Searching on all types of metaphors

Harry Hahne
Harry Hahne Member Posts: 911
edited November 21 in English Forum

Will the following search work to find metaphors of all subtypes (Metaphor, Ontological, Entity; Structual; etc.)

  • figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor

Also, I notice that the Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary document has not been updated to use the new search syntax. It recommends the following syntax:

  • {Label Figurative Language WHERE Category ~ <FigurativeLanguageCategory Metaphor>}

Will this produce the same result?

Tagged:

Comments

  • Harry Hahne
    Harry Hahne Member Posts: 911

    It seems odd to me that when I enter the search {Label Figurative Language WHERE Category ~ <FigurativeLanguageCategory Metaphor>} (which is in by the Lexham Figurative Language of the Bible Glossary resource, it suggests this search:

    • figurativeLanguage:category:figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor

    Why is is necessary to repeat "figurativeLanguage:category:"? My search on figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor produces the same result and is simpler and more intuitive to enter.

    Is this a bug in the suggested search syntax?

  • Harry Hahne
    Harry Hahne Member Posts: 911

    I also wonder if this will find all similes (broad scope and narrow scope):

    • figurativeLanguageCategory:Simile

    I am surprised to see that only 218 similes are found with this search.

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,365

    figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor is a datatype reference search (equivalent to searching in L9 for <FigurativeLanguageCategory Metaphor>).

    figurativeLanguage:category:figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor is a search for the FigurativeLanguage label where the Category property has a value of the Metaphor datatype reference.

    Depending on what you are searching for, the two forms may give back radically different results. Consider for example the difference between searching for a Bible reference and searching for a label where one of the properties of that label has a value of that same Bible reference.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • Harry Hahne
    Harry Hahne Member Posts: 911

    Depending on what you are searching for, the two forms may give back radically different results. Consider for example the difference between searching for a Bible reference and searching for a label where one of the properties of that label has a value of that same Bible reference.

    Thanks, Andrew.

    In this case, both searches produce nearly the same results. There was 1 more match with  a search for figurativeLanguage:category:figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor that was not found with a search for figurativeLanguageCategory:Metaphor.

    As a best practice, if I want to find all metaphors (or another type of figure of speech), should I search both ways? 

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,365

    There is only one set of Figurative Language data. The difference in those two searches comes in Romans 3:4. It appears to be a difference in how the searches are handling cases where the original language phrase the data is tagged on gets broken up in strange ways in the translated Bible. In reality, it's really the same results. I've reported this discrepancy to the search development team.

    Searching for the reference has the benefit of simplicity. Searching for the label allows you to constrain your search on additional properties that may be helpful. Which you use will probably depend on your needs.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • Harry Hahne
    Harry Hahne Member Posts: 911

    There is only one set of Figurative Language data. The difference in those two searches comes in Romans 3:4. It appears to be a difference in how the searches are handling cases where the original language phrase the data is tagged on gets broken up in strange ways in the translated Bible. In reality, it's really the same results. I've reported this discrepancy to the search development team.

    Thanks for persevering to find the one difference. I did not want to do it by brute force and I could not figure out a way to automate the difference. Did you have a way to highlight were the one additional hit was?

    Searching for the reference has the benefit of simplicity. Searching for the label allows you to constrain your search on additional properties that may be helpful. Which you use will probably depend on your needs.

    Can you clarify Is the difference between searching by reference and label? Is this explained somewhere in the Wiki or the help document?

  • Andrew Batishko
    Andrew Batishko Community Manager, Logos Employee Posts: 5,365

    Did you have a way to highlight were the one additional hit was?

    Just a series of queries cutting the search range roughly in half each time until I narrowed it down enough to quickly scan to find the difference. It didn't take too long.

    Can you clarify Is the difference between searching by reference and label? Is this explained somewhere in the Wiki or the help document?

    A reference just exists or not at a give location. An instance of a label has a number of properties which can be specified together (or not) in order to narrow the search down with additional related constraints. Right click in the resource on one of the search hits. Find the label in the menu and run a search and check out all of the additional properties that are specified.

    Andrew Batishko | Logos software developer

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 35,674

    I did not want to do it by brute force and I could not figure out a way to automate the difference. Did you have a way to highlight were the one additional hit was?

    Brute force! I narrow the range iteratively until I find the bible book (Romans), then do the same for Chapter and Verses.

    Can you clarify Is the difference between searching by reference and label? Is this explained somewhere in the Wiki or the help document?

    The wiki  https://wiki.logos.com/New_Search_HELP will show the difference between Label searches and Section (datatype) searches. The Glossary will show the label attributes/properties you can use vs. the single property in a Section search.

    Note that Metaphor includes different types of metaphor and  Ro 3.4 only has 3 types. 

    figurativeLanguage:(category:figurativeLanguageCategory:"Metaphor, Ontological, Personification") uses a phrase from figurativeLanguage:(category:figurativeLanguageCategory:"Metaphor, Structural") and this seems to be the cause of the miscount in the label search.

    Note that the Section search figurativeLanguageCategory:"Metaphor, Ontological, Personification" is much faster than the label.

    Dave
    ===

    Windows 11 & Android 13