Why do language users sometimes use figures of speech Essay

Why do language users sometimes use figures of speech - Essay Example In such cases, figures of speech help avoiding problems or conflicts of various forms. However, the use of figures of speech is not always justified – or desired. Under such terms, their engagement needs to be clearly and adequately explained. In the field of psychology, the science that deals with the evaluation of human behaviour, a series of theoretical models and approaches has been developed in regard to the use of figures of speech in daily human activities. These theories are presented in current paper aiming to explain the reasons for which language users prefer the figures of speech. The psychological and conversation analytic research frameworks are used for developing the above task. It is concluded that the use of speech is often unavoidable; however, the circumstances of their use need to be evaluated each time taking into consideration the actual social conditions but also the personal characteristics and perceptions of the language user. The potential use of fig ures of speech with no particular goal, just as a common practice (habit) should be also taken into consideration when examining their role in conversations developed daily across various human activities. In any case, the use of figures of speech cannot be considered as having the power to cause turbulences or oppositions; on the contrary, it is more likely to have a positive influence in regard to the limitation of social conflicts. This aspect of figures of speech is strongly emphasized in the literature published in the particular field – as these studies are analytically presented below. The findings of empirical research developed in this area have been also employed in this study aiming to offer a clearer view on the issues under discussion. 2. Metaphors – role and forms Theorists and researchers have used different approaches in order to explain the role and the functions of metaphors in everyday language. In order to understand and appropriately evaluate these views, it would be necessary to refer primarily to the context of metaphor in general, i.e. to describe its characteristics as a figure of speech. Lakoff and Johnson note that ‘the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another’ (Lakoff and Johnson 5). The flexibility of metaphors, i.e. their characteristic to be open to different interpretations has been considered as one of the main reasons for their extensive study by theorists and researchers worldwide (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 103). On the other hand, the following question might appear: why metaphors are so important for the academic research? In fact, there are many different figures of speech, which could be available for analysis, but only metaphors have been examined in detailed making also use of concepts applicable on other sciences – such as the cognitive discourse analysis used for the development of academic research. The answer to the above question wo uld be as follows: a metaphor is not a common figure of speech; it can be used ‘both in poetry and the everyday communication’ (Bowdle and Gentner 193); moreover, it can reveal the personal views/ perceptions of the person involved in its interpretation, a fact which is valuable in the psychological research field. In accordance with Kock (2010) metaphors are likely to highly appear in everyday language; moreover, their appearance is related to the need for using ‘a common point of reference’ (Kock 364) in order to indicate the key aspects of a issue to which the