Chapter 1 General Introduction 1
1.0 Brief introduction to metaphor studies 1
1.1 Rationale of this research 4
1.2 Purposes of this research 8
1.3 Novel metaphor：target of research 12
1.3.1 Linguistic analysis oftarget data 13
1.3.2 Definition of target data 15
1.4 Methodology for this research 19
1.5 Overview of the thesis 20
Chapter 2 Literature Review of Related Studies 22
2.0 Introduction 22
2.1 Cognitive approaches to metaphor 23
2.1.1 Black's cognitive approach to metaphor 24
2.1.2 Lakoff et al.'s cognitive-semantic approach to metaphor 29
2.1.3 Conceptual blending/integration-based approach metaphor 33
2.1.4 Brief summary 36
2.2 Pragmatic-cognitive approaches to metaphor understanding 37
2.2.1 Grice'sconception of metaphor as an implicature 37
2.2.2 Searle's approach to metaphor as an indirect speech act 37
2.2.3 Brief summary 39
2.2.4 S＆W's pragma-cognitive approach to metaphor 41
2.3 Process-oriented studies of metaphor understanding 42
2.3.1 Salience-imbalance model of metaphor understanding 42
2.3.2 Structure-mapping model of metaphor understanding 43
2.3.3 Domains-interaction model of metaphor understanding 45
2.3.4 Class-inclusion model of metaphor understanding 47
2.3.5 Brief summary 49
2.4 Evaluation and comments of reviewed theories/models 50
2.4.1 Respecting the long cognitive tradition of metaphor research 50
2.4.2 Weakening the strong claims about metaphoric thought and language 51
2.4.3 The danger of scientific reductionism in theories of metaphor 53
2.4.4 Reasons for adopting a pragrna-cognitive approach to metaphor study 53
Chapter 3 A Relevance-Theoretic Framework to Metaphor Understanding 56
3.0 Introduction 56
3.1 Metaphor as representation by resemblance 58
3.1.1 Descriptive and interpretive dimensions of language use 58
3.1.2 Metaphor as a descriptive use of language 62
3.1.3 Metaphor as effort-imposing loose talk 64
3.2 Basic notions concerning metaphorical understanding 66
3.2.1 Mutual manifest-ness：the prerequisite for metaphor understanding 66
3.2.2 Optimal relevance：the ultimate goal of metaphor understanding 69
3.3 Metaphor interpretation 72
3.3.1 Explicatures of metaphorical utterances 72
3.3.2 Metaphor as a weak implicature 76
3.4 Characterization of the conceptual framework to metaphor understanding 83
3.4.1 Metaphor understanding involves three sub-processes 83
3.4.2 Metaphor understanding is effort-imposing 84
3.5 Summary 84
Chapter 4 Metaphoricity and Metaphorization 86
4.0 Introduction 86
4.1 The notion of metaphoricity 87
4.2 Metaphor as a re-conceptualization of entities 89
4.2.1 Metaphorization：theory-based rather than similari-ty-based 91
4.2.2 Ad hoc construction of'theories'governed by the principle of relevance 93
4.3 Metaphorization and de-metaphorization 97
4.3.1 Meaning construction：the issue of creativity of metaphor 97
4.3.2 Dynamics of metaphorization 100
4.4 Proposed criteria for metaphoricity identification 101
4.4.1 Two referential criteria of metaphoricity identifica-tion 102
4.4.2 Proposed criteria of metaphoricity identification 106
4.5 Metaphoricty judgments：an empirical study 109
4.6 Summary 111
Chapter 5 A Cognitive Process of Novel Metaphor Understanding 113
5.0 Introduction 113
5.1 Representational assumptions about Topic and Vehicle domains 113
5.1.1 Topic and Vehicle as schemas 114
5.1.2 Topic and Vehicle asimages 117
5.2 Metaphor understanding：identification of explica-tures 120
5.3 Metaphor understanding：construction of contextual assumptions 121
5.3.1 Constraints on context construction in metaphor understanding 122
5.3.2 Accessibility of contextual assumptions 130
5.4 Metaphor understanding：constructing implicatures 134
5.4.1 Implicature recovery involving non-demonstrative bridging inferences 134
5.4.2 Mutual adjustment and emergent structures 139
5.5 Heuristics for the choice of possible interpretations 141
5.6 Atentativerelevance-oriented model of metaphor understanding 143
5.7 Summary 145
Chapter 6 Novel Metaphor and Processing Effort 147
6.0 Introduction 147
6.1 Controversies on the issue of'metaphor and effort' 148
6.2 Novelmetaphor understanding as an effort-demanding task 151
6.2.1 'Suppression'in metaphor understanding involving more efforts 151
6.2.2 Emergents generation in metaphor understanding involving more effort 153
6.3 Rationale of the hypothesis about'metaphor and efforts' 155
6.3.1 Extra processing effort implies extra cognitive effect 155
6.3.2 Weak relevance presupposes extra processing effort 157
6.3.3 Brief summary 158
6.4 The experiment 159
6.4.1 Hypothesis of the experiment 159
6.4.2 Experiment on metaphor interpretation difficulty 160
6.5 ummary 171
Chapter 7 Conclusions and Implications 173
7.0 Introduction 173
7.1 Brief summary of major findings 173
7.2 Implications 178
7.2.1 Metaphor understanding involves both social and cognitive factors 178
7.2.2 Inevitability of misunderstandings in verbal communication 179
7.2.3 Theimportance of individual differences in utterance understanding 180
7.2.4 Challenge to contemporary metaphor theory's major claims 181
7.2.5 Some other implications 182
7.3 Suggestions for further studies 184
7.3.1 A more elaborated on-line experimental design might be worked out 184
7.3.2 Individual differences in metaphor processing should be considered 185
7.3.3 Speaker-related factors should be considered 186
7.3.4 The relationships between metaphor and'affect'merit further exploration 186
Appendix 189
Bibliography 200