The Gradient Salience model is a model of
figurative language
The distinction between literal and figurative language exists in all natural languages; the phenomenon is studied within certain areas of language analysis, in particular stylistics, rhetoric, and semantics.
*Literal language is the usage of wor ...
comprehension proposed by Rachel Giora in 2002
as an alternative to the standard
pragmatic
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement.
Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to:
* "Pragmaticism", Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy
* Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics
* ''Pragmatics'' (journal), an aca ...
model.
It offers a possible explanation for the results obtained in various contemporary studies, in which figurative language is processed as fast as literal language.
Salient and non salient meanings
The definition of
saliency is included in Rachel Giora's (2002) article "Literal vs. figurative language: Different or equal?".
''Salient meanings'' are meanings which are stored in the mental
lexicon
A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
. They are most prominent in language, as they are the most familiar, conventional, frequent and
prototypical.
''Non salient meanings'', on the other hand, are meanings which are relatively new to language. They are novel and infrequent.
Assumptions
The Gradient Salience model assumes that the processing of
metaphorical
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
expressions depends on the meaning's saliency.
*Salient meanings are processed faster than non salient ones, as they are more familiar. That is why conventional metaphors and literal expressions are processed faster than novel metaphors.
*Non salient meanings are processed slower.
See also
*
Graded Salience Hypothesis The Graded Salience Hypothesis is a theory regarding the psycholinguistic processing of word meaning, specifically in the context of irony, developed by Rachel Giora. It assumes that priority is given in the psychological activation and semantic ret ...
References
Semantics
Pragmatics
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