış sözcükler olduğunu ve bileşen sözcüklerin değişmeceli anlam üzerinde etkisiz olduğunu savunan görüşlere karşıt niteliktedir.

Cet article présente une méthode par apprentissage supervisé pour la détection de l'ironie dans les tweets en français. Un classifieur binaire utilise des traits de l'état de l'art dont les performances sont reconnues, ainsi que de nouveaux traits issus de notre étude de corpus. En particulier, nous nous sommes intéressés à la négation et aux oppositions explicites/implicites entre des expressions d'opinion ayant des polarités différentes. Les résultats obtenus sont encourageants. Abstract. Automatic Irony Detection in French tweets. This paper presents a supervised learning method for irony detection in tweets in French. A binary classifier uses both state of the art features whose efficiency has been empirically proved and new groups of features observed in our corpus. We focused on negation and explicit/implicit oppositions of opinions with different polarities. Results are encouraging. Mots-clés : Analyse d'opinion, détection de l'ironie, apprentissage supervisé.

The right hemisphere's role in language comprehension is supported by results from several neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies. Special interest surrounds right temporoparietal structures, which are thought to be involved in processing novel metaphorical expressions, primarily due to the coarse semantic coding of concepts. In this event related fMRI experiment we aimed at assessing the extent of semantic distance processing in the comprehension of figurative meaning to clarify the role of the right hemisphere. Four categories of German noun noun compound words were presented in a semantic decision task: a) conventional metaphors; b) novel metaphors; c) conventional literal, and; d) novel literal expressions, controlled for length, frequency, imageability, arousal, and emotional valence. Conventional literal and metaphorical compounds increased BOLD signal change in right temporoparietal regions, suggesting combinatorial semantic processing, in line with the coarse semantic coding theory, but at odds with the graded salience hypothesis. Both novel literal and novel metaphorical expressions increased activity in left inferior frontal areas, presumably as a result of phonetic, morphosyntactic, and semantic unification processes, challenging predictions regarding right hemispheric involvement in processing unusual meanings. Meanwhile, both conventional and novel metaphorical expressions induced BOLD signal change in left hemispherical regions, suggesting that even novel metaphor processing involves more than linking semantically distant concepts.

ORCs are generally found to be more difficult than SRCs in L1 English processing literature. This eye-tracking study tests this asymmetry in L2 English in terms of reading patterns and accuracy, and reports longer overall reading times, regressions and lower comprehension accuracy for ORCs. This indicates processing ORCs is more difficult for L2 English speakers with L1 Turkish. The incremental processing of the RCs by L2 speakers reflects delayed effects of difficulty, contrasting with previous findings in L1 literature. The findings provide further evidence for the processing disadvantage posed by ORCs, and highlight the differences between L1 and L2 processing dynamics.

El motivo de las flores lo vemos como uno de los esenciales, de los más constantes, recurrentes y reproducibles en la poesía española. En la del siglo XXI las flores se ven incorporadas como corpúsculas visuales y olfáticas buscando un impacto descomunal sobre el recipiente. Artísticamente la flor desde los tiempos antiguos se ha formado como alegoría de una esencia sacral. Así, en el himno poético a una ardua tierra que es Granada nos encontramos con un concepto floral cuya percepción en la cultura rusa puede resultar complicada o dificultada. Es el de la flor de melancolía que supone cierta mezcla de entes sensoriales poco compatibles. A nuestro juicio, objetivamente, la melancolía no debería atribuirse a una flor. Sin embargo el adjetivo melancólico frecuentemente se ve transferido del ser humano a entes de toda índole, tanto animadas como desanimadas o incluso desalmadas.

We examine cross-linguistic influence in the processing of motion sentences by L2 users from an embodied cognition perspective. The experiment employs a priming paradigm to test two hypotheses based on previous action and motion research in cognitive psychology. The first hypothesis maintains that conceptual representations of motion are embodied by sensory and motor systems (Glenberg & Kaschak, 2002; Zwaan & Taylor, 2006) and predicts that linguistic descriptions of motion will be susceptible to conceptual priming effects. The second hypothesis assumes that the processing of fictive motion sentences, such as The road runs through the forest (cf. Talmy, 2000a), involves additional mental simulation of motion (Matlock, 2004b; Richardson & Matlock, 2007) and predicts that fictive motion will be processed more slowly than real motion. The participants were groups of Polish and English monolinguals and Polish L2 users of English, who were students in an English-medium university program. Sentence meaningfulness judgment and response time data were collected from the monolinguals and the L2 users tested in both languages. Sentence meaningfulness judgments were examined to see how the participants represent motion in language and response time data were analyzed for evidence of conceptual processing. The results showed expected differences in response times to various sentence types in all groups, but the priming effect was not observed in Polish monolinguals and only selectively present in the L2 users responding in both languages. The results of our experiment indicate that fictive motion processing is both embodied in physical experience of motion and modified by language.
(To view the article click on the link below:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2015.12178.x/pdf)

In a self-paced reading study, we investigated how effects of biasing contexts in idiom processing interact with effects of idiom literality. Specifically, we tested if idioms with a high potential for literal interpretation (e.g., break the ice) are processed differently in figuratively and literally biasing contexts than idioms with a low potential (e.g., lose one's cool). Participants read sentences that biased towards a figurative or literal reading of idioms and continued with resolutions that were congruent or incongruent with these biases (e.g., [The new schoolboy/the chilly Eskimo] just wanted to break the ice [with his peers/ on the lake]…). While interpretations of high-literality idioms were strengthened by supporting contexts and showed costs for incongruent resolutions, low-literality idioms did not show this effect. Rather, interpreting low-literality idioms in a literal manner showed a cost regardless of context. We conclude that biasing contexts are used in a flexible process of real-time idiom processing and meaning constitution, but this effect is mediated by idiom literality.

The right hemisphere's role in language comprehension is supported by results from several neuropsychology and neuroimaging studies. Special interest surrounds right temporoparietal structures, which are thought to be involved in processing novel metaphorical expressions, primarily due to the coarse semantic coding of concepts. In this event related fMRI experiment we aimed at assessing the extent of semantic distance processing in the comprehension of figurative meaning to clarify the role of the right hemisphere. Four categories of German noun noun compound words were presented in a semantic decision task: a) conventional metaphors; b) novel metaphors; c) conventional literal, and; d) novel literal expressions, controlled for length, frequency, imageability, arousal, and emotional valence. Conventional literal and metaphorical compounds increased BOLD signal change in right temporoparietal regions, suggesting combinatorial semantic processing, in line with the coarse semantic coding theory, but at odds with the graded salience hypothesis. Both novel literal
and novel metaphorical expressions increased activity in left inferior frontal areas, presumably as a result of phonetic, morphosyntactic, and semantic unification processes, challenging predictions regarding right hemispheric involvement in processing unusual meanings. Meanwhile, both conventional and novel metaphorical expressions induced BOLD signal change in left hemispherical regions, suggesting that even novel metaphor
processing involves more than linking semantically distant concepts.

Aspect-seeing involves reflection on concepts. It involves letting oneself feel how it would be like to conceptualize something with a certain concept, without committing oneself to this conceptualization.

I distinguish between two kinds of aspect-perception:

1) Preparatory: allows for development, criticism, and shaping of concepts.

2) Non-Preparatory: allows us to express the ingraspability of certain experiences. It involves bringing a concept to an object for the purpose of showing--per impossible--what it would take to properly conceptualize one’s experience.

I demonstrate the usefulness of the different kinds of aspect perception in making conceptual judgments, and in making moral and aesthetic judgments.""

In the past two decades the cognitive neuroscience of language processing has been expanding at an unprecedented pace, for a large part thanks to novel brain imaging technologies. Even though metaphors are highly frequent in everyday language and crucial in scientific reasoning, processing models and experimental results are inconsistent. Profound questions are still open such as the role of the right hemisphere in their comprehension, or whether there is a dedicated neural substrate for figures of speech. The experimental part of the present work attempts to resolve some of the contradictions by controlling the numerous variables suspected to pose a processing load on the right hemisphere, such as the effects of novelty, sentential context, imageability, and emotional valence and arousal. According to the results, metaphors levy classical left hemispheric language areas, and require no specialized computations. Studies showing right hemispherical involvement could have observed poe...