Pragmatic complexity in metaphor interpretation

The main goal of verbal metaphor interpretation is traditionally believed to be the recovery of a context-sensitive metaphorical meaning. One focus of experimental studies is to assess when and how pragmatic information derived from context shapes the online processing of specific utterances as conveying metaphorical, but not literal, messages. My aim in this article is to raise several critical complications with these beliefs. People employ metaphorical language not just to convey metaphorical meanings, but to concretely achieve various social, pragmatic goals. I describe several pragmatic complexities in the ways verbal and non-verbal metaphors function in communication. These pragmatic complexities affect both the cognitive effort and effects which emerge from interpreting metaphors in discourse. This conclusion suggests the need for new experimental studies and for theories of metaphor to be more sensitive to the influence of complex pragmatic goals in online metaphor interpretation. •The importance of pragmatic complexities in metaphor use.•How metaphor understanding is more than metaphorical meaning alone.•The implication of complexity for figurative language interpretation.