28.03.2021

Workshop „Metaphor and Ambiguity Analysis” (MAmbA)

Sarah Metzger and Natascha Elxnath organise Workshop

On 26 and 27 March 2021, the Online-Workshop „Metaphor and Ambiguity Analysis” (MAmbA), which was organized by the RTG 1808 and the CRC 833 (project A1) took place. Several researchers from different disciplines were invited to share their thoughts on the connection between metaphor and ambiguity. Besides numerous talks given by the RTG’s doctoral students (Selina Bernarding (Rhetoric), Natascha Elxnath (Linguistics), Joel Klenk (Theology) und Sarah Metzger (Linguistics)), various international guests took part in the event. Monika Fludernik (Freiburg) presented a panorama of ambiguous metaphors throughout literary history. Whereas Michele Prandi (Genoa) questioned the ambiguity of metaphors, Sabine Schulte im Walde (Stuttgart) and Joost Zwarts (Utrecht) presented computational and formal-semantic theories on particle verbs and domain modifiers. Louise McNally (UPF Barcelona) pleaded for separating descriptive content and reference when modelling figurative language. Irene Rapp (Tübingen) and Stefan Engelberg (IDS Mannheim) presented some joint work on the ambiguity of figurative compounds. Apart from that, various young academics such as

Mayowa Akinlotan (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), Laura Bon (Tübingen), Inés Crespo (NYU Paris), Andreas Heise (Institut Jean Nicod Paris), Jacob Hesse (RU Bochum), Claudia Picazo Jacque (Granada) as well as Curtis Runstedler(Tübingen) made very interesting contributions on the topic. The workshop has proved the relation between ambiguity and metaphor to be a complex one that offers a multitude of links to further research areas.