Computational generation of slogans

In advertising, slogans are used to enhance the recall of the advertised product by consumers and to distinguish it from others in the market. Creating effective slogans is a resource-consuming task for humans. In this paper, we describe a novel method for automatically generating slogans, given a target concept (e.g., car) and an adjectival property to express (e.g., elegant) as input. Additionally, a key component in our approach is a novel method for generating nominal metaphors, using a metaphor interpretation model, to allow generating metaphorical slogans. The method for generating slogans extracts skeletons from existing slogans. It then fills a skeleton in with suitable words by utilizing multiple linguistic resources (such as a repository of grammatical relations, and semantic and language models) and genetic algorithms to optimize multiple objectives such as semantic relatedness, language correctness, and usage of rhetorical devices. We evaluate the metaphor and slogan generation methods by running crowdsourced surveys. On a five-point Likert scale, we ask online judges to evaluate whether the generated metaphors, along with three other metaphors generated using different methods, highlight the intended property. The slogan generation method is evaluated by asking crowdsourced judges to rate generated slogans from five perspectives: (1) how well is the slogan related to the topic, (2) how correct is the language of the slogan, (3) how metaphoric is the slogan, (4) how catchy, attractive, and memorable is it, and (5) how good is the slogan overall. Similarly, we evaluate existing expert-made slogans. Based on the evaluations, we analyze the method and provide insights regarding existing slogans. The empirical results indicate that our metaphor generation method is capable of producing apt metaphors. Regarding the slogan generator, the results suggest that the method has successfully produced at least one effective slogan for every evaluated input.

Complementarity of the Relevance-theoretic and Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Metaphor Study: A Critical Review

This paper attempts to take a critical review of research work on the complementarity of the cognitive linguistic and relevance-theoretic approaches to metaphor study. Addressing the current concerns and problems of metaphor studies, the complementarity view demonstrates the cooperative potential of relevance-theoretic and cognitive linguistic approaches which will benefit metaphor studies and give full accounts of metaphor understanding and interpretation. In particular, the relevance-theoretic approach gives an account of ad hoc concept, emergent property and mental imagery which complements the cognitive linguistics and helps solve some issues in metaphor interpretation.

Interpretation of metaphors in Chinese poetry: Where did Li Bai place his emotions?

Recently, with an increasing number of metaphor studies being conducted, research on metaphor interpretation has set off an upsurge. Although a multitude of studies on the interpretation of metaphors exists, many are limited to the understanding of literal meanings without attempting an interpretation of hidden emotions in metaphorical expressions. There are particularly few studies on metaphorical emotions interpretation in literary studies with rich and implicit emotions, such as classical Chinese poetry. This study proposes the interpretation of the metaphorical emotions of special objects in Chinese poetry based on emotion distribution. We present a statistical approach to calculate the emotion distribution of our target objects by exploiting contextual emotion mining. According to the emotion distribution, the emotion with the highest probability is considered the metaphorical emotion of the target object. Subsequently, the metaphorical emotion can be determined as a positive or negative sentiment based on expert annotations. Using the proposed method, we have tested two representative objects, ‘月’ (moon) and ‘风’ (wind), and the accuracy performances were 84% and 83.33%, respectively, for sentiment detection and 66% and 70% for emotion-specific metaphorical interpretation. The results demonstrate that our approach can be used to assist readers with metaphorical emotional understanding in Chinese poetry.

Simile and Metaphor Interpretation in Children

Metaphors and similes have been treated as the same comparable types of figurative speech since Aristotle. In early theories, metaphors are interpreted as corresponding similes by paraphrasing. Based on this theoretical framework, some experimental studies interpret simile understanding as evidence for metaphor understanding. However, according to Relevance Theory, similes are interpreted as comparisons, whereas metaphors are interpreted as categorization statements. Therefore, only metaphor reveals metaphor interpretation. In other words, studies cannot use simile interpretation as evidence for metaphor interpretation ability in children. Simile should be easier to understand for children since they exclude an “ad hoc concept” construction as in metaphor understanding. This study seeks evidence showing children’s better performance in simile interpretation than that in metaphor interpretation, thus supporting Relevance Theory. For the Relevance Theory account, whether the experiments use similes or metaphors as testing materials is of considerable significance, whereas for comparison account, it is not. By review and re-interpretation of the empirical studies, we find that few early studies expose “real metaphor” understanding in children. Most experimental results indicate that simile interpretation is easier than metaphor interpretation for children. We consider comparison theory and the Relevance Theory as complementary strategies in metaphor interpretation.

A COGNITIVE-SEMANTIC APPROACH TO THE INTERPRETATION OF DEATH METAPHOR THEMES IN THE QURAN

In previous literature, conceptual metaphor has been used as a comprehensive cognitive tool to explore systematic categorization of concepts in the Quran. Death metaphor themes have either been studied from rhetorical or conceptual perspectives, but metaphor interpretation needs both linguistic and conceptual knowledge. This paper will explore the function of both linguistic and conceptual knowledge in metaphor interpretation in the Quran. This paper has used the technique of key words and phrases for data collection and metaphor identification procedure (MIP) for metaphors identification. Thirteen conceptual metaphors were found in the data. The key conceptual metaphors were analyzed through the lexical concept cognitive model theory (hereafter LCCM) to find out the functions of linguistic and conceptual knowledge in metaphor interpretation. The findings reveal that conceptual metaphor gives only relational structure to the linguistic metaphoric expressions, whereas interpretation needs integration of both linguistic and conceptual knowledge. Conceptual simulation of metaphoric expressions is a multilinear process of multiple conceptual schemas and language. The findings also reveal that LCCM needs the tool of intertextuality for clash resolution of contexts in text interpretation. This paper holds that meaning construction depends upon multilinear processing of conceptual schemas and language. Furthermore, it asserts that the gap in LCCM may be resolved through the tool of intertextuality in metaphor comprehension. This study suggests further studies on relationship between conceptual schemas and lexical behaviour and an elaborate model for text interpretation, combining LCCM and intertextuality. Keywords: Cognitive model, cognitive semantics, conceptual metaphor, fusion, lexical concept Cite as: Sardaraz, K., & Ali, R. (2019). A cognitive-semantic approach to the interpretation of death metaphor themes in the Quran. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 2(4), 219-246. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp219-246

Metaphoric modelling of “ARREST” in Thomas P. Whitney’s translation of Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn’s novel “The Gulag Archipelago”

The article offers a cognitive analysis of a metaphor in the framework of narrative discourse.It closely looks into the term ‘metaphoric model’ and discloses the latter listing a number of examples. The research of metaphors is a relevant study in linguistics which allows one to analyse mental processes due to the fact that a thought viewed as a mental activity easily operates with metaphors alleviating the process of encoding and decoding messages. Moreover, when any society disapproves of expressing a personal point of view due to current social and political events, metaphor interpretation becomes one of the few ways which helps disclose an individual attitude towards the events

The early processing of metaphors and similes: Evidence from eye movements

This eye movement study examined how people read nominal metaphors and similes in order to investigate how the surface form, or wording, of these expressions affected early processing. Participants silently read metaphors ( knowledge is a river) and similes ( knowledge is like a river). The identical words were used in the topic–vehicle pair ( knowledge– river) in both conditions. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated longer reading times and a higher proportion of regressions in metaphors than in similes. Familiarity modulated later metaphor effects in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. Reading ability did not modulate the metaphor effects in Experiment 2. Results indicate that readers revised their initial interpretation of metaphors before moving on to read new text. This suggests that readers did not initially hold figurative interpretations of apt nominal metaphors that are somewhat familiar. Metaphor interpretation may be fast, but it is not easy.