Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of several books including The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding and Embodiment and Cognitive Science. He is also editor of the volume The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought and editor of the journal Metaphor and Symbol. Herbert L. Colston is Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside. Dr Colston has published widely and edited several books including Figurative Language Comprehension: Social and Cultural Influences and Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader.

"...present a state-of-the-art view of what experiments have shown (or not shown) about how humans comprehend and process figurative language such as metaphor, metonymy, irony, sarcasm, proverbs, and idioms.... A valuable guide to the last 20-odd years of research on figurative language, this is a book for those who do not have the time to digest the primary literature in its entirety.... Recommended..." --S.A. Dooley, University of Texas at Brownsville, Choice

• 1. Introduction; 2. Identifying figurative language; 3. Models of figurative language comprehension; 4. Interpreting specific figures of speech; 5. Indeterminacy of figurative experience; 6. Factors shaping figurative language understanding; 7. Broadening the scope of figurative language studies.

Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of several books including The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding and Embodiment and Cognitive Science. He is also editor of the volume The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought and editor of the journal Metaphor and Symbol. Herbert L. Colston is Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside. Dr Colston has published widely and edited several books including Figurative Language Comprehension: Social and Cultural Influences and Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader.

"...present a state-of-the-art view of what experiments have shown (or not shown) about how humans comprehend and process figurative language such as metaphor, metonymy, irony, sarcasm, proverbs, and idioms.... A valuable guide to the last 20-odd years of research on figurative language, this is a book for those who do not have the time to digest the primary literature in its entirety.... Recommended..." --S.A. Dooley, University of Texas at Brownsville, Choice

• 1. Introduction; 2. Identifying figurative language; 3. Models of figurative language comprehension; 4. Interpreting specific figures of speech; 5. Indeterminacy of figurative experience; 6. Factors shaping figurative language understanding; 7. Broadening the scope of figurative language studies.

Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author of several books including The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding and Embodiment and Cognitive Science. He is also editor of the volume The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought and editor of the journal Metaphor and Symbol. Herbert L. Colston is Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside. Dr Colston has published widely and edited several books including Figurative Language Comprehension: Social and Cultural Influences and Irony in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Science Reader.

"...present a state-of-the-art view of what experiments have shown (or not shown) about how humans comprehend and process figurative language such as metaphor, metonymy, irony, sarcasm, proverbs, and idioms.... A valuable guide to the last 20-odd years of research on figurative language, this is a book for those who do not have the time to digest the primary literature in its entirety.... Recommended..." --S.A. Dooley, University of Texas at Brownsville, Choice

• 1. Introduction; 2. Identifying figurative language; 3. Models of figurative language comprehension; 4. Interpreting specific figures of speech; 5. Indeterminacy of figurative experience; 6. Factors shaping figurative language understanding; 7. Broadening the scope of figurative language studies.