How defaultness shapes our language production
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Rachel Giora
Abstract
The paper focuses on discourse production. It shows that language production unfolds via resonating (Du Bois, 2014) with default interpretations. Default interpretations are defined as automatic responses. However, for an automatic response to be considered a default, it has to be (i) novel; (ii) free of semantic an omaly (Beardsley, 1958) and internal incongruity (Partington, 2011); and (iii) free of contextual information, intonation, discourse markers, etc. Results show that constructions, shown to be interpreted sarcastically or metaphorically when in isolation, were processed faster than nondefault counterparts when in discourse. As a result, corpus-based studies, displaying default interpretations, show that speakers’ discourse is unfolding via utterances’ default rather than nondefault interpretations. This applies here to Hebrew but also to English, German, and Russian.
Abstract
The paper focuses on discourse production. It shows that language production unfolds via resonating (Du Bois, 2014) with default interpretations. Default interpretations are defined as automatic responses. However, for an automatic response to be considered a default, it has to be (i) novel; (ii) free of semantic an omaly (Beardsley, 1958) and internal incongruity (Partington, 2011); and (iii) free of contextual information, intonation, discourse markers, etc. Results show that constructions, shown to be interpreted sarcastically or metaphorically when in isolation, were processed faster than nondefault counterparts when in discourse. As a result, corpus-based studies, displaying default interpretations, show that speakers’ discourse is unfolding via utterances’ default rather than nondefault interpretations. This applies here to Hebrew but also to English, German, and Russian.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
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Section 1. General empirical studies, with main focus on metaphor
- Producing metaphor (and other forms of non-literal language) in the laboratory 37
- Metaphor and one-off pictures 55
- Metaphor production and metaphor interpretation 85
- On the role of perceptual similarity in producing visual metaphors 105
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Section 2. General empirical studies – other
- On why people don’t say what they mean 129
- How nice does it sound? 175
- How defaultness shapes our language production 211
- Producing figurative meanings 237
- The production of verbal irony 263
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Section 3. Empirical and analytical studies aimed at specific applications
- Generating metaphors in product design 299
- Rock bottoms, juggling balls and coalprints 331
- Figurative production in a computer-mediated discussion forum 363
- The production of time-related metaphors by people who have experienced pregnancy loss 389
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Section 4. Other theoretical analysis and cognitive or computational modelling
- Metaphor generation through context sensitive distributional semantics 421
- Mind the gap 449
- Figurative language 469
- Metaphor as sign and as symbol 511
- Topic Index 533
- Author Index 543
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. General empirical studies, with main focus on metaphor
- Producing metaphor (and other forms of non-literal language) in the laboratory 37
- Metaphor and one-off pictures 55
- Metaphor production and metaphor interpretation 85
- On the role of perceptual similarity in producing visual metaphors 105
-
Section 2. General empirical studies – other
- On why people don’t say what they mean 129
- How nice does it sound? 175
- How defaultness shapes our language production 211
- Producing figurative meanings 237
- The production of verbal irony 263
-
Section 3. Empirical and analytical studies aimed at specific applications
- Generating metaphors in product design 299
- Rock bottoms, juggling balls and coalprints 331
- Figurative production in a computer-mediated discussion forum 363
- The production of time-related metaphors by people who have experienced pregnancy loss 389
-
Section 4. Other theoretical analysis and cognitive or computational modelling
- Metaphor generation through context sensitive distributional semantics 421
- Mind the gap 449
- Figurative language 469
- Metaphor as sign and as symbol 511
- Topic Index 533
- Author Index 543
