An extended view of conceptual metaphor theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-130
Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses

Abstract A major insight of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) is that it added a strong, empirically testable cognitive dimension to the study of metaphor that is capable of changing the way we think about metaphor not only in language, but also thought and action, and, ultimately, the way we do philosophy (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, 1999). In the paper, I argue that CMT itself needs to be changed in several ways. In particular, I suggest (1) that it has to be given a much more elaborate contextual component than is currently available, (2) that even its cognitive dimension needs to be refined, (3) that it requires a component that can explain the actual usages of metaphors in natural discourse, and (4), and most significantly, that it needs to be changed in such a way that the modifications under (1), (2), and (3) can be integrated into a unified and coherent theory of metaphor. The paper is based on my forthcoming book Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Kövecses, 2020).

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-30
Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses

Abstract My goal in the paper is to examine a variety of visual experiences that appear to evoke visual metaphors. This is a range of experience types that extends from “sign-like” visual experiences to “non-sign-like” visual experiences. I propose that visual metaphors are evoked by paintings through winner’s podiums all the way to cityscapes and scenes in nature. The latter two (non-sign-like) cases, cityscapes and natural scenes, are not commonly subjected to serious examination from a CMT perspective. However, they provide us with new challenges in the study of visual metaphors, since they greatly extend the range of visual experience that might give rise to visual metaphors. I suggest, further, that the comprehension or interpretation of all of these visual experiences, including sign-like and non-sign-like alike, makes use of the same metaphorical processing mechanisms. The visual metaphors that are evoked by visual experiences can be based either on correlations or resemblance.


Lege Artis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses

Abstract I discuss three large issues relating to media language. (1) How does conceptual metaphor theory affect the way we see the conceptual system that characterizes the main participants of communication in the media? (2) How do conceptual metaphors structure the language (and thought) used by the media? (3) Is the metaphorical mind of the participants of media communication a “self-contained” mind immune to the influence of context or is it affected by it?


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-358
Author(s):  
Moses Gatambuki Gathigia ◽  
Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo ◽  
Ruth Wangeci Ndungu

Abstract Using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this study discusses the transfer of semantic aspects of foodsemic metaphors upon the abstraction of love. An interview schedule was administered to 48 respondents of different gender by the researchers assisted by two research assistants. The data collected were subjected to the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU). 12 foodsemic metaphors which play an indispensable role in the understanding of love in Gĩkũyũ were identified. In addition, the study noted that gender is a dominant variable that provides people with lens through which they view love in Gĩkũyũ. This study concludes that metaphor is an integral component of the way people conceptualize and embody love in Gĩkũyũ. Further, foodsemic metaphors provide a way of understanding the nexus between gender and love in Gĩkũyũ.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-158
Author(s):  
Atula Ahuja ◽  
Suparak Techacharoenrungrueang ◽  
Sudaporn Luksaneeyanawin

Abstract This study examines the notion of womanhood in the literary works of contemporary Indian authors by analyzing conceptual metaphors of womanhood. More specifically, the data collected in this study are metaphorical expressions (MEs) from nine fictional works set in India’s three main ethnically and linguistically diverse regions occupied by three linguistic groups, namely, the Indo-Aryan, the Dravidian, and the Tibeto-Burmese. The identification of MEs follows the Metaphor Identification Procedure VU University Amsterdam (MIPVU; Steen et al. 2010a). The analysis focuses on cross-cultural variation in conceptual metaphor, applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT; Lakoff & Johnson 1980) and the cognitive dimension of socio-cultural diversity proposed by Kövecses (2008). Through the analysis of conceptual metaphor, the paper provides insights into the current social context regarding the status and roles of women in India.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-47
Author(s):  
Khalid Ali Abdullah

       This article is a comparative study of anger metaphors in English and Kurdish from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the paper makes a comparative analysis of the conceptual metaphors of anger in English and Kurdish. The two languages are geographically and culturally unrelated. The study aims to find out similar and dissimilar points related to the way anger is conceptualized in English and Kurdish to show the universality and specificity of the different cultures. Also, the article looks for the causes of these differences and similarities so as to help people further understand the conceptualization of anger as one of the basic human emotions.


Author(s):  
Jahida Nuradin Yousif ◽  
Yasir Allawi Al-Jumaili

This paper attempts to analyse the metaphorical representation of immigration in Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake (2003). It aims to explore the way in which the process of immigration is conceptualized in terms of experiences from other domains. Lahiri as the second generation of immigrants is brought up in the family that experienced the process of immigration. However, the notion of immigration among Lahiri’s critics is explored, but a few number of researches approached its metaphorical language, whereas the current paper investigates immigration in terms of the stylistic investigation of immigration metaphors in the light of cognitive approach. This study also examines the mapping process, which is used to conceptualize immigration in the novel.  It applies insights from Conceptual Metaphor Theory by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson to the linguistic expression that underlie conceptual metaphors that are selected from the novel. In addition, it identifies all the source domains that are used in the selected expressions to represent the target domain of immigration, through the mapping process. The immigration process in Lahiri’s The Namesake is compared to ‘ sort of lifelong pregnancy’, ‘perpetual wait’, ‘ constant burden’, ‘free’, and ‘ packing a pillow and a blanket’. The selection of the conceptual metaphor theory provides a deeper understanding of the way the process of immigration is represented. 


Author(s):  
Pauline Rodet

This article offers a corpus-based inquiry into the use of metaphor in the Brexit debate. This study aims to stress the link between manipulation and the metaphors that are used to talk about Brexit. It mainly focuses on the cognitive dimension of metaphor, following the Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson. The methodology is largely inspired by Charteris-Black’s analysis in three steps: identification, interpretation and explanation. The corpus includes political speeches from various British politicians who strongly got involved in the debate, such as Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron. In addition, two cases of multimodal metaphors are closely analysed. The article suggests looking at the links between the conceptual domains at the roots of the metaphors encountered in the corpus and the act of manipulating.


Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses

The chapter reports on work concerned with the issue of how conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) functions as a link between culture and cognition. Three large areas are investigated to this effect. First, work on the interaction between conceptual metaphors, on the one hand, and folk and expert theories of emotion, on the other, is surveyed. Second, the issue of metaphorical universality and variation is addressed, together with that of the function of embodiment in metaphor. Third, a contextualist view of conceptual metaphors is proposed. The discussion of these issues leads to a new and integrated understanding of the role of metaphor and metonymy in creating cultural reality and that of metaphorical variation across and within cultures, as well as individuals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Omar Bani Mofarrej ◽  
Ghaleb Rabab'ah

The present paper examines the metaphorical and metonymical conceptualizations of the heart in Jordanian Arabic (JA) within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). The main aim is to explore how the human heart is conceptualized in JA, and to test the applicability of the different general cognitive mechanisms proposed by Niemeier (2003 and 2008) to those found in JA. The data were extracted from Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions in Levantine Arabic: Jordanian Dialect (Alzoubi, 2020), and other resources including articles, dissertations and books of Arabic proverbs. The findings revealed that all the four general cognitive mechanisms suggested by Niemeier (2003 and 2008) are applicable to JA. The findings also showed that the similarity derives from the universal aspects of the human body, which lends tremendous support to the embodiment hypothesis proposed by cognitive linguists. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-285
Author(s):  
Mason D. Lancaster

This article provides an overview of metaphor theories and research on their own terms, as well as their use in Hebrew Bible (HB) studies. Though metaphor studies in the HB have become increasingly popular, they often draw upon a limited or dated subset of metaphor scholarship. The first half of this article surveys a wide variety of metaphor scholarship from the humanities (philosophical, poetic, rhetorical) and the sciences (e.g., conceptual metaphor theory), beginning with Aristotle but focusing on more recent developments. The second half overviews studies of metaphor in the HB since 1980, surveying works focused on theory and method; works focused on specific biblical books or metaphor domains; and finally noting current trends and suggesting areas for future research.


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