Definition:
Language in which figures of speech (such as metaphors, similes, and hyperbole) freely occur. Contrast with literal speech or language. See also:
- Top 20 Figures of Speech
- Literally and Figuratively
- Feed Your Head: Irony and Metaphor Are Good for You
- Figures, Tropes, and Other Rhetorical Terms
Observations:
- "Figures are as old as language. They lie buried in many words of current use. They occur constantly in both prose and poetry."
(Joseph T. Shipley, Dictionary of World Literary Terms, 1970) - "Traditionally, figurative language such as metaphors and idioms has been considered derivative from and more complex than ostensibly straightforward language. A contemporary view . . . is that figurative language involves the same kinds of linguistic and pragmatic operations that are used for ordinary, literal language."
(Sam Glucksberg, Understanding Figurative Language, Oxford University Press, 2001) - "At no place in Book III [of the Rhetoric] does Aristotle claim that these devices [figures] serve an ornamental or emotional function or that they are in any way epiphenomenal. Instead, Aristotle's somewhat dispersed discussion suggests that certain devices are compelling because they map function onto form or perfectly epitomize certain patterns of thought or argument."
(Jeanne Fahnestock, Rhetorical Figures in Science, Oxford University Press, 1999) - "The emergence of nonliteral language as a respectable topic has led to a convergence of many fields: philosophy, linguistics and literary analyses, computer science, neuroscience, and experimental cognitive psychology, to name a few. Each of these fields has enriched the scientific understanding of the relation between language and thought."
(A.N. Katz, C. Cacciari, R. W. Gibbs,, Jr., and M. Turner, Figurative Language and Thought, Oxford University Press, 1998)
