Cover not available

Article published In: Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 8:1 (2021) ► pp.109–132

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Contextual congruency and novel metaphor integration

ORCiD logo with link | The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
ORCiD logo with link | National Chiayi University
Published online: 8 September 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00068.ahr
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to further our understanding of how novel metaphor sentences are processed at a discourse level. Previous studies have focused on contextual issues during the processing of sentences containing conventional metaphors, with the effect of context on sentences with novel metaphors less studied. Accordingly, we determined the effects of contextual congruency on novel metaphor sentences in short texts by conducting two on-line reading experiments. We adopted Conceptual Mapping Model in order to create sentences with two types of novel metaphor (1) sentences with novel metaphors that follow mapping principles (considered to be comparatively less novel) and (2) sentences with novel metaphors that do not follow mapping principles (considered to be comparatively more novel). In Experiment 1, conventional metaphor scenarios were preceded by congruent novel metaphor sentences following mapping principles and those not following mapping principles. In Experiment 2, conventional metaphor scenarios were preceded by incongruent novel metaphor sentences following mapping principles and those not following mapping principles. Results showed that congruent novel metaphor sentences following mapping principles were read faster than those not following mapping principles in conventional metaphor scenarios (Experiment 1), while there was a marginal difference in reading times between incongruent novel metaphor sentences following and those not following mapping principles, but not in the expected direction (Experiment 2). Our research supports previous work that shows that congruency plays a large role in assimilating new information, and also provides further evidence for the role of mapping principles in the creation and processing of novel metaphors.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Experiment 1: Reading congruent novel metaphor sentences in conventional metaphor paragraphs
    • 2.1Method
      • 2.1.1Participants
      • 2.1.2Materials
        • Pretest 1: An off-line source domain judgment task
        • Pretest 2: An off-line mapping principles verification task
        • Pretest 3: A reading task for processing novel metaphor sentences without preceding paragraphs
      • 2.1.3Apparatus
      • 2.1.4Procedure
      • 2.1.5Results
      • 2.1.6Discussion
  • 3.Experiment 2: Reading incongruent novel metaphors in conventional metaphor paragraphs
    • 3.1Method
      • 3.1.1Participants
      • 3.1.2Materials and design
      • 3.1.3Apparatus
      • 3.1.4Procedure
      • 3.1.5Results
      • 3.1.6Discussion
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (25)
References
Ahrens, K. (2010). Mapping principles for conceptual metaphors. In Graham Low, Zazie Todd, Alice Deignan, and Lynne Cameron (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor in the Real World. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahrens, K., & Chung, S. F. (2019). Research on metaphors in Chinese. In Chu-Ren Huang, Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, and Barbara Meisterernst (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Applied Chinese Linguistics. (pp. 364–378). New York and London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahrens, K., Chung, S.-F., & Huang, C.-R. (2004). From lexical semantics to conceptual metaphors: Mapping principle verification with WordNet and SUMO. In Ji Donghong, Lua Kim Teng, & Wang Hui (Eds.), Recent Advancement in Chinese Lexical Semantics: Proceedings of 5th Chinese Lexical Semantics Workshop (CLSW-5) (pp. 99–106). Singapore: COLIPS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Conceptual metaphors: ontology-based representation and corpora driven mapping principles. Proceedings of the ACL Workshop on the Lexicon and Figurative Language (pp. 35–41). Japan: Sapporo. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahrens, K. & Jiang, M.-H. (2020). Source Domain Verification Using Corpus-based Tools. Metaphor and Symbol. 35(1), 43–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ahrens, K., Liu, H.-L., Lee, C.-Y., Gong, S.-P., Fang, S.-Y., & Hsu, Y.-Y. (2007). Functional MRI of conventional and anomalous metaphors in Mandarin Chinese. Brain and Language, 100(2), 163–171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgers, C. (2016). Conceptualizing Change in Communication Through Metaphor. Journal of Communication, 661: 250–265. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgers, C., & Ahrens, K. (2020). Change in metaphorical framing over time: Metaphors of trade in 225 years of State of the Union addresses (1790–2014). Applied Linguistics, 41(2): 260–279. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chung, S.-F., Ahrens, K., & Huang, C.-R. (2005). Source domains as concept domains in metaphorical expressions. International Journal of Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing, 10(4), 553–570.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Church, K. W., & Hanks, P. (1990). Word association norms, mutual information, and lexicography. Computational Linguistics, 16(1), 22–29.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
CKIP (Chinese Knowledge Information Processing Group). (1995). Corpus-Based Frequency Count of Words in Journal Chinese. Taipei: Academia Sinica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glucksberg, S., Brown, M., & McGlone, M. S. (1993). Conceptual metaphors are not automatically accessed during idiom comprehension. Memory & Cognition, 211, 711–719. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glucksberg, S., McGlone, M. S., & Manfredi, D. (1997). Property attribution in metaphor comprehension. Journal of Memory and Language, 361, 50–67. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gong, S.-P., & Ahrens, K. (2007). Processing conceptual metaphors in on-going discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(4), 313–330. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gong, S.-P., Ahrens, K., & Huang, C.-R. (2008). Chinese Word Sketch and Mapping Principles: A Corpus-Based Study of Conceptual Metaphors Using the BUILDING Source Domain. International Journal of Computer Processing of Oriental Languages. 21(2): 3–17. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, C.-R. (1995). The morpho-lexical meaning of mutual information: A corpus-based approach towards a definition of Mandarin words. Presented at the 1995 Linguistics Society of America Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
Keysar, B., Shen, Y., Glucksberg, S., & Horton, W. S. (2000). Conventional language: How metaphorical is it? Journal of Memory and Language, 431, 576–593. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2019). Ten Lectures on Figurative Meaning-Making: The Role of Body and Context. Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Levels of metaphor. Cognitive linguistics, 28(2), 321–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (p. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we Live By. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nayak, N. P., & Gibbs, R. W. (1990). Conceptual knowledge in the interpretation of idioms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 19(3), 315–330. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sproat, R., Shih, C., Gale, W., & Chang, N. (1996). A stochastic finite-state word-segmentation algorithm for Chinese. Computational Linguistics, 22(3), 377–404.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thibodeau, P., & Durgin, F. H. (2008). Productive figurative communication: Conventional metaphors facilitate the comprehension of related novel metaphors. Journal of Memory and Language, 581, 521–540. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wen, X., & Yang, K. (2016). Systematicity and Complexity of IDEA Metaphors in Chinese. Metaphor and Symbol, 31(4), 230–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Chen, Chun-Yin Doris & Jheng-Syun Eliot Huang
2025. Semantic Development in Taiwan Mandarin-Speaking Children: A Study of V-Diao. Languages 10:7 ► pp. 156 ff. DOI logo
Chen, Joanna Zhuoan & Kathleen Ahrens
2025. Metaphors in Luxury Hotel Websites: A Comparative Analysis Between Singapore and Hong Kong. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly DOI logo
Ahrens, Kathleen, Christian Burgers & Yin Zhong
2024. Making the Unseen Seen: The Role of Signaling and Novelty in Rating Metaphors. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 53:3 DOI logo
Cheng, Lulu, Yingming Guan, Ting Zhang, Linlin Zhan, Yanqin Liu, Peng Wang, Shanshan Yu & Yule Peng
2024. An empirical study on the development of metaphorical comprehension of Chinese children. Frontiers in Psychology 14 DOI logo
Zhong, Yin, Kathleen Ahrens & Chu-Ren Huang
2024. Novel metaphor and embodiment: comprehending novel synesthetic metaphors. Linguistics Vanguard 9:1 ► pp. 245 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue