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One of Katz's significant contributions to the study of figurative language is his work highlighting the importance of familiarity in metaphor processing. In this study, we examined how metaphor and simile comprehension change as a function of familiarity. The Categorization model (Glucksberg, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2003, 7, 92) proposes that metaphor comprehension relies on an automatic process (categorization) regardless of familiarity. By contrast, the Career of Metaphor model (Bowdle & Gentner, Psychological Review, 2005, 112, 193) proposes that as conventionality or familiarity declines, comprehension shifts from categorization to comparison, a controlled, effortful process. Both models assume that similes, regardless of familiarity, are understood through controlled, comparison processes. The present study used a resource depletion manipulation to investigate the processes recruited in metaphor and simile comprehension. Because resource depletion negatively impacts controlled, effortful processes but does not affect automatic processes (Schmeichel et al., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2003, 85, 33), comparing the effects of resource depletion on comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar metaphors and similes may shed light on the comprehension processes (controlled or automatic) being used. Across two experiments, we induced resource depletion using a Stroop task and tested the impact of depletion on metaphor and simile comprehension. Metaphor stimuli were drawn from Katz et al. (Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 1988, 3, 191) normed database; similes were constructed by adding the word like to each metaphor (e.g., love is (like) a flower). For both tropes, resource depletion slowed comprehension of unfamiliar expressions but had no little-or-no impact on highly familiar expressions. Our results suggest that comprehension of both similes and metaphors shifts from automatic to controlled processing as familiarity decreases. Public Significance Statement Prior research disagrees on whether we use controlled or automatic processes to understand figurative expressions like metaphors and similes. We tested the effects of resource depletion (which temporarily impairs controlled but not automatic processing) on comprehension of metaphors and similes, finding that depletion impaired comprehension of unfamiliar but not familiar expressions. This pattern suggests that comprehension of both similes and metaphors is automatic for highly familiar expressions, but shifts to controlled processes as familiarity decreases.

Using eye-tracking, we investigate on-line processing of idioms in a biasing story context by native and non-native speakers of English. The stimuli are idioms used figuratively (at the end of the day − 'eventually'), literally (at the end of the day − 'in the evening'), and novel phrases (at the end of the war). Native speaker results indicate a processing advantage for idioms over novel phrases, as evidenced by fewer and shorter fixations. Further, no processing advantage is found for figurative idiom uses over literal ones in a full idiom analysis or in a recognition point analysis. Contrary to native speaker results, non-native findings suggest that L2 speakers process idioms at a similar speed to novel phrases. Further, figurative uses are processed more slowly than literal ones. Importantly, the recognition point analysis allows us to establish where non-natives slow down when processing the figurative meaning.

Figurative language (FL) seems ubiquitous in all social media discussion forums and chats, posing extra challenges to sentiment analysis endeavors. Identification of FL schemas in short texts remains largely an unresolved issue in the broader field of natural language processing, mainly due to their contradictory and metaphorical meaning content. The main FL expression forms are sarcasm, irony and metaphor. In the present paper, we employ advanced deep learning methodologies to tackle the problem of identifying the aforementioned FL forms. Significantly extending our previous work (Potamias et al., in: International conference on engineering applications of neural networks, Springer, Berlin, pp 164–175, 2019), we propose a neural network methodology that builds on a recently proposed pre-trained transformer-based network architecture which is further enhanced with the employment and devise of a recurrent convolutional neural network. With this setup, data preprocessing is kept in minimum. The performance of the devised hybrid neural architecture is tested on four benchmark datasets, and contrasted with other relevant state-of-the-art methodologies and systems. Results demonstrate that the proposed methodology achieves state-of-the-art performance under all benchmark datasets, outperforming, even by a large margin, all other methodologies and published studies.

There is a growing awareness of the importance of academic vocabulary, and more generally, of academic language proficiency, for students' success in school. There is also a growing body of research on the nature of the demands that academic language places on readers and writers, and on interventions to help students meet these demands. In this review, we discuss the role of academic vocabulary within academic language, examine recent research on instruction in academic vocabulary, considering both general academic words and discipline-specific words, and offer our perspective on the current state of this research and recommendations on how to continue inquiry and to improve practice in this area. We use the metaphor of 'words as tools' to reflect our understanding that instruction in academic vocabulary must approach words as means for communicating and thinking about disciplinary content, and must therefore provide students with opportunities to use the instructed words for these purposes as they are learning them.

Figurative language aids the reader in understanding the author's goals in addition to making the material more entertaining to read. The following research questions will be addressed by this study by identifying the figurative language techniques and the interpretation of each figure of speech in the book The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle: Book 7. The following questions were addressed by this study: 1) What is the figure of resemblance or relationship used in the novel; 2) What is the figure of emphasis or understatement found from the novel? 3) What is the figure of sounds found in the novel; and 4) How many imageries are found in the novel The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle Book 7 and the meaning? The research methodology used in this study is qualitative descriptive. The data are gathered by the researcher through data collecting from a range of books and library research. Based on the results, there is the figure of resemblance or relationship with 23 kennings, 4 personifications, and 12 synecdoche; the figure of emphasis or understatement with 5 paradoxes and the explanation of the climax; the figure of sounds with 35 onomatopoeias, 74 repetitions, assonance with repetition of the o͞o (u) sound, repetition of the ou sound, repetition of the ā (ei) sound, repetition of the i long sound, repetition of the ə sound, repetition of the ē (i) sound, and repetition of the ai sound; and 17 imageries. The most common use of figurative language categories is the figure of sounds with 35 onomatopoeias and 75 repetitions.

It has been defended since Gibbs (1994) that in proper contexts people mostly use the metaphorical asset of a message rather than its literal meaning, which means that we tend to express ourselves metaphorically and that conceptual metaphors and metonymies are features of communicative interaction. In the present paper we discuss the notion of metaphorical competence (Aleshtar & Dowlatabadi, 2014: 1895) in the process of language acquisition and learning of a (multilingual) speaker in a multilingual context. Based on previous studies by Sinha and Jansen (2004), Kövecses (2005), Palmer & Sharifian (2007), Gibbs & Colston (2012) and Sharifian (2015), among others, we postulate that research in the area should be centred not exclusively on Language but on interaction in a triangle Cognition - Language - Culture, We defend the way one conceptualises the world is based on bodily experience, and is mediated by culture (cf. Yu, 2003, 2009; Batoréo, 2017a). In this study we present research from different language backgrounds both occidental (European Portuguese, English and Polish) and oriental ones (Mandarin Chinese). It focuses on conceptualization of emotions (e.g., emotional expression of feeling hungry) and moral values (e.g. courage). The analysis shows that it implies culture anchorage and/or physiological and cultural embodiment. We defend that conceptual appropriateness and metaphor awareness play a fundamental role in the acquisition of figurative language (cf. Doiz & Elizari, 2013), which is at least partially motivated, and thus can be object of insightful learning (cf. Boers et al., 2004).

How the perceptions of novel figurative phrases change over the course of numerous presentations were addressed in three studies using rating tasks (Studies 1 and 3) and recall tasks (Study 2). The present set of studies replicated much of Schweigert et al.’s (J Psychol Res 32:455–75, 2003) findings of changes in correlations among figurative phrases ratings. The results also suggest that catchiness, frequency heard agreement, and frequency used agreement can be used as predictors of phrase memorability and potential predictors of later idiomaticity.

Figurative language in advertising affects product attitudes positively across contexts. In contrast, the present research demonstrates that the use and effectiveness of figurative language in consumer-generated content is context specific, because of conversational norms unique to this form of communication. Study 1 shows that consumer reviews containing more figurative language lead to more favorable attitudes in hedonic, but not utilitarian, consumption contexts, and that conversational norms about figurative language govern this effect. Study 2 reveals that reading a review containing figurative language increases choice of hedonic over utilitarian options. Finally, via analysis of online consumer reviews and a lab experiment, studies 3 and 4 indicate that consumers use figurative language more when sharing experiences about hedonic than utilitarian consumption, and that review extremity influences figurative language use only in reviews of hedonic consumption. The studies highlight the critical role of conversational norms in interpreting and creating user-generated content.

This meta-analysis synthesized 35 English studies (130 effect sizes, N = 1,981) that employed online tasks to investigate the processing of multiword sequences (MWSs). We examined (a) to what extent MWSs enjoy a processing advantage over novel word combinations; (b) how such a processing advantage is moderated by statistical regularities (i.e., phrasal frequency, association strength), MWS type, and explicitness of experimental tasks; and (c) whether such moderating patterns differ between L1 speakers and L2 speakers. The results confirmed the processing advantage for most subtypes of MWSs, with effect sizes ranging from small to medium. For L1 speakers and L2 speakers, the processing advantage of MWSs was found across the continuum of phrasal frequency and association strength and varied. Interestingly, task explicitness moderated the processing advantage of MWSs but only for L2 speakers. Taken together, our results shed light on the understanding of MWSs as well as directions for future research.