This commentary critiques Ambridge's radical exemplar model of language acquisition using research from the Longitudinal Study of Early Language, which has tracked the language development of 30+ children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) since 2002. This research has demonstrated that the children's capacity for abstraction at the grammatical…

Depending on how one does the math, there are between a quarter-million and a million words in the English language. Of all these words, the author holds in contempt only one. That word is "like"--not the tepid expression of mild appreciation but the parasitic form that now bleeds the mother tongue, marks the user as a dunce, and, were it truly…

To its credit, conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) has drawn significant attention to the question of what figurative language can tell us about human concepts. However, the answers CMT theorists have offered are typically unsubstantiated by the empirical evidence, and occasionally unfalsifiable. This reply to Raymond W. Gibbs Jr.'s positive…

Discusses the tendency of humans to describe parts and functions of a computer with terminology that refers to human characteristics; for example, parts of the body (electronic brain), intellectual activities (optical memory), and physical activities (command). Computers are also described through metaphors, connotations, allusions, and analogies…

This paper is a narrative experiment inspired by Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) figuration of the rhizome. It is a textual assemblage of popular and academic representations of cyborgs that might question, provoke, and challenge some of the dominant discourses and assumptions of curriculum, teaching, and learning. Emboldened by Deleuze's penchant…

Presents a syntax of metophor, discussing a typology of metaphor, the relationship between literal sense and figurative sense, and the importance of a precise definition of metaphor. (AM)

This article discusses three claims of the Graded Salience Hypothesis presented in Rachel Giora's book "On our mind". It is argued that these claims may give second language researchers the chance to revise the way they think about word meaning, the literal meaning-figurative meaning dichotomy and the role of context in language…

Points out that language abuses--whether jargon, euphemism, or malapropism--blur the distinction between words. Stresses the need for English instructors that can teach students the grammatical rules and inspire them with a love of language. (MM)

Expands on Clark's (1974) hypothesis regarding non-literal uses of the English verbs of motion "come" and "go," by positing the notions of marked and unmarked relative states, and comparative deixis, in Thai verbs of motion. (AM)

While it is fashionable to use the semantic pun in advertising (for example, the meaning extension in "dollars and sense"), a lot of this humor slips past the American reader; not only unintentional bloopers that get past the proofreader but also intentional puns that escape the audience. Advertising humor has other pitfalls as well--the…

Discusses the history of the metaphor, its various forms, and the problems involved in an analysis of the metaphor. Analyzes the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the metaphor. (AM)

"Excellence" has been a prevalent term in New Labour rhetoric on education, most notably in the stated goal of "excellence for all" in education. Despite that, the meaning of the term has remained imprecise, and the implications of universal excellence unclear. In this paper, three distinct definitions of excellence are…