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Ahrens K, Burgers C, Zhong Y. Making the Unseen Seen: The Role of Signaling and Novelty in Rating Metaphors. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2024; 53:36. [PMID: 38607583 PMCID: PMC11009728 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10076-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Comprehension of metaphorical expressions differs with their degree of novelty. Conventional metaphors are typically comprehended as easily as literal sentences, while novel metaphors are responded to less quickly than their conventional counterparts. However, the influence of metaphor signals on the interpretability and acceptability of sentences with metaphors, especially their potential interaction with novelty, remains an open question. We conducted six online experiments among 1,694 native speakers of American English to examine how interpretability and acceptability ratings of individually presented sentences were affected by metaphor novelty and different types of metaphor signals. Across all six experiments, we consistently found that novel metaphors decreased the interpretability and acceptability of sentences compared to both conventional metaphors and literal controls. Signals, on the contrary, did not impact the interpretability or acceptability of the sentences. Moreover, only in experiment 3b did we find an interaction between metaphor type and signals. Specifically, when a metaphor was marked by double signals (i.e., both lexical signals and a typographical signal were added around the metaphorical keywords) vs. no signals, acceptability of novel metaphors increased, but acceptability of conventional metaphors decreased. We hypothesize that the double signaling of novel metaphors marks their novelty, making them more acceptable. By contrast, the double signaling of conventional metaphors may have been perceived as redundant, leading to a lower acceptability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Ahrens
- Department of English and Communication & Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Christian Burgers
- Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Yin Zhong
- Center for Language Education, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
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Pescuma VN, Serova D, Lukassek J, Sauermann A, Schäfer R, Adli A, Bildhauer F, Egg M, Hülk K, Ito A, Jannedy S, Kordoni V, Kuehnast M, Kutscher S, Lange R, Lehmann N, Liu M, Lütke B, Maquate K, Mooshammer C, Mortezapour V, Müller S, Norde M, Pankratz E, Patarroyo AG, Pleşca AM, Ronderos CR, Rotter S, Sauerland U, Schnelle G, Schulte B, Schüppenhauer G, Sell BM, Solt S, Terada M, Tsiapou D, Verhoeven E, Weirich M, Wiese H, Zaruba K, Zeige LE, Lüdeling A, Knoeferle P. Situating language register across the ages, languages, modalities, and cultural aspects: Evidence from complementary methods. Front Psychol 2023; 13:964658. [PMID: 36687875 PMCID: PMC9846624 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.964658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
In the present review paper by members of the collaborative research center "Register: Language Users' Knowledge of Situational-Functional Variation" (CRC 1412), we assess the pervasiveness of register phenomena across different time periods, languages, modalities, and cultures. We define "register" as recurring variation in language use depending on the function of language and on the social situation. Informed by rich data, we aim to better understand and model the knowledge involved in situation- and function-based use of language register. In order to achieve this goal, we are using complementary methods and measures. In the review, we start by clarifying the concept of "register", by reviewing the state of the art, and by setting out our methods and modeling goals. Against this background, we discuss three key challenges, two at the methodological level and one at the theoretical level: (1) To better uncover registers in text and spoken corpora, we propose changes to established analytical approaches. (2) To tease apart between-subject variability from the linguistic variability at issue (intra-individual situation-based register variability), we use within-subject designs and the modeling of individuals' social, language, and educational background. (3) We highlight a gap in cognitive modeling, viz. modeling the mental representations of register (processing), and present our first attempts at filling this gap. We argue that the targeted use of multiple complementary methods and measures supports investigating the pervasiveness of register phenomena and yields comprehensive insights into the cross-methodological robustness of register-related language variability. These comprehensive insights in turn provide a solid foundation for associated cognitive modeling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina N. Pescuma
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dina Serova
- Institute of Archaeology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Julia Lukassek
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Antje Sauermann
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Roland Schäfer
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Aria Adli
- Institute of Romance Studies, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany
| | - Felix Bildhauer
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Markus Egg
- Department of English and American Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kristina Hülk
- Institute of Archaeology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Aine Ito
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | | | - Valia Kordoni
- Department of English and American Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Milena Kuehnast
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Silvia Kutscher
- Institute of Archaeology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Robert Lange
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nico Lehmann
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mingya Liu
- Department of English and American Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Beate Lütke
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Katja Maquate
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christine Mooshammer
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Stefan Müller
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Muriel Norde
- Department for Northern European Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Elizabeth Pankratz
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Centre for Language Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Angela G. Patarroyo
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ana-Maria Pleşca
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Camilo R. Ronderos
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Stephanie Rotter
- Department of English and American Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Gohar Schnelle
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Britta Schulte
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gediminas Schüppenhauer
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics, Berlin, Germany
| | - Bianca Maria Sell
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Megumi Terada
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dimitra Tsiapou
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Verhoeven
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Melanie Weirich
- Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Germanic Linguistics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Heike Wiese
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kathy Zaruba
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lars Erik Zeige
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anke Lüdeling
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Pia Knoeferle
- Department of German Studies and Linguistics, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin-Charité, Berlin, Germany
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