Using Figurative Language Using Figurative Language presents results from a multidisciplinary decades-long study of figurative language that addresses the question, “Why don’t people just say what they mean?” This research empirically investigates goals speakers or writers have when speaking (writing) figuratively and, con- comitantly, meaning effects wrought by figurative language usage. These prag- matic effects arise from many kinds of figurative language, including metaphors (e.g., “This computer is a dinosaur”), verbal irony (e.g., “Nice place you’ve got here”), idioms (e.g., “Bite the bullet”), proverbs (e.g., “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”), and others. Reviewed studies explore mechanisms – linguistic, psychological, social, and others – underlying pragmatic effects, some traced to basic processes embedded in human sensory, perceptual, embodied, cognitive, social, and schematic functioning. The book should interest readers, research- ers, and scholars in fields beyond psychology, linguistics, and philosophy who share interests in figurative language – including language studies, communi- cation, literary criticism, neuroscience, semiotics, rhetoric, and anthropology. Herbert L. Colston is Professor and Chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Alberta. Previously, he was a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. Professor Colston has published widely and has edited several books, including Figurative Language Comprehension: Social and Cultural Influences and Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader. He co-authored Interpreting Figurative Meaning (Cambridge University Press, 2012) with Raymond Gibbs. Using Figurative Language Herbert L. Colston University of Alberta 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107105652 © Herbert L. Colston 2015 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Colston, Herbert L. Using figurative language / Herbert Colston. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-10565-2 (hardback) 1. Figures of speech. 2. Psycholinguistics. 3. Sociolinguistics. I. Title. P37.5.F53C65 2015 808′.032–dc23 2015023013 ISBN 978-1-107-10565-2 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. To Herbert A. Colston and Marlene D. Colston You don’t know anything, unless you know everything. You never know everything, so you always know nothing. Contents Acknowledgments page xiii Preface xv 1 Why Don’t People Say What They Mean? Wealth and Stealth 1 Brief Overview 4 Introduction of Themes 4 Pragmatic Meaning and Pragmatic Effects 5 Psychology and Pragmatics 6 Figurative Language as a Complex Social Phenomenon 7 Complexity Approaches 7 Caveats 7 Pop Goes the Examples 8 Problems with Problems 9 Figurative Name Calling 9 A Final Theme: Rorschach Figures 10 2 What Is a Pragmatic Effect? Multidisciplinarity and Scope 14 Pragmatic Effects: A Case Study 16 Defining a Pragmatic Effect 22 Speech Act Theory 22 Gricean Theory 24 Relevance Theory 27 Philosophical Accounts 30 Inferences 31 Causal Antecedent and Causal Consequent Inferences 33 Superordinate Goal, Thematic and Additudinal Inferences 36 Emotion Inferences 38 vii viii Contents Instantiation of Noun Category and Instrumental Inferences 39 Subordinate Goal/Action Inferences 39 How Are Pragmatic Effects Unlike Implicatures, Positive Cognitive Effects, Interpretive Hypotheses, or Inferences? 40 Structural Effects 41 Embodied Effects 43 Psychological Effects 47 Sociocultural Effects 48 Social Knowledge about Speakers/Hearers 49 Shared Knowledge among Interlocutors 49 Familiarity in Interlocutors 50 Enablement of Social Information: Social Structure, Language, and Culture 50 Egocentrism in Speakers 51 Social Information Interacting with Language Processing 51 3 What Are the Pragmatic Effects? Issues in Categorizing Pragmatic Effects 53 Anomalous Figures 53 Categories and Contents 63 Pragmatic Effects and Decontextualization 65 Delineating Pragmatic Effects 66 General Pragmatic Effects 66 Ingratiation 67 Mastery 67 Persuasion 68 Social Engineering 70 Catalyzation 70 Efficiency 70 Pragmatic Effects Specific to Single Figures or Figure Families 71 Expressing Negativity 71 Enhancing Meaning 73 Highlighting Discrepancies 73 Objectification 74 Identification 75 Humor 75 Emotion Expression/Elicitation 76 Extollation 77 Politeness 77