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A note on pauses in spontaneous speech as a test of the derived process theory of metaphor

To evaluate the plausibility of a derived process theory of figurative production — which views such production as taking longer and involving more complex multilevel processing than is the case for literal usage — the present experiment evaluated the co-occurrence of figurative language and pausing in two separate spontaneous speech situations: a college instructor delivering a lecture and a patient and therapist engaging in psychotherapy. Although there were a great many differences in the speech output produced by the lecturer, the patient, and the therapist in no case were there consistent differences in the frequency and length of pauses (and other dysfluencies) preceding literal as compared with clicked or novel figurative speech. These data were viewed as providing counter examples to any derived process theory of figurative language, thereby recommending a search for new principles describing the process by which metaphor is produced and/or