It has been customary to think figurativeness is a linguistic feature exclusive to the language of literature, but it is actually not. When you ask somebody to “lend you his/her ear” or “give you a hand,” obviously you do not mean you are in need of those body parts. You are just using some figures of speech to express your need of attention and help. Such colorful and vivid expressions are innumerable in colloquial language, which makes figures of speech a pervasive linguistic phenomenon both in our daily discourse and in written language.
Some people may address themselves to the query as to where the study of figures of speech should be in the family of linguistic studies. Figurative language, by definition, is the language we use to mean something other than the literal meaning of the words. So essentially the study of figurative language concerns the meaning and use of language, which are respectively the subject matter of semantics and pragmatics. Apart from that, it is also closely related to discourse analysis and stylistics, especially literary stylistics, since different forms of literature tend to have different probabilities as to what group of figures of speech to be used and/or to what extent and at what levels they should be used.
Given these interrelations between the study of figures of speech and other domains of linguistics, it comes as no surprise that a linguistic major would become interested in this phenomenon. In addition, figures of speech, as artistic ways of using language, are appealing by nature and their study is rewarding in that it does not only enhance our understanding of the special and effective way in which other people use the language but also helps to improve our linguistic competence, especially our figurative and literary competence.
