Literal and figurative language


The distinction between literal and figurative language exists in all natural languages; the phenomenon is studied within certain areas of language analysis, in particular stylistics, rhetoric, and semantics.
  • Literal language is the usage of words exactly according to their direct, straightforward, or conventionally accepted meanings: their denotation.
  • Figurative 'language' is the usage of words in addition to, or deviating beyond, their conventionally accepted definitions in order to convey a more complex meaning or achieve a heightened effect. This is done by language-users presenting words in such a way that their audience equates, compares, or associates the words with normally unrelated meanings. A common intended effect of figurative language is to elicit audience responses that are especially emotional, aesthetic, or intellectual.
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, and later the Roman rhetorician Quintilian, were among the early documented language analysts who expounded on the differences between literal and figurative language. A comprehensive scholarly examination of metaphor in antiquity, and the way its use was fostered by Homer's epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, is provided by William Bedell Stanford.
Within literary analysis, the terms "literal" and "figurative" are still used; but within the fields of cognition and linguistics, the basis for identifying such a distinction is no longer used.

The meaning of literal language

Literal usage confers meaning to words, in the sense of the meaning words have by themselves, for example as defined in a dictionary. It maintains a consistent meaning regardless of the context, with the intended meaning of a phrase corresponding exactly to the meaning of its individual words. On the other hand, figurative use of language is the use of words or phrases with a meaning that does make literal sense but that encourages certain mental associations or reflects a certain type of truth, perhaps a more artistically presented one.

Figurative language

Uses of figurative language, or figures of speech, can take multiple forms, such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and many others. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature says that figurative language can be classified in five categories: resemblance or relationship, emphasis or understatement, figures of sound, verbal games, and errors.
A simile is a comparison of two things, indicated by some connective, usually "like", "as", "than", or a verb such as "resembles" to show how they are similar.
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which two "essentially unlike things" are shown to have a type of resemblance or create a new image. The similarities between the objects being compared may be implied rather than directly stated. The literary critic and rhetorician, I. A. Richards, divides a metaphor into two parts: the vehicle and the tenor.
An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is continued over multiple sentences.
Onomatopoeia is a word designed to be an imitation of a sound.
Personification is the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.
An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which a pair of opposite or contradictory terms is used together for emphasis.
A paradox is a statement or proposition which is self-contradictory, unreasonable, or illogical.
Hyperbole is a figure of speech which uses an extravagant or exaggerated statement to express strong feelings.
Allusion is a reference to a famous character or event.
An idiom is an expression that has a figurative meaning often related, but different from the literal meaning of the phrase.
A pun is an expression intended for a humorous or rhetorical effect by exploiting different meanings of words.

Use of ''literally'' non-literally

Commentators have often noted how the word literally itself is very commonly now used non-literally to intensify the meaning of a sentence. Far from this being a recent development, however, this usage goes at least as far back as the 19th century. Frances Brooke's 1769 novel The History of Emily Montague was used in the earliest Oxford English Dictionary citation for the figurative sense of literally; the sentence from the novel used was: "He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies." This citation was also used in the OED's 2011 revision.

Standard pragmatic model of comprehension

Prior to the 1980s, the "standard pragmatic" model of comprehension was widely believed. In that model, it was thought the recipient would first attempt to comprehend the meaning as if literal, but when an appropriate literal inference could not be made, the recipient would shift to look for a figurative interpretation that would allow comprehension. Since then, research has cast doubt on the model. In tests, figurative language was found to be comprehended at the same speed as literal language; and so the premise that the recipient was first attempting to process a literal meaning and discarding it before attempting to process a figurative meaning appears to be false.

Reddy and contemporary views

Beginning with the work of Michael Reddy in his 1979 paper "The Conduit Metaphor", many linguists now deny that there is a valid way to distinguish between a "literal" and "figurative" mode of language. Nevertheless, work has continued on making such a distinction.