Monsters-in-law. An analysis of conceptual metaphors. (original) (raw)
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The conceptual and the linguistic factors in the use of metaphors
DELTA: Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada, 2006
The purely cognitive representation of metaphor poses some difficulties. It is proposed that these difficulties can be tackled down in the alternative view proposed in this article, according to which there is an interdependence of conceptual and linguistic factors in the use of metaphor. Some linguistic regularities are identified in the interpretations of some types of metaphor, such as personification, and is argued that a richer description of these types of metaphor is obtained if the linguistic knowledge and semantic compositionality of topic and vehicle are taken into account.
Approaches to metaphor: Structure, classifications, cognate phenomena
Semiotica, 2006
The article aspires to present a systematized view on the contemporary understanding of metaphor essence and structure, reviews various classifications of metaphor, and discusses cognate ‘similarity-based’ phenomena in natural language. The opposing views on metaphor as a three- and two- component structure are reconciled in the article through the analysis of different kinds of metaphors. Three types of classifications of metaphor — semantic, structural and functional — are specified and reviewed. Finally, the article examines the cognate phenomena, viz. metaphoric personification (prosopopoeia, pathetic fallacy, apostrophe), animalification, metaphoric antonomasia, metaphoric allusion, metaphoric periphrasis, synesthesia, allegory, and metaphoric symbolism.
A Cognitive Semantics Study of Metaphor (1
This article deals with metaphor from a linguistic perspective. A question arises here as to whether to which field of language study metaphor belongs. How to answer the question is subject to our understanding of metaphorical expressions. When one encounters a situation in which a metaphorical expression is used, they have a kind of construal to conceptualize the expression. Thus, the field of linguistics which is concerned with studying metaphors is cognitive linguistics since people use their cognitive abilities to conceptualize and understand the metaphorical expressions. With respect to this, George Lakoff adopted a theory under the title Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Here I try to shed light on some aspects of this theory. What is taken into consideration in the paper is a detailed account of metaphor as a cognitive device, the three basic types of conceptual metaphor proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), namely orientational, ontological, and structural. Also, the characteristic features of conceptual metaphors like asymmetry, systematicity, and conventionality. Additionally, the relationship between conceptual metaphor and image schemas is shown in the last section. One of the conclusions of the article is that conceptual metaphor is an integral part of our everyday lives; we cannot interact normally without using conceptual metaphors.
The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor
1993
concepts like time, states, change, causation, and pur pose also turn out to be metaphorical. The result is that metaphor (that is, cross-domain mapping) is absolutely central to ordinary natural language semantics, and that the study of literary metaphor is an extension of the study of everyday metaphor. Everyday metaphor is characterized by a huge system of thousands of cross-domain mappings, and this system is made use of in novel metaphor. Because of these empirical results, the word metaphor has come to be used differently in contemporary metaphor research. The word metaphor has come to mean a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system. The term metaphorical expression refers to a linguistic expression (a word, phrase, or sentence) that is the surface realization of such a cross-domain mapping (this is what the word metaphor referred to in the old theory). I will adopt the contemporary usage throughout this chapter. Experimental results demonstrating the cognitive reali ty of the extensive system of metaphorical mappings are discussed by Gibbs (this volume). Mark Turner's 1987 book, Death is the mother of beauty, whose title comes from Stevens' great line, demonstrates in detail how that line uses the ordinary system of everyday mappings. For further examples of how literary metaphor makes use of the ordinary metaphor system, see More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor, by Lakoff and Turner (1989) and Reading Minds: The Study of English in the Age of Cognitive Science, by Turner (1991). Since the everyday metaphor system is central to the understanding of poetic metaphor, we will begin with the everyday system and then turn to poetic examples.
Metaphor: Theoretical and empirical research
Psychological Bulletin, 1978
Metaphor plays a major role in our understanding of language and of the world we use language to talk about. Consequently, theories of language comprehension and of language itself are incomplete if they do not handle the phenomenon of metaphor, and they are inadequate if they cannot. Traditional definitions and theories of metaphor are reviewed. It is suggested that they err in equating metaphors with comparisons rather than merely implicating comparisons. Empirical research is reviewed, revealing, for the most part, serious problems, particularly in the developmental research. These problems often relate to inadequate underlying theories about the nature of metaphor. Other difficulties include inadequate
Metaphor: Theoretical and Empirical Research. Technical Report No. 27
in this document, a review of traditional definitions and theories of metaphor suggests that they err in equating metaphors with comparisons rather than merely implying comparisons. Empirical research is then reviewed, revealing serious problems, particularly in developmental research. TheSe:problems include-inadequate theories about the nature of metaphore inadequate control over.preexisting knowledge, and hasty conclusions that children cannot understand metaphors, drawn becauseein certain experimental conditions children do not select metaphorical interpretations. Related research on the comerehensien of proverbs and analogies is discussed and recommendations for future research are-made. These depend on a redefiniticn of metaphor and on adequate controls of preexisting knowledge, surface structure, and meaning. The approach suggested emphasizes the context-dependent nature-of metaphors. Finally, it is argued that, even if metaphors can be transformed into comparisons, these comparisons are themselves nonliteral and, consequently, still need to be explained. Abstract Metaphor plays a major role in our understanding of language and of the world we use language to talk about. Consequent y, theories of language comprehension and of lan uage itself are incomplete if they do not handle metaphor, and they are inadequate if tl-.ey cannot. Traditional definitions and.theories of me ,nhor are revle A. It is suggested that they err in equating metaphors ith co pari,ons rather than merely implicat ng comparsons. Empirical research is then reviewed, revealing, for the most part, serious problems, particularly in the developmental research. These problems often relate to inadequate underlying theories as t_ the nature of metaphor. Other difficulties include inadequate controls over preing knowledge, and over-has y conclusions that children cannot understand metaphors because in certain experhnental conditions they do not select metaphorical interpretations. Related research on the comprehension of proverbs and analo ies is discussed. S me recommendations for future research are made. These depend on a re-d._ inition of me aphor and the case of an inves_ gative approach which will permit adequate controls of pre-existing knowledge, surface-structure, and meaning. The approach emphasizes the context-dependent nature of me!-aphors, and takes advantage of it.
Metaphor clusters, metaphor chains: Analyzing the multifunctionality of metaphor in text
Metaphorik.de 5: 115-134, 2003
This paper applies Halliday's (1994) theory of the interpersonal, ideational and textual meta-functions of language to conceptual metaphor. Starting from the observation that metaphoric expressions tend to be organized in chains across texts, the question is raised what functions those expressions serve in different parts of a text as well as in relation to each other. The empirical part of the article consists of the sample analysis of a business magazine text on marketing. This analysis is two-fold, integrating computer-assisted quantitative investigation with qualitative research into the organization and multifunctionality of metaphoric chains as well as the cognitive scenarios evolving from those chains. The paper closes by summarizing the main insights along the lines of the three Hallidayan meta-functions of conceptual metaphor and suggesting functional analysis of metaphor at levels beyond that of text.
Cognitive Metaphor Theory Revisited
Journal of Literary Semantics, 2005
This paper provides a framework which, being compatible with Lakoff and Johnson's theory (1980), allows a description of metaphoric verbal utterances. The development of this theoretical expansion is encouraged by Lakoff and Johnson's distinction between nonliteral and literal metaphoric expressions, and by the fact that they do not provide an explanation of the nonliteral metaphoric use of expressions as distinct from the literal metaphoric one. They simply say that metaphoric expressions are nonliteral when they are parts that are not used in our normal metaphoric concepts. This suggestion is included in our model, in which a metaphoric utterance is identified when the speaker perceives both a contextual abnormality and a conceptual contrast, and it is interpreted using, among other things, a pragmatic process of mapping to derive subpropositional metaphoric provisional meanings. This explanation of the metaphoric mechanism allows an explanation of the utterances in which ...
2021
This is a comment on Marcia Eaton's article interpreting Joseph Brodsky's claim that "aesthetics is the mother of ethics." Eaton challenges this claiming that they are conceptually interdependent, neither coming first. While Eton wishes to retain the metaphor, I argue in favor of Brodsky's position, giving ethics priority.
Conceptual metaphor theory Some criticisms and alternative proposals
Despite its popularity in and outside cognitive linguistics, cognitive metaphor theory (CMT) has received a wide range of criticisms in the past two decades. Several metaphor researchers have criticized the methodology with which metaphor is studied (emphasizing concepts instead of words), the direction of analysis (emphasizing a top-down instead of a bottom-up approach), the category level of metaphor (claiming its superordinate status instead of basic level), the embodiment of metaphor (emphasizing the universal, mechanical, and monolithic aspects instead of nonuniversal, nonmechanical, and nonmonolithic aspects of embodiment), and its relationship to culture (emphasizing the role of universal bodily experience instead of the interaction of body and context). In the paper, I respond to this criticism largely based on my own research and propose a view on these issues that can successfully meet these challenges and that can be regarded as an alternative to the "standard theory. "