# Gradient Salience Model

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The '''Gradient Salience model''' is a model of [figurative language](/source/figurative_language) comprehension proposed by Rachel Giora in 2002<ref name=":0" /> as an alternative to the standard [pragmatic](/source/pragmatics) model.

It offers a possible explanation for the results obtained in various contemporary studies, in which figurative language is processed as fast as literal language.

== Salient and non salient meanings ==

The definition of [saliency](/source/salience_(language)) is included in Rachel Giora's (2002) article "Literal vs. figurative language: Different or equal?".<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0378-2166(01)00045-5 |title=Literal vs. Figurative language: Different or equal? |year=2002 |last1=Giora |first1=Rachel |journal=Journal of Pragmatics |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=487–506}}</ref>
''Salient meanings'' are meanings which are stored in the mental [lexicon](/source/lexicon). They are most prominent in language, as they are the most familiar, conventional, frequent and [prototypical](/source/prototypical).
''Non salient meanings'', on the other hand, are meanings which are relatively new to language. They are novel and infrequent.<ref name="lai">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.brainres.2009.05.088 |title=Comprehending conventional and novel metaphors: An ERP study |year=2009 |last1=Lai |first1=Vicky Tzuyin |last2=Curran |first2=Tim |last3=Menn |first3=Lise |journal=Brain Research |volume=1284 |pages=145–55 |pmid=19505446|url=http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/item/escidoc:458219/component/escidoc:458218/Lai_2009_comp.pdf |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0012-BE10-E |s2cid=15644733 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== Assumptions ==
The Gradient Salience model assumes that the processing of [metaphorical](/source/metaphorical) expressions depends on the meaning's saliency.<ref name="lai"></ref>
*Salient meanings are processed faster than non salient ones, as they are more familiar. That is why conventional metaphors and literal expressions are processed faster than novel metaphors.
*Non salient meanings are processed slower.

== See also ==
*[Graded Salience Hypothesis](/source/Graded_Salience_Hypothesis)

== References ==
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Category:Semantics
Category:Pragmatics

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