Nonliteral language processing as a constraint satisfaction problem

该研究项目考察人们如何理解，以及他们产生的条件，语言中的一个国家与一个人想要传达的不同。这种语言出现在所谓的非字面语言中，如隐喻（例如。“我的车是一个柠檬”），讽刺（“男孩，你原来是我最好的朋友”），谚语（例如“篱笆另一边的草更绿”），一个人打算传达（但没有说明）汽车不可靠，朋友不是朋友，一个人嫉妒的例子。理论解释和计算模型都不足以解释我们是如何处理这种普遍存在的语言的，尽管人们认识到陈述的上下文有助于恢复预期的含义。我们有一个程序化的方法来研究话语语境中非字面语言的处理，它采用了一套融合的方法，既可以测量在各种语境中对这种语言的反应，也可以测量我们在阅读过程中对句子的理解。我们将语境分为与话语本身联系更紧密的语境，（例如文本中的语言“暗示”或约束，预先警告人们即将到来的句子要非字面理解）和那些与社会联系更紧密的人。文化制约因素（如当一个句子是由一个女人对一个男人说的，或由一个牧师对一个公共汽车司机说的时，陈规定型观念活跃）。我们观察到，社会文化的限制发挥了作用，在理解的最早时刻的处理，一个重要的影响，我们如何处理非字面语言的发现，并扩展这些发现现在通过检查一系列的话语和社会文化的限制，目的是区分不同的理论帐户的语言处理。除了理论上的意义外，非文字性语言的研究也具有重要的实践意义，因为非文字性语言在脑损伤后尤其容易受损，它遵循一个发展的过程，并且在说服性交际中使用。 因此，基础研究不仅在理论上，而且在临床和教育上都有直接的意义。

The research program examines how people comprehend, and the conditions under which they produce, language in which what one states differs from what one intends to convey. This language occurs with so-called non-literal language such as metaphor (e.g.. "My car is a lemon"), sarcasm ("boy you turned out to be my best friend"), proverbial speech (e.g ""the grass is greener on the other side of the fence"),  instances in which  one is intending to convey (but does not state)  that the car is unreliable, the friend is not a friend and that one is envious. Theoretical explanations and computational models alike are inadequate in their explanations of how we process such pervasive language, although there is a recognition that the context in which the statement is made aids in the recovery of the intended meaning. We have a programmatic approach to studying the processing of nonliteral language in discourse context that employs a converging set of methodologies, both those that measure the reaction to such language in various contexts and those that measure our understanding of the sentence during the act of reading it. Moreover, we separate context into those more tied to the discourse itself (such as the linguistic "hints" or constraints in the text forewarning  a person that an upcoming sentences is to be understood nonliterally) and those more tied to social-cultural constraints factors (such as stereotypes active when a sentence is said by a woman vs a man, or by a priest vs a busdriver). We observe that social-cultural constraints  play a role in comprehension at the earliest moments of processing, a finding with important implications on how we process nonliteral language and are extending these findings now by examining a range of discourse and social-cultural constraints with the aim of discriminating between different theoretical accounts of language processing. In addition to the theoretical import, the research is of practical importance because nonliteral langauge is especially impaired with brain injuries, follows a developmental course and is used in persuasive communication.  Consequently, the basic research should have direct implications not only theoretically but clinically and educationally as well.