The Literal Versus Figurative Dichotomy

Turner, Mark B.

The Literal Versus Figurative Dichotomy

THE LITERAL AND NONLITERAL IN LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT, Seana Coulson and Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, eds., Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 25-52, 2005

25 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2008 Last revised: 21 Dec 2010

See all articles by Mark B. Turner

Mark B. Turner

Case Western Reserve University - Department of Cognitive Science

Date Written: October 23, 2005

Abstract

A reconsideration of the standard questions concerning literal and nonliteral language and thought, from the point of view of conceptual integration theory.

The study of figure has been sidetracked from basic conceptual issues since the Greeks, with the surprising and humbling result that the study of figure, one of the oldest bodies of knowledge in the human sciences, remains in our age still in its infancy.

Keywords: literal, figurative, figure, conceptual integration, conceptual blending, metaphor, metonymy

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Turner, Mark B., The Literal Versus Figurative Dichotomy (October 23, 2005). THE LITERAL AND NONLITERAL IN LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT, Seana Coulson and Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, eds., Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 25-52, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1293767