We call literal usage a way of using language characterized by adherence to the primary vocabulary meaning of words;
Metaphorical (Figurative) Usage is a use of language in which words or expressions go beyond known meanings (metaphor).
When used literally, words and expressions agree more or less with their established meanings. Suppose the word “lamb” in “Mary had a little lamb” was used literally to refer to a particular species. Language is used metaphorically if there is a transfer of the term from its “proper” sphere.
When Christ is mentioned in church prayer as the “Lamb of the world,” the word lamb does not refer to an animal, but to a person. The term is used metaphorically.
There is a huge and still growing literature on metaphor. The efforts of some authors on this topic are aimed at testing the so-called dominant traditional view of metaphor as a pure ornament. They believe that many metaphors have cognitive value. In addition, they believe that these are inseparable tools through which we know some aspects of reality.
These are not stylistic ornaments, but cognitive means – they are not ornaments, but tools of knowledge. Another part of the effort is focused on testing the hierarchy introduced into the difference between literal and metaphorical usage of language.
It is traditionally believed that literal use is proper for language – one that is in harmony with the established meaning, as opposed to metaphorical, which is identified with distortion or violence. The metaphor violates the established rules of literal meaning. Although it does this purposefully and even often enhances the effects, and in many cases deepens the understanding, metaphor is a proper, derived, and parasitic use of language, insofar as this use is impossible to separate from the literal meaning.
Recently, there has been a tendency, especially among deconstructivists, to re-evaluate any strictly established hierarchy, in which one term is privileged and another is neglected. The hierarchy of literal (proper) vs. metaphorical (figurative) use is often given as an example of an established hierarchy.
