Biological bases of non-literal language and their role in the construal of meaning

Abstract Figurative uses of language are classic research topics in the field of the Pragmatics of language. Today, the neural time course and the functional neuroanatomy of the process of figurative meaning construction is under investigation. Recently, the hypothesis of a bilateral brain network supporting our ability to integrate contextual information and draw inferences, which are both necessary processes in the understanding of figurative meanings, has been advanced. In this chapter, recent data on the neural correlates of the processing of figurative meanings will be reviewed in the light of the distinction between lexical concepts and meaning (Evans, 2006). The former are semantics units associated with linguistics forms. The latter are the result of situated usage-events. A pragmatically-plausible description of the functional neuroanatomy of the process of figurative meaning construction will be here provided.