ABSTRACT
Non-literal use of an adjective, whether signalled by a category error or by a value expectation violation, invokes the connotations or immediate inferences associated with that adjective in various noun contexts. Immediate inferences reflect the structure of stored knowledge, as they are available too quickly and effortlessly to involve any complex form of information retrieval. Specifically, they suggest the use of the spreading activation model of semantic memory. The relation between the inferences invoked by the adjective and salient features of the noun employed in the figurative usage are exploited by the DIFICIL connectionist inferencing system to interpret the meaning of an unfamiliar adjective-noun phrase.
