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Figurative Language: Understanding Figures of Speech, Idioms, and Metaphors, Summaries of Semantics of Programming Languages

King Abdul Aziz University (KAU)Semantics of Programming Languages

An overview of figurative language, explaining the difference between literal and figurative language, figures of speech, idioms, and coinages. It also covers figurative interpretation, irony, and presuppositions. Learn how to identify and understand various types of figurative language.

Typology: Summaries

2021/2022

Uploaded on 01/14/2022

wedyan-alsadi
wedyan-alsadi 🇸🇦

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CHAPTER 5 – – Figurative Language
By: Wedyan Alssadi
*Overview:
• Figurative language is distinct from the literal language.
• Figurative language is a language that is used non-literally to create a special meaning.
• Figurative and Literal Language
Literally: words function exactly as defined
The car is blue.
Figuratively: figure out what it means
I’ve got your back.
• Figurative language employs figures of speech (kinds of figurative uses of language).
• If the real meaning is not understood, the figurative effect is lost.
• The use of figurative language shows us how pragmatics complements semantics, because it goes
beyond the literal meaning: inferring information beyond semantics.
Q: What is the difference between idioms and figures of speech like similes, metaphors, and hyperbole?
• Figures of speech (metaphor, simile, metonymy etc.) are different from idioms because figures of
speech can be interpreted according to general, cognitive, principles, while idioms have to be learnt.
• An idiom is an expression that conveys something different from its literal meaning, and that cannot be
guessed from the meanings of its individual words. (kick the bucket)
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CHAPTER 5 – – Figurative Language

By: Wedyan Alssadi

*Overview:

  • Figurative language is distinct from the literal language.
  • Figurative language is a language that is used non-literally to create a special meaning.
  • Figurative and Literal Language Literally: words function exactly as defined The car is blue. Figuratively: figure out what it means I’ve got your back.
  • Figurative language employs figures of speech (kinds of figurative uses of language).
  • If the real meaning is not understood, the figurative effect is lost.
  • The use of figurative language shows us how pragmatics complements semantics, because it goes beyond the literal meaning: inferring information beyond semantics. Q: What is the difference between idioms and figures of speech like similes, metaphors, and hyperbole?
  • Figures of speech (metaphor, simile, metonymy etc.) are different from idioms because figures of speech can be interpreted according to general, cognitive, principles, while idioms have to be learnt.
  • An idiom is an expression that conveys something different from its literal meaning, and that cannot be guessed from the meanings of its individual words. (kick the bucket)
  • A figure of speech is a phrase or an expression that expresses an idea by using words in a nonliteral and imaginative way. Unlike an idiom, it is possible to understand a figure of speech even if you have never heard it before. Q: What about coinages?
  • The invention of a totally new term is called coinage.
  • Coinages (new words) are not figures of speech because they don't yet have established literal meanings.
  • COINAGES ARE OFTEN IMAGINATIVE (e.g. Google). Figurative Interpretation
  • A figurative interpretation is an explicature (stage 2 interpretation) that involves treating words as if they had meanings different from their literal ones.
  • The context helps decide which is the right interpretation.
  • The reason why a particular figurative interpretation is chosen as better than another is that a literal interpretation is somehow inappropriate (untrue, too obvious, or empty of content).
  • In poetry the figurative interpretation of language is more common (e.g. a poem). 1. Irony:
  • A type of figurative language, in which the intended meaning of an expression is the opposite of the literal meaning.
  • It is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used o Ex. "How nice!" she said, when I told her I had to work all weekend
  • The object of the irony is to mock or ridicule the words or opinions of someone else.
  1. VERBAL IRONY: what is said is the opposite of what is meant. Ex. when we open the window in the morning and see a bad weather we say “What a beautiful day”. Looking at her son's messy room, Mom says, "Wow, you could win an award for cleanliness! On the way to school, the school bus gets a flat tire and the bus driver says, "Excellent! This day couldn't start off any better!"
  2. SITUATIONAL IRONY: when the outcome of a certain situation is completely different from what is expected; it can be called irony of events. o Ex. "a fire station burns down". A traffic cop gets suspended for not paying his parking tickets
  • Presuppositions are a crucial part of advertising as they can cause the reader to consider the existence of objects, proposition and culturally defined behavioural properties. o Ex. "Have you had your daily vitamins?" presupposes that you take or need daily vitamins, so you create the idea that the behaviour of taking vitamins every day is part of our culture

3. Metonymy:

  • A figure of speech that involves a relation of association. o Ex. "Japan were beaten 0 - 1 by Saudi", the words Japan and Saudi are not used to denote the countries, but to refer indirectly to football teams representing those countries. o Ex:

Types of Metonymy relations:

  1. material — object of it' (She is wearing a fox);
  2. 'container — containее' (I ate three plates)
  3. 'place — people' (The city is asleep)
  4. 'producer — product' (We bought a Picasso);
  5. 'whole — part' (We have 10 heads here);

Note :

The term for a figuratively-used word (or phrase) is vehicle. The vehicle carries the figurative meaning Ex. "He devoured the book in 2 hours", devour is the vehicle for reading.

Metaphor Interpretation:

  • Often metaphors are difficult to understand because the reader might not have the needed presuppositions to understand the vehicle.
  • Metaphor interpretation is more difficult than metonymy interpretation because in metonymy the vehicle indicates the significant aspects of the referent , whereas in metaphor an idea is pointed to and it is left to the addressee to find its salient features for a satisfactory interpretation.
  • This is the case with proper name metaphors.
  • Proper names do not have conventional meanings that language users know from knowing the language. o Ex. if I hear "He is a Donald Trump", I can only understand the sense of this sentence if I know something about the president of US. Out of context , this sentence could be interpreted either literally (he is a person who has the name Donald Trump) or metaphorically (he is a person who is similar in some ways to the person who is now president of the US). Note: Idioms VS Metaphor VS Proverbs IDIOM – an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as ‘kick the bucket’ – to die. PROVERB – a short popular saying, usually of unknown and ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought, as ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ – prompt attention to minor problems will avoid bigger problems later (or literally, take care of one loose stitch now and you may avoid having to sew up nine stitches later) METAPHOR – a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles” or “All the world's a stage” (Shakespeare)