This article presents a systematic approach to characterizing dramatic irony using features drawn from the literature in conjunction with the analytical framework provided by Possible Worlds Theory (PWT). Checklists concerning the relative knowledge of participants, discourse levels and participant roles, the generation of tension, and resulting dramatic irony effects were formulated and applied to examples of dramatic irony from two episodes of the British sit-com Fawlty Towers. A PWT analysis of dramatic irony draws attention to points of conflict among participants’ (...) private worlds, such as their K-world (knowledge) and W-world (wishes), and the Text Actual World, thereby enabling an account of its central characteristics, including the knowledge, motivations, desires, and obligations of individual participants. Moreover, use of PWT points up discrepancies and similarities among different dramatic ironies in terms of knowledge deficit, dramatic irony effect, and tension, and strengthens the case for recasting “dramatic irony,” addressing the unhelpful blurring with the figure of irony by drawing attention to differences in their characteristics, including the role of context and speaker intention. Recommendations for further research on the distinctive features of dramatic irony are suggested, including the types of knowledge gap that characterize comic and tragic dramatic irony, and their concomitant effects. (shrink)

This article critically evaluates the concept of ecological empathy (or “eco-empathy”), reconceptualizing it as creative, embodied thinking that embraces paradoxes between emotion and cognition, body and mind, and the human and non-human. Drawing on cognitive linguistics, social and evolutionary psychology, and phenomenology, we argue that metaphor plays a crucial role in fostering this form of eco-empathy, by bridging emotional and cognitive understanding and facilitating the creation of new conceptual links. These arguments are tested by means of a qualitative case study, (...) involving creative writing workshops, where participants were invited to respond to an eco-art exhibition by projecting themselves imaginatively into one of the exhibited wild plants. The analysis of metaphors used in the resulting poems, and of post-workshop interviews, demonstrated how the creation of novel metaphors led participants to develop a deeper understanding and emotional connection to their chosen plants, as well as encouraging greater engagement with the natural world more generally. (shrink)

In political discourse, cardinal points are more than reference points; they represent different cultural-political regions through conceptual metonymy. Cardinal points are often portrayed in opposition to each other; regions in the North are compared to the South, while the East is contrasted with the West. One peculiarity of these dichotomies is that regimes routinely shape them in a way that fits their political goals (cf. Rac, 2014). This is also true for Hungarian political communication, as the country’s belonging to the (...) East or West has been debated throughout history. Thus, what exactly East and West stand for in public discourse appears flexible. To recover their various meanings, this paper identifies alternative conceptualizations of East and West and hypothesizes that 1) multiple metonymic target concepts of East and West exist in Hungarian news media and 2) the target concepts profile alternative (historical-cultural and political-economic) interpretations. In line with Brdar and Brdar-Szabó (2022), this study considers metonymy as a conceptual elaboration; therefore, it is one of the first empirical tests of this metonymy interpretation. The results corroborate the hypotheses as multiple metonymic target concepts are identified motivated by history and geopolitics. (shrink)

Incorporating conceptual and discoursal perspectives, this study examines multimodal conceptual metaphors occurring in university advertisement posters. These posters offer a unique window onto the creative operation of cognitive mechanisms in the production of images and texts designed to work together to convey a message. Based on a dataset of posters promoting South Korean universities, the study explores (1) what metaphors emerge from interaction across modes; (2) how multimodal metaphoric creativity facilitates recontextualized framing; and (3) what social perspectives, values, ideologies, and (...) cultural underpinnings of the society’s education discourse are conveyed in the posters via metaphors. From the conceptual perspectives, the mapping relations manifested in both visual and verbal modes reveal several overarching frames in various metaphor scenarios, reflecting different levels of generality through recontextualization. From the discoursal perspectives, the study shows that discourse stances regarding the perception, purpose, progress, and process of education are based on social attitudes, embodied experiences, cultural values, and ideologies linked to contemporary South Korean lifestyles. The study discusses the discoursal views on education that are manifested in multimodal metaphors related to self-growth, national and global competitiveness, the national identity of Koreanness, and the idea of building human capital and facilitating employment. (shrink)

Visual narratives, like comics, at times show depictions of characters’ imagination, dreams, or flashbacks, which seem incongruent with the ongoing primary narrative. Such “domain constructions” thus integrate an auxiliary domain (e.g. a dream) within the primary domain (the expected, physical storyworld), and may require readers to resolve seemingly non-co-referential figures as co-referential (e.g. when a character’s dream shows that character as an animal). In three self-paced reading experiments, we investigate the processing and understanding of single vs. multiple domains in sequences (...) with co-reference issues (Exp. 1) and whether graphic cues facilitate such domain switches (Exp. 2 and 3). Domain switches incurred greater updating costs but were comprehensible, with greater similarity across panels predicting faster processing, and comic reading experience affecting viewing times. The successful integration of fantasized agents which seem to lack co-reference implies that visual narrative comprehension goes beyond event and scene perception alone, but also involves proficiency in conventional constructions related to perspective-taking and inferencing. (shrink)

Idioms are the unity of figurative and formulaic expressions, driving a variety of creative variants used in everyday life. This study explored how Chinese readers made sense of Chinese idioms and their variants, with possible constraints from their strength in overall inhibitory control (OIC). Our new attempt at a comprehensive measure of inhibitory control managed to predict the readers’ self-paced reading behavior in the context of the idioms written in the Chinese ideographic script. Those with poorer OIC were assumed to (...) show more difficulties in inhibiting the literal meaning of a Chinese idiom as the supportive context unfolded. Such constraints from OIC also resurfaced during the comprehension of the Chinese variants employed in this study that were likely treated as novel idioms. We thereby assumed a hybrid route for the comprehension of Chinese idiomatic expressions. Nonetheless, idiom familiarity or decomposability exerted limited influence during these processes. The current study enriches the individual-difference approach to idiom comprehension by further expounding how its account varies with an ideographic writing system characterized by symbolic glyphs. (shrink)

Uncontrolled wildfires present ever-increasing risks. To respond effectively, we must communicate clearly and compellingly. This is where the scientific study of metaphor can help. Metaphor is the use of one domain to describe or think about another, a process that is often crucial for understanding phenomena that are unusually large, abstract, or complex – phenomena such as wildfires. Here, we describe two metaphorical framings that are widespread in wildfire communication: wildfire as an intentional, hungry beast; and wildfire as an enemy (...) to defeat in war. We then explore how each metaphor makes certain approaches to wildfire management seem natural, while simultaneously making it difficult to understand or appreciate others. Metaphor thus offers an integrated framework for thinking and communicating about wildfire management on multiple scales. (shrink)

The use of metaphor and metonymy in social awareness campaigns has been shown as an effective strategy to evoke emotional reactions in the audience and influence behavior change. Using authentic campaign discourse, this study investigated how two multimodal, figurative representations of plastic pollution (plastic pollution is war on nature and plastic pollution is usurpation of marine life) influenced participants’ responses to solutions-oriented and emotions-oriented measures. The data were gathered from two online surveys: Experiment 1 used Likert-scales and free-text responses; these (...) were analyzed using statistical techniques and semantic frame analysis. Experiment 2 was a shorter follow-up study which used Likert-scales. The results suggest that the war frame inspired more negative emotional reactions overall, whereas the usurpation frame inspired more positive emotions. We also find that political orientation significantly moderates people’s sense of empowerment to tackle plastic pollution. The results have implications for future experimental studies seeking to explore the interaction of positive and negative affective states in the context of ecological issues, and for designers of campaigns who seek to use metaphor and metonymy to evoke the desired emotional and behavioral responses. (shrink)

Idioms are the unity of figurative and formulaic expressions, driving a variety of creative variants used in everyday life. This study explored how Chinese readers made sense of Chinese idioms and their variants, with possible constraints from their strength in overall inhibitory control (OIC). Our new attempt at a comprehensive measure of inhibitory control managed to predict the readers’ self-paced reading behavior in the context of the idioms written in the Chinese ideographic script. Those with poorer OIC were assumed to (...) show more difficulties in inhibiting the literal meaning of a Chinese idiom as the supportive context unfolded. Such constraints from OIC also resurfaced during the comprehension of the Chinese variants employed in this study that were likely treated as novel idioms. We thereby assumed a hybrid route for the comprehension of Chinese idiomatic expressions. Nonetheless, idiom familiarity or decomposability exerted limited influence during these processes. The current study enriches the individual-difference approach to idiom comprehension by further expounding how its account varies with an ideographic writing system characterized by symbolic glyphs. (shrink)

Conceptual metaphors crucially shape how people understand and represent abstract concepts like love. Numerous Chinese linguistic metaphors associate love (beginning/continuing a romantic relationship) with red (e.g. 红豆相思) and lovelorn (breakup/end of a romantic relationship) with gray (e.g. 万念俱灰). However, empirical evidence supporting these color metaphors for love concepts is lacking. This study investigated the red-gray color metaphor for love concepts in Chinese. Experiment 1 used a Stroop test where participants categorized love/lovelorn words in red/gray fonts. Results showed significantly faster latencies (...) for love words in red versus gray fonts, but no difference for lovelorn words. Experiment 2 used an implicit association test (IAT), where the compatible block paired red squares with love words and gray squares with lovelorn words, and vice versa in the incompatible block. Results showed that participants implicitly associated love words with red colors and lovelorn words with gray colors. Together, these experiments provide novel empirical evidence that native Chinese speakers activate metaphorical red-gray color mappings for love concepts, contributing insights into how abstract love concepts are grounded in embodied experiences. Future research could explore color-love metaphors across cultures, paradigms, and gender-balanced samples. (shrink)