A new understanding of metaphors: From collective data to individual cases

Josie Helen Siman

University of Campinas, Brazil

Josie Helen Siman holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Campinas, Brazil. Her interests include metaphor processing, complex systems science, embodied cognition, and the nature of how minds interpret reality.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8868-1941

Thiago Oliveira da Motta Sampaio

University of Campinas, Brazil

Thiago Motta Sampaio is an Assistant Professor of Psycholinguistics and the Vice Coordinator of the Speech Therapy undergraduate program at the University of Campinas (Unicamp). He leads the Language Acquisition Processing and Syntax Lab (LAPROS), and his research primarily centers on the semantic and syntactic aspects of sentence processing. His recent work delves into the interface between the perception of time and aspectual coercion, as well as the history of science, methodologies, and epistemology. Furthermore, he has work in progress in the fields of the origins of language and speech-language pathology.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4153-0772

Abstract

Most theories on metaphor processing are categorical, focus on semantics, and ignore important empirical findings. In this paper, we show how complex systems science can help us understand the apparently contradictory findings in the literature. We claim that metaphors are best understood as processed by the dynamic interaction between different factors, with dynamically shifting weights, in different time scales. To understand what a metaphor means, we must consider the multidimensional aspects of meaning: a) schemas, frames, scenarios, etc.; b) attributes (e.g., big, cruel, etc.); c) phenomenological schemas (e.g., mappings of visceral sensations); d) valence (positive, neutral, negative), etc. These constructs are not an object in the mind or the same for everyone. They are formed by experiences - with some overlaps, depending on people’s sharing of cultural and embodied similarities. We never know how one person will interpret a metaphor but can make informed guesses based on empirical findings.

Keywords:

metaphor processing, dynamic systems, meaning, Psycholinguistics, Cognitive Linguistics