Figurative Language Device
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A Figurative Language Device is a linguistic device that conveys meaning through non-literal expressions, employing semantic deviations, conceptual mappings, or rhetorical patterns to achieve communicative effects beyond literal interpretation in human language.
- AKA: Figure of Speech, Rhetorical Figure, Figurative Expression, Literary Device, Trope, Stylistic Device, Non-Literal Language Device.
- Context:
- It can (typically) enhance Expressive Power through semantic extension and creative language use.
- It can (typically) facilitate Abstract Concept Communication via concrete imagery and familiar experiences.
- It can (typically) create Aesthetic Effects in literary texts and poetic language.
- It can (typically) engage Cognitive Processing through interpretive effort and meaning construction.
- It can (typically) establish Emotional Connections between speakers and audiences.
- It can (typically) compress Complex Meanings into concise expressions.
- It can (often) reveal Cultural Values through conventional figures and traditional expressions.
- It can (often) enable Persuasive Communication in rhetoric and argumentation.
- It can (often) support Memory Retention through vivid imagery and memorable phrases.
- It can (often) display Language Creativity in novel combinations and original expressions.
- It can (frequently) challenge Machine Translation and Natural Language Processing systems.
- It can (frequently) vary across Language Communities and cultural contexts.
- It can (frequently) undergo Conventionalization becoming idiomatic expressions.
- It can (frequently) combine with other Figurative Language Devices in complex expressions.
- It can range from being a Conventional Figurative Device to being a Novel Figurative Device, depending on its originality degree.
- It can range from being a Simple Figurative Device to being a Complex Figurative Device, depending on its structural complexity.
- It can range from being a Universal Figurative Device to being a Culture-Specific Figurative Device, depending on its cross-cultural recognition.
- It can range from being a Semantic Figurative Device to being a Syntactic Figurative Device to being a Phonological Figurative Device, depending on its linguistic level.
- It can range from being a Substitution-Based Device to being a Comparison-Based Device to being a Contrast-Based Device, depending on its operational principle.
- It can range from being a Local Figurative Device to being an Extended Figurative Device, depending on its textual scope.
- ...
- Example(s):
- Comparison-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Linguistic Metaphor: "Time is money", "Life is a journey", "The mind is a container".
- Simile: "She runs like the wind", "Brave as a lion", "Clear as crystal".
- Analogy: "The atom is like a solar system", "The brain works like a computer".
- Allegory: Plato's Cave, Animal Farm, Pilgrim's Progress.
- Substitution-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Metonymy: "The White House announced" (place for institution), "Hollywood makes movies" (place for industry).
- Synecdoche: "All hands on deck" (part for whole), "Nice wheels" (part for whole).
- Personification: "The wind whispered", "Time marches on", "Death knocked at the door".
- Apostrophe: "O Death, where is thy sting?", addressing absent or abstract entities.
- Contrast-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Irony: "What lovely weather" (during a storm), "That went well" (after failure).
- Oxymoron: "Deafening silence", "Living death", "Bitter sweet".
- Paradox: "Less is more", "The only constant is change", "I know that I know nothing".
- Antithesis: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".
- Exaggeration-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Sound-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Alliteration: "Peter Piper picked", "Wild and windy".
- Assonance: "Fleet feet sweep", repetition of vowel sounds.
- Onomatopoeia: "Buzz", "Sizzle", "Bang", sound imitation.
- Consonance: "Pitter patter", repetition of consonant sounds.
- Structure-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Chiasmus: "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country".
- Anaphora: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight...".
- Epistrophe: "...government of the people, by the people, for the people".
- Parallelism: "Easy come, easy go", "No pain, no gain".
- Reference-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Allusion: "Don't be a Romeo" (literary reference), "He's a real Einstein" (historical reference).
- Symbolism: dove for peace, red rose for love, scales for justice.
- Euphemism: "Passed away" (for died), "Between jobs" (for unemployed).
- Dysphemism: "Croaked" (for died), deliberately harsh expression.
- Idiomatic Figurative Devices, such as:
- Idiomatic Expression: KICKTHEBUCKET, SPILLTHEBEANS, BREAKTHEICE.
- Proverb: "A stitch in time saves nine", "Birds of a feather flock together".
- Cliché: "Time will tell", "At the end of the day", overused expressions.
- ...
- Comparison-Based Figurative Devices, such as:
- Counter-Example(s):
- Literal Language, expressing direct meaning without semantic deviation.
- Technical Language, prioritizing precision over expressiveness.
- Mathematical Expression, using formal symbols without figurative meaning.
- Logical Proposition, stating truth conditions without rhetorical effect.
- Scientific Description, emphasizing objective representation over subjective interpretation.
- See: Linguistic Device, Rhetoric, Literary Device, Linguistic Metaphor, Conceptual Metaphor, Idiomatic Expression, Poetic Language, Stylistics, Semantic Deviation, Pragmatics, Cognitive Linguistics, Natural Language Processing, Literary Analysis, Communication Theory, Trope, Figure of Speech, Non-Literal Language, Language Creativity, Metaphor, Rhetoric, Metonomy Figure of Speech, Nominalization, Double Entendre, Scheme (Linguistics), Trope (Literature), Polysyndeton, Figurative Language, Figurative Drawing.
References
2020
- (Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/figure_of_speech Retrieved:2020-10-28.
- A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is an intentional deviation from ordinary language, chosen to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into schemes, which vary the ordinary sequence or pattern of words, and tropes, where words are made to carry a meaning other than what they ordinarily signify. A type of scheme is polysyndeton, the repeating of a conjunction before every element in a list, where normally the conjunction would appear only before the last element, as in "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"—emphasizing the danger and number of animals more than the prosaic wording with only the second "and". A type of trope is metaphor, describing one thing as something that it clearly is not, in order to lead the mind to compare them, in "All the world's a stage."
2014
- http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~gargetad/AISB-CP-2015.html
- Communication and expression in language, pictures, diagrams, gesture, music etc. is rich with figurative aspects, such as metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole and irony. People engage in such communication and expression in a variety of contexts and with a range of effects. Modelling figurative patterns of communication / expression is a key aim of academic disciplines such as linguistics, philosophy, discourse studies, and psycholinguistics, and automatically understanding such phenomena is a long-standing and now expanding endeavour within Artificial Intelligence. A particularly interesting current area of research is work on automatically generating as well as understanding metaphor -- both understanding and generation are emerging as important sites for addressing long-standing problems in linguistics, artificial intelligence, philosophy, and cognitive science more generally. In addition, some researchers have suggested that metaphor can be an intrinsic part of thought, not just of external communication / expression.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- . How philosophical thinking on figurative expression and thought can/should be exploited/heeded by relevant AI researchers
- . How computational attempts to model figurative expression can aid philosophical thinking about it
- . How the production of figurative expression reflects speakers' conceptualisations, goals and commitments
- Communication and expression in language, pictures, diagrams, gesture, music etc. is rich with figurative aspects, such as metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole and irony. People engage in such communication and expression in a variety of contexts and with a range of effects. Modelling figurative patterns of communication / expression is a key aim of academic disciplines such as linguistics, philosophy, discourse studies, and psycholinguistics, and automatically understanding such phenomena is a long-standing and now expanding endeavour within Artificial Intelligence. A particularly interesting current area of research is work on automatically generating as well as understanding metaphor -- both understanding and generation are emerging as important sites for addressing long-standing problems in linguistics, artificial intelligence, philosophy, and cognitive science more generally. In addition, some researchers have suggested that metaphor can be an intrinsic part of thought, not just of external communication / expression.