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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 ...
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
For example, oil the wheels and grease the wheels allow variation for nouns that elicit a similar literal meaning. [11] These types of changes can occur only when speakers can easily recognize a connection between what the idiom is meant to express and its literal meaning, thus an idiom like kick the bucket cannot occur as kick the pot .
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).
Modern English no longer has quite the same distinction between literary and colloquial registers. [3] English has been used as a literary language in countries that were formerly part of the British Empire, for instance in India up to the present day, [6] Malaysia in the early 20th century [7] and Nigeria, where English remains the official ...
Comprehension of idioms is the act of processing and understanding idioms.Idioms are a common type of figure of speech.Based on common linguistic definitions, an idiom is a combination of words that contains a meaning that cannot be understood based on the literal definition of the individual words. [1]
In translation theory, another term for literal translation is metaphrase (as opposed to paraphrase for an analogous translation). It is to be distinguished from an interpretation (done, for example, by an interpreter). Literal translation leads to mistranslation of idioms, which can be a serious problem for machine translation. [2]
Analysts group metaphors with other types of figurative language, such as antithesis, hyperbole, metonymy, and simile. [3] “ Figurative language examples include “similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, allusions, and idioms.”” [ 4 ] One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor in English literature comes from the " All ...