The exposure of metaphor

According to the approach relying on relevance theory, used In this paper, metaphors do not form a natural kind, and "metaphor" is not a concept of theoretical relevance in the study of linguistic communication. Metaphorical meanings are arrived at on the same road as literal, loose, or hyperbolic Interpretations. There is no metaphor specific mechanism or a generalization only valid to metaphors. We are for this stance in our paper by showing that the same inferential processes are valid for both ends of the literal-loose- metaphorlc continuum and both literal and metaphoric expressions can have a literary effect. © Akademiai Kiado, 2013.