 Literal/non-literal  Some take this to be a distinction about word meaning. According to this view, beyond their conventional or literal meaning, words can have figurative or non-literal meanings: metaphoric, ironic, metonymic meanings. After the rise of pragmatic studies, the distinction is considered mostly to be one at the speaker’s meaning level. When the speaker’s meaning is closed to the conventional meaning of the sentence uttered the speaker is said to be speaking literally. When it departs from conventional meaning is considered non-literal. Of course, the distinction is not clear cut: how much must the speaker’s meaning depart from conventional meaning to be considered as non-literal? Some authors prefer to talk about a continuum rather than a two-sided distinction.