A Cognitive Game-Theoretic Pragmatics Analysis of Linguistic Metaphors

Abstract

Metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, and it not only serves as a linguistic rhetoric but also functions as a vital cognitive mechanism. Relevance theory (RT), grounded in the ad hoc concept and the principle of relevance, provides an illuminating approach to analyzing linguistic metaphors. However, challenges persist in achieving its formal analysis. Game-theoretic pragmatics (GTP) introduces mathematical models and solution approaches to analyze interactive decision-making among multiple participants in language use. The Iterated Best Response (IBR) model, within this domain, effectively illustrates from an internal perspective how communicators achieve equilibrium (the correct understanding of an expression), thus providing advantageous conditions for systematic and comprehensive formal analyses of RT. This article employs the IBR model as a fundamental tool to investigate the interaction processes among various elements in metaphor usage. It constructs a holistic formal analysis framework, offering innovative approaches for the formal interpretation of metaphors.

Keywords

relevance theory (RT) / linguistic metaphor / game-theoretic pragmatics (GTP) / Iterated Best Response (IBR) model

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Higher Education Press