Cognitive Linguistics Croft & Cruse 8 (through 8.3.5) Metaphor

8.2 The conceptual theory of metaphor “…metaphorical meaning is not…a special kind of meaning: it is rather the case that metaphor is the result of a special process for arriving at, or construing, a meaning.” A metaphor is a mapping between conceptual domains Source domain: “the domain supporting the literal meaning of the expression” Target domain: “the domain the sentence is actually about”

8.2 The conceptual theory of metaphor, cont’d. TARGET DOMAIN IS SOURCE DOMAIN – this is the basic formula for metaphor Not everything from the source domain is relevant Some truly opaque idiomatic expressions might not be interpreted in terms of mapping (fly off the handle)

8.2 The conceptual theory of metaphor, cont’d. Invariance Hypothesis: Metaphorical mappings preserve the cognitive topology (that is, image-schematic structure) of the source domain. (Lakoff 1990, in CogLx 1)[Logic of heated fluid carries over to target of anger] Target domain overrides: we are constrained not to violate the image-schematic structure possessed by the non-image components of the target (Turner 1990, in CogLx 1) [target domain can prevent some ideas from holding, so give a kick doesn’t mean that you get to keep the kick]

8.3 Novel Metaphor The life history of a metaphor: Lakoff concentrates on conventionalized metaphors, but those have lost some of their interpretive properties – perhaps one should look at newly coined examples? How do we recognize metaphor – Lakoff insists that metaphor is so widespread and natural that it cannot be described as deviant. But Cruse points out that “it is not obvious how a metaphor can function if there is nothing perceptibly odd whatsoever about its literal construal”

8.3 Novel Metaphor, cont’d. Blending Theory and novel metaphors: Blending is when structures from two domains are combined to create new structure. Metaphor is actually a special type of blending. Notice that blending (& metaphor) create something new: This surgeon is a butcher implies incompetence, though that is not something inherited from either domain.

8.3 Novel Metaphor, cont’d. Context sensitivity: Novel metaphors involve domains that are construed in context Asymmetry of vehicle (aka source) and target: this remains to be satisfactorily explained