Conventional metaphor and the lexicon

Abstract

Metaphor and other forms of non-literal language are essential parts of language which have direct bearing on theories of lexical semantics. Neither narrow theories of lexical semantics, nor theories relying solely on world knowledge are sufficient to account for our ability to generate and interpret non-literal language. This paper presents an emerging approach that may provide such an account. This approach is based on systematic representations that capture non-literal language conventions, and mechanisms that can dynamically understand and learn new uses as they are encountered.