Defaultness vs. constructionism: The case of default constructional sarcasm and default non-constructional literalness

Rachel Giora*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Default responses play a major role in affecting processing, pleasantness, and cueing of nondefault alternatives. Default responses are activated automatically, initially and directly, faster than nondefault counterparts, irrespective of degree of negation, novelty, nonliteralness, or contextual support (Giora et al., 2015c). No wonder default automatic responses may be initially involved in processing nondefault counterparts. This involvement of defaultness in processing nondefaultness slows down the latter while rendering it Optimal Innovative and therefore pleasing, even if highly dependent on context or cueing for its derivation. Findings here are discussed in terms of the Defaultness Hypothesis (Giora et al., 2015c, 2017), Construction Grammar (e.g., Goldberg, 1995, 1996, 2006, 2013; Johnson & Goldberg, 2013), and pragmatic effects.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDynamism in Metaphor and Beyond
EditorsHerbert L. Colston, Teenie Matlock, Gerard J. Steen
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Pages305-324
Number of pages20
ISBN (Electronic)9789027257598
DOIs
StatePublished - 2022

Publication series

NameMetaphor in Language, Cognition Communication
Volume9
ISSN (Print)2210-4836

Funding

FundersFunder number
Israel Science Foundation540/19, 436/12

    Keywords

    • construction grammar
    • default and nondefault sarcasm
    • hedonic effects
    • non/constructional interpretations
    • pragmatic cueing
    • the defaultness hypothesis
    • the optimal innovation hypothesis

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