The Elephant in the Room: Ten Challenges of Computational Detection of Rhetorical Figures

AbstractComputational detection of rhetorical figures focuses mostly on figures such as metaphor, irony, or analogy. However, there exist many more figures that are neither less important nor less prevalent. We wanted to pinpoint the reasons why researchers often avoid other figures and to shed light on the challenges they struggle with when investigating those figures. In this comprehensive survey, we analyzed over 40 papers dealing with the computational detection of rhetorical figures other than metaphor, simile, sarcasm, and irony. We encountered recurrent challenges from which we compiled a ten point list. Furthermore, we suggest solutions for each challenge to encourage researchers to investigate a greater variety of rhetorical figures.