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Presented By: Department of Linguistics

Linguistics Colloquium

Adele Goldberg, Princeton University

Adele Goldberg Adele Goldberg
Adele Goldberg
ABSTRACT

Meaning and Metaphor

Words typically convey a rich and varied array of related meanings. A common way that word meaning is extended is via conceptual metaphors. For instance, we can talk about experiences as if they were food (a bitter pill; a treat). Such metaphorically extended words and phrases are regularly used even when literal paraphrases exist, which raises the question as to why metaphorical language is so common. fMRI work has found that literal meanings remain active even when words are used metaphorically, which may imply that metaphorical uses of words have richer semantic representations. Moreover, recent work has found that metaphorical statements and short stories activate the amygdala more than carefully matched literal paraphrases, indicating that conceptual metaphors are more engaging than their literal counterparts.

*The work to be presented was done in collaboration with Francesca Citron of Lancaster University.
Adele Goldberg Adele Goldberg
Adele Goldberg

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