I want to know what treatment, if any, figurative meaning is given within Conceptual Semantics and the Parallel Architecture: what it is understood as, how it is formalized (if in any way), and what implications it has, e.g. for the interfaces between semantics and the rest of the grammar (syntax and phonology, but also morphology and the lexicon).
Dear Ernesto Wong Garcia,
Generally speaking, figurative uses of language like metaphors employ words or expressions whose meaning differ from those of literal language. As you have rightly noticed, figures of speech such as the metaphor trigger cognitive domains involving complex associative interpretations which require an execution of various simultaneous processes (hence the name parallel architecture). As such, the semantic analysis required for the interpretation of metaphors involves specific conceptual elements by which an individual is able to understand non-literal words and sentences in order to provide an explanatory semantic representation . I hope the following links can satisfy your intended question.
Best of luck,
R. Biria
https://spot.colorado.edu/~michaeli/FigurativeLangauge_LSetal.pdf
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811913012664
https://www.cogsci.bme.hu/~ktkuser/PHD_iskola/dissertations/20140630.../tezis_eng.pdf
Dear Garcia,
Parallel Architecture means precisely a Parallel grammatical desing founded on parallel relations (not derivational ones) between semantic, phonological and syntactic levels.
You can find some elements to treat figurative meaning into this framework in the treatment of lexical semantics (and polysemy) by the leader of the theory Prof. Ray Jackendoff in his book: Foundations of Language (2002, OUP). All chapter 11 (11.3 on "polysemy" included).
Best wishes
Mohamed Ghalim
Thank you for your answers. Here's a question for Mr. Ghalim: Should we keep calling them 'levels' if there's really no hierarchy, with the architecture being, as it is, parallel?
Thank you for your question. Levels are not necessary hierarchical. They can be parallel in an overall structure, as it is the case in linguistic structure. Jackendoff wrote: “Linguistic structure is viewed as a collection of independent but linked levels of structure: phonology, syntax, and semantics. Each level of structure is characterized by its own set of primitives and combinatorial principles. The linking among levels of structure is established by sets of interface constraints...” (Jackendoff 2002, FOUNDATIONS OF LANGUAGE, p. 198).
Dear EWG,
On metaphor, check the following:
1. Washing the Brain_ Metaphor and Hidden Ideology_Andrew Goatly-John Benjamins (2007)
2. Andrew Ortony, ed. Metaphor and Thought. 2nd ed. (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993).
Good luck.