Debate between Steen and Gibbs in Journal of Pragmatics

In a recent exchange between psychologist Ray Gibbs and Gerard Steen, Gibbs wonders whether Deliberate Metaphor Theory has a future. Gibbs (2015b) raises this question as a result of Steen’s critique (Steen 2015) of an allegedly failed test of Deliberate Metaphor Theory reported in Gibbs (2015a). Steen’s critique of Gibbs’s experiment argues that the test fails because it is an inadequate conceptualization and operationalization of Deliberate Metaphor Theory. Gibbs replies that in general there is no empirical foundation for Steen’s theoretical claims about deliberate metaphor use and that Steen ignores empirical evidence that goes against DMT. In addition, Gibbs retorts, Steen’s critique of Gibbs’s experimental study fails to explain how it should have been conducted. This leads Gibbs to wonder whether DMT has a future.

You can find the articles of this debate here:

Gibbs, R.W., jr. (2015a). Do pragmatic signals affect conventional metaphor understanding? A failed test of deliberate metaphor theory. Journal of Pragmatics.

Gibbs, R.W., jr. (2015b). Does deliberate metaphor theory have a future? Journal of Pragmatics.

Steen, G.J. (2015). Developing, testing and interpreting deliberate metaphor theory. Journal of Pragmatics.

Romy van den Heerik • May 11, 2015


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