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Figure and Fantasy in Children’s Language

1985; Springer Nature; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-4613-9544-7_5

1431-8555

Valerie F. Reyna,

Categorization, perception, and language

This chapter concerns the development of two types of understanding: understanding of metaphors and understanding of fantasy-based language. Both metaphorical and fantasy-based language are figurative in the sense that they involve unconventional interpretations. In lieu of the more detailed definitions of memory and fantasy-based language given below, I offer some examples for the purpose of preliminary discussion. Speaking conventionally, we can call a tabby a “cat,” but we speak figuratively if we refer to Maggie of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as a “cat”; this use of “cat” to describe a woman is metaphorical. Similarly, referring to a collie as a “dog” is conventional usage, whereas referring to the cartoon character Huckleberry Hound as a “dog” is fantasy-based language.