Database of Figurative Expressions with Indicators from the ‘Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese’

Abstract

A figurative expression database was constructed based on the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese (BCCWJ), with the goal of understanding actual usage of figurative expressions in Japanese. Using the three hundred fifty nine types of figurative expression indicators listed in ‘A Stylistic Study of the Figurative’ (Hiyuhyogen-no Riron-to Bunrui) as clues for metaphor indicator elements, candidates were selected based on synonym examples confirmed in the ‘Word List by Semantic Principles’, and a total of eight hundred twenty two expressions were manually extracted from one million two hundred ninety thousand sixty words found in six registers of core data (Yahoo! Answers, white papers; Yahoo! Blog, books, magazines, and newspapers). In addition to the vehicle, topic, and Word List by Semantic Principles label of each metaphor example, type categories such as personification, objectification, biomimicry, and substantiation were defined. Examples were also classified into categories such as synecdoche, metonymy, contextual metaphor, and idiomatic expression. Although the work above was carried out by linguists, ratings were also assigned to each example for five aspects (figurativeness, novelty, comprehensibility, personification, and substantiation) based on evaluations by twenty two to seventy seven non-experts (average: thirty three) to evaluate how these figurative expressions were perceived. The usage trends for each of these figurative expression indicators in contemporary Japanese were determined based on their relative frequency in each register and distribution of their rating values.