Originally published in 1977. The Semantics of Metaphor presents a theory for the metaphoric construal of deviant sentences. The theory has two aspects. The first relates to metaphor considered as a productive process of language and describes the mechanisms that operate in its semantic interpretation .This part of the theory is presented in chapters III and IV. The second aspect bears on metaphor considered in the context of poetry and develops a conception of metaphoric truth. This part of the theory is presented in chapters VI and VII. The study is semantic in the sense of dealing with both meaning and truth as these properties pertain to metaphor. Of the remaining chapters, the first isolates certain problems of a pragmatic nature from the central semantic concern, chapter II follows with a survey of recent scholarship on the question of semantic deviance, and chapter V compares the theory expounded in chapters III and IV with three other accounts of metaphor.

Josef Stern addresses the question: Given the received conception of the form and goals of semantic theory, does metaphorical interpretation, in whole or part, fall within its scope? The many philosophers, linguists, and cognitive scientists writing on metaphor over the past two decades have generally taken for granted that metaphor lies outside, if not in opposition to, received conceptions of semantics and grammar. Assuming that metaphor cannot be explained by or within semantics, they claim that metaphor has little, if anything, to teach us about semantic theory. In this book Josef Stern challenges these assumptions. He is concerned primarily with the question: Given the received conception of the form and goals of semantic theory, does metaphorical interpretation, in whole or part, fall within its scope? Specifically, he asks, what (if anything) does a speaker-hearer know as part of her semantic competence when she knows the interpretation of a metaphor? According to Stern, the answer to these questions lies in the systematic context-dependence of metaphorical interpretation. Drawing on a deep analogy between demonstratives, indexicals, and metaphors, Stern develops a formal theory of metaphorical meaning that underlies a speaker's ability to interpret a metaphor. With his semantics, he also addresses a variety of philosophical and linguistic issues raised by metaphor. These include the interpretive structure of complex extended metaphors, the cognitive significance of metaphors and their literal paraphrasability, the pictorial character of metaphors, the role of similarity and exemplification in metaphorical interpretation, metaphor-networks, dead metaphors, the relation of metaphors to other figures, and the dependence of metaphors on literal meanings. Unlike most metaphor theorists, however, who take these problems to be sui generis to metaphor, Stern subsumes them under the same rubric as other semantic facts that hold for nonmetaphorical language.

This study presents an approach to metaphor that takes contextual factors into account. It analyses how metaphors depend on and change the context in which they are uttered, and how metaphorical interpretation involves the articulation of asserted, implied and presupposed materials.

This collection of twenty papers deals with a wide range of issues in philosophy of language, epistemology, history of philosophy, philosophy of psychology, jurisprudence and philosophy of science. It should be of interest to, and prove a stimulus for new work by, researchers and practitioners working in any of these fields. Tracing a route backwards through the papers as presented here, the final group is largely concerned with how empirical knowledge may be acquired through evidence in states of uncertainty; the middle group explores how such evidence often requires or results in conceptual innovation and is given to us in language the meaning of which may be difficult to determine; the first group explores how a theory of meaning can be constructed for natural and artificial languages. The papers exhibit a distinctive analytical perspective and a great deal of thematic continuity, underpinned by commitment to the richness both of language and of enquiry and opposition to simplistic or dogmatic formalisations and analyses.

'Metaphor', a form of figurative language in which one thing or idea is expressed in terms of another, is becoming an increasingly popular area of study, as it is relevant to the work of semanticists, pragmatists, discourse analysts and also those working at the interface of language and literature and in other disciplines such as philosophy and psychology. This book provides a summary, critique and comparison of the most important theories on how metaphors are used and understood, drawing on research from linguistics, psychology and other disciplines. In order to ground the discussion in actual language use, the book uses examples from discourse, including casual conversations, political speeches, literature, humor, religion and science. Written in a non-technical style, the book includes clear definitions, examples, discussion questions and a glossary, making it ideal for graduate-level seminars.

The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive philosophical theory which explains the cognitive contribution of metaphor. The argument is illustrated with analysis of metaphors from literature, philosophy, science, and everyday language.

This handbook is the first to explore the growing field of experimental semantics and pragmatics. In the past 20 years, experimental data has become a major source of evidence for building theories of language meaning and use, encompassing a wide range of topics and methods. Following an introduction from the editors, the chapters in this volume offer an up-to-date account of research in the field spanning 31 different topics, including scalar implicatures, presuppositions, counterfactuals, quantification, metaphor, prosody, and politeness, as well as exploring how and why a particular experimental method is suitable for addressing a given theoretical debate. The volume's forward-looking approach also seeks to actively identify questions and methods that could be fruitfully combined in future experimental research. Written in a clear and accessible style, this handbook will appeal to students and scholars from advanced undergraduate level upwards in a range of fields, including semantics and pragmatics, philosophy of language, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, cognitive science, and neuroscience.