Metaphor is a Key to Abstraction: Modelling Figurative Abstraction with Distributional Semantics

Metaphorical abstraction is the process wherein concrete concepts (e.g., key) develop lexicalized abstract meanings (e.g., important) as a result of frequent figurative contexts (e.g., communication is a key). In this study, we examine the semantic properties associated with metaphorical abstraction. Participants interpreted a series of low-familiar metaphors (e.g., religion is a raft), and generated their own related metaphors (e.g., spirituality is a raft). After this familiarization procedure, participants were presented with familiarized metaphors (e.g., faith is a raft) and non-familiarized metaphors (e.g., highways are snakes) and listed semantic properties associated with both the familiarized and non-familiarized metaphorical concepts (e.g., raft, snakes). The results showed that familiarized metaphorical concepts evoked semantic properties that were more semantically distant and more abstract than those evoked by non-familiarized metaphors or literal sentences. These results demonstrate how metaphorical abstraction results in the growth of novel and abstract semantic connections.