LessonsImplicit and Imaginative Metaphor: Competing Accounts and al-Sakkaki’s DefinitionsQuiz

Literal: “Lion” applied to the actual animal follows the governing lexical assignment and involves no imaginative inclusion.
Figurative: “Lion” applied to a brave man is metaphorical when resemblance and context rule out an actual animal.

The same case tests “without interpretive adjustment” in the definition of literal use and “actually” in the definition of figurative use. Under the rhetorical claim, the man is treated as a lion; in actuality he is outside the animal’s biological class.

The test shows that rhetorical intensification does not transform the actual taxonomic relation. The two must remain distinct even where the expression is very forceful.

Opening interactive controls...

Testing the two definitions against one case

Implicit and Imaginative Metaphor: Competing Accounts and al-Sakkaki’s Definitions

Literal: “Lion” applied to the actual animal follows the governing lexical assignment and involves no imaginative inclusion.
Figurative: “Lion” applied to a brave man is metaphorical when resemblance and context rule out an actual animal.

The same case tests “without interpretive adjustment” in the definition of literal use and “actually” in the definition of figurative use. Under the rhetorical claim, the man is treated as a lion; in actuality he is outside the animal’s biological class.

The test shows that rhetorical intensification does not transform the actual taxonomic relation. The two must remain distinct even where the expression is very forceful.