On figurative ambiguity, marking, and low-salience meanings

Shir Givoni, Dafna Bergerbest, Rachel Giora

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This paper discusses the phenomenon of marked ambiguation, when more than one meaning of an ambiguity is simultaneously applicable, and outlines an account for such marking within the Low-Salience Marking Hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, ambiguity markers (e.g., double entendre, in the full sense of the word) boost meanings low on salience (Givoni, 2011; Givoni, Giora, and Bergerbest, 2013). Low-salience meanings are meanings less frequent, less familiar, less prototypical, and less conventional (Giora, 1997, 2003). Results from two experiments conducted in Hebrew support the hypothesis. They show that marking figurative polysemy results in higher preference and faster response times for less-salient meanings, challenging modular (Fodor, 1983), literal-first (Grice, 1975), and underspecification (Frisson and Pickering, 2001) accounts of lexical access. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFigurative Language – Intersubjectivity and Usage
EditorsAugusto Soares da Silva
Place of PublicationAmsterdam, Netherlands
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Pages241-284
Number of pages44
ISBN (Electronic)9789027260031
ISBN (Print)9789027208552
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Publication series

NameFigurative thought and language (FTL).
Volume11
ISSN (Print)2405-6944

Keywords

  • Marking
  • Figurativity
  • Polysemy
  • Salience
  • Low-salience
  • The Low-Salience Marking Hypothesis
  • Ambiguity processing
  • Lexical access

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