Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show how metaphorical utterances achieve their optimal relevance. To accomplish this objective we will resort to the proposal that a metaphor is identified when the speaker perceives a contextual abnormality and a conceptual contrast and that, once the utterance is identified as metaphorical, the speaker applies the metaphorical mechanism for its interpretation, among other things. The metaphorical identification and interpretation entail more processing effort than the effort required by the identification and interpretation demanded by the literal use of language . This does not imply that metaphorical interpretation is produced in two stages . Metaphorical utterances achieve their optimal relevance because their additional effort is justified by the result of the metaphorical interpretation. By this metaphorical interpretation we achieve contextual effects which are yielded by sub-propositional metaphorical provisional meanings not available in the system of the language. These effects, produced by the utterances which contain these meanings, justify the additional effort involved in their processing