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  2. Literal and figurative language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/.../Literal_and_figurative_language

    Literal language is the usage of words exactly according to their direct, straightforward, or conventionally accepted meanings: their denotation. Figurative (or non-literal ) language is the usage of words in a way that deviates from their conventionally accepted definitions in order to convey a more complex meaning or a heightened effect. [ 1 ]

  3. Idiom - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom

    An idiom is a phrase or expression that largely or exclusively carries a figurative or non-literal meaning, rather than making any literal sense.Categorized as formulaic language, an idiomatic expression's meaning is different from the literal meanings of each word inside it. [1]

  4. English-language idioms - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_idioms

    An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).

  5. Comprehension of idioms - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehension_of_Idioms

    The Literal First Hypothesis. The literal first hypothesis suggests that an idiom is first processed literally upon encounter. [4] Idioms are often ambiguous since they may be processed in two ways: literally and idiomatically. For example, kick the bucket can be interpreted as to strike the pail with one’s foot. The literal first hypothesis ...

  6. Formulaic language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formulaic_language

    Formulaic language (previously known as automatic speech or embolalia) is a linguistic term for verbal expressions that are fixed in form, often non-literal in meaning with attitudinal nuances, and closely related to communicative-pragmatic context. [1]

  7. Non-lexical vocables in music - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-lexical_vocables_in_music

    It is intended as an intertribal song, so the use of non-lexical vocables prevents bias to one particular language. Other traditional musical forms employing non-lexical vocables include: Puirt à beul (traditional Scottish and Irish song form that sometimes employs nonsense syllables) Nigun in Jewish religious music

  8. Figure of speech - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech

    A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from straightforward language use or literal meaning to produce a rhetorical or intensified effect (emotionally, aesthetically, intellectually, etc.). [1] [2] In the distinction between literal and figurative language, figures of

  9. Phraseme - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phraseme

    A phraseme, also called a set phrase, fixed expression, multiword expression (in computational linguistics), or idiom, [1] [2] [3] [citation needed] is a multi-word or multi-morphemic utterance whose components include at least one that is selectionally constrained [clarification needed] or restricted by linguistic convention such that it is not freely chosen. [4]