Meaning Construction of Selected Quranic Metaphors

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Amani M. Alhusban ◽  
Mohammad Alkhawaldah

This paper examines a number of Quranic conceptual metaphors from the perspective of Kövecses (2013) model of metaphor analysis. This is a model of metaphorical expressions’ meaning construction based on the idea of the main meaning construction that incorporates in its analysis aspects from both cognitive theories, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and the Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) (Faucconier and Turner, 1998, 2003). The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the adequacy of Kövecses (2013) four-stage model for studying the meaning construction of metaphorical expressions in the Holy Quran, and to draw attention to the important role of lexical items in the appropriate meaning specification which enables comprehending the divine messages implemented in Quranic metaphorical instantiation.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa Ibrahim Elamin ◽  
Albatool Ahmed Alhazmi

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) sees metaphor as a means to conceptualize abstracts in everyday discourse employing concrete. This research investigates the use of “Light” (Nur in Arabic) metaphorically as a source domain to several concepts (target domains) in the Quran, for instance, “THE QURAN IS LIGHT”. The study explores the power of metaphor in non-literary discourse relying on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and its hypotheses. Additionally, it will identify the target domains to which light is used as a source domain. Furthermore, it will examine whether ‘Light’ has been used as a target domain or it is a unidirectional relation that made it a source domain only in all the occurrences in the Quran. For the purpose of this study, the researchers used a descriptive-analytical approach in discourse analysis. Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) is used as a tool for checking metaphor. The search in the sacred text resulted in (43) occurrences of the word ‘Nur.’ This research proved that metaphor of light is used ubiquitously and creatively to explain different crucial concepts in the Quran.


Author(s):  
Marwa Ibrahim Elamin ◽  
Albatool Ahmed Alhazmi

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) sees metaphor as a means to conceptualize abstracts in everyday discourse employing concrete. This research investigates the use of “Light” (Nur in Arabic) metaphorically as a source domain to several concepts (target domains) in the Quran, for instance, “THE QURAN IS LIGHT”. The study explores the power of metaphor in non-literary discourse relying on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and its hypotheses. Additionally, it will identify the target domains to which light is used as a source domain. Furthermore, it will examine whether ‘Light’ has been used as a target domain or it is a unidirectional relation that made it a source domain only in all the occurrences in the Quran. For the purpose of this study, the researchers used a descriptive-analytical approach in discourse analysis. Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) is used as a tool for checking metaphor. The search in the sacred text resulted in (43) occurrences of the word ‘Nur.’ This research proved that metaphor of light is used ubiquitously and creatively to explain different crucial concepts in the Quran.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Semino

In this paper I discuss a form of metaphorical creativity that involves the introduction of ‘unrealistic’ scenarios for rhetorical purposes in expository and argumentative texts. I primarily account for the nature and function of this form of creativity in terms of Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) notion of Blending, with some references to Conceptual Metaphor theory (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 1999). I show that a proper account of the textual extracts I analyse needs to include the role of genre in the construction and interpretation of texts, and allow for differences in meaning construction between writers and readers, and between different groups of readers.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aseel Zibin ◽  
Abdel Rahman Mitib Salim Altakhaineh

Abstract This study provides an analysis of Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds, extracted from a 20,000-word corpus, based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory. The analysis focuses on the semantic transparency of these compounds, on the one hand, and their linguistic creativity, on the other. In line with Benczes (2006, 2010), we suggest that the comprehension of Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds is possibly one of degree depending on which element is affected by metaphor and metonymy. Here, it is proposed that there are compounds which are more creative than others. We argue that in addition to the degree of semantic transparency and linguistic creativity of Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds, there are other factors that can influence the comprehension of these compounds; namely, the frequency of the compound, the conventionality of the metaphors involved in the compound and whether conceptual metonymy acts on the compound. Our proposal is supported by the judgments of 12 native-speaker informants, who were asked to provide the meaning of 35 Arabic metaphorical and/or metonymical compounds. The study concludes with recommendations for further research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 777
Author(s):  
Natália Elvira Sperandio

Abstract: Almost forty years ago, the proposal of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory represented a milestone for Cognitive Linguistics studies. From this point, many pieces of research were developed around the analytical category of metaphor. However, the majority of these papers are still in the monomodal field, intending to build a concept resulting from the source and target domains that come specifically from the verbal structures. Taking this into consideration, this paper intends to focus on the metaphorical occurrence in diverse semiotic modes that constitute multimodal texts. In order to fulfill this aim, we outlined a corpus of five editorial cartoons about “fake news”. Our specific objective is to, making use of the concept of multimodal metaphors proposed by Forceville (1996, 2009), presented how the different semiotic modes, in this case the verbal and the visual ones, are interwoven in the building of these metaphors. In this way, in our study, besides validating the thesis proposed by Forceville (2009) about the occurrence of metaphors not only in the verbal mode, it was also possible to verify the importance of multimodal metaphors for the meaning construction process in the analyzed genre.Keywords: metaphors; multimodal metaphors; fake news.Resumo: Há quase quarenta anos atrás um marco nos estudos da Linguística Cognitiva, em especial em sua semântica, ocorreu: a proposta da Teoria da Metáfora Conceitual. A partir desse trabalho, muitas pesquisas foram desenvolvidas em torno da categoria analítica da metáfora. Porém, grande parte desses trabalhos ainda encontra-se no campo dos denominados textos monomodais, visando apenas a construção conceitual resultante de domínios fonte e alvo oriundos especificamente do modo verbal. Diante disso, o presente artigo propõe-se a promover um trabalho dedicado à ocorrência metafórica nos diferentes modos semióticos que constituem os textos multimodais. Para cumprirmos tal objetivo, delineamos como corpus cinco charges que versam sobre o conceito fake news. Nosso objetivo específico consiste em apresentar, através do conceito de metáforas multimodais, proposto por Forceville (1996, 2009), a forma pela qual diferentes modos semióticos, nesse caso em especial o verbal e o imagético, imbricaram-se na construção dessas metáforas. Assim, em nosso estudo, além de vislumbrarmos a validação da proposição de Forceville (2009) sobre a não ocorrência do processo metafórico apenas no modo verbal, foi possível a verificação da importância das metáforas multimodais para a construção dos sentidos do gênero em análise.Palavras-chave: metáforas; metáfora multimodal; fake news.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier A. Morras Cortés ◽  
Xu Wen

Abstract The metaphor time is space (Lakoff & Johnson 1999) and the pervasiveness of metaphor and image-schematic structure in human conceptualization (Johnson 1987; Hampe 2005) have been widely accepted among cognitive scientists as constructs that help explain non-spatial and temporal linguistic constructions. However, Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) might not be the whole story. While it is acceptable that moments in time can be construed as being analogous to points in space as in utterances such as at the corner vs. at 2:30, there seems to be much more temporal cognition than previously thought. It turns out that time exhibits its own structure (following Evans 2004, 2013; Galton 2011) that is based on transience. This idea has made some scholars support the weak version of CMT which posits that the temporal meaning of prepositions is represented and processed independently of the corresponding spatial meanings (see Kemmerer 2005 for such a view). The present article supports the idea that spatial and temporal structures complement each other in order to achieve temporal conceptions. This is indeed a conceptual pattern showed by the English preposition at that makes use of an extrinsic temporal reference to activate its temporal semantics. To analyze the different temporal realizations that at may have, the paper aims to identify the topological structure that underlies the conceptual basis of this preposition. This allows us to appreciate how the spatio-conceptual structure of at partially structures temporal conceptions. The paper also identifies the nature of the temporal structure that is involved in temporal realizations. The article concludes with some remarks, among them the pivotal role of the schematic temporal structure that is captured by the extrinsic temporal reference, and the role of conceptual metaphor in underdetermining temporal thinking.


Semiotica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (213) ◽  
pp. 419-433
Author(s):  
Nathan Black Rupp

AbstractI propose the specific words used by a community define that community, yet at the same time the community is defined by those words. This ever-changing lexicon of communal metaphor is the storehouse of all the meanings and their usages used by a given group. By looking at the metaphors that permeate any communal language, we see that all language is metaphoric. With the use of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Blending Theory, I investigate how new meanings enter our lexicon and become social meaning. This investigation also provides a closer understanding of “literal” meanings. We come to see they are just stale metaphors or neglected blendings devoid of potency. The process by which meanings are created illuminates how they become “literal.” Thus, showing us the danger that accompanies us in the modern, literal age.


2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Forceville

Since the publication of Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By (1980), conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) has dominated metaphor studies. While one of the central tenets of that monograph is that metaphors are primarily a phenomenon of thought, not of language, conceptual metaphors have until recently been studied almost exclusively via verbal expressions. Another limitation of the CMT paradigm is that it has tended to focus on deeply embedded metaphors rather than on creative metaphors of the kind that Black (1979) discusses. One result of this focus is that relatively little attention is paid in CMT to the form and appearance a metaphor can assume (cf. Lakoff and Turner 1989). Clearly, which channel(s) of information (language, visuals, sound, gestures, among others) are chosen to convey a metaphor is a central factor in how a metaphor is construed and interpreted. A healthy theory of metaphor as a structuring element of thought therefore requires systematic examination of both its multimodal and its creative manifestations. Conversely, research into non-verbal and multimodal metaphor can help the theorization of multimodality.In this paper it is shown that creative metaphors occurring in commercials usually draw on a combination of language, pictures, and non-verbal sound. After an inventory of parameters involved in the analysis of multimodal metaphors, ten cases are discussed, with specific attention to the role of the various modes in the metaphors’ construal and interpretation. On the basis of the case studies, the last sections of the paper discuss three issues that are crucial for further study: (1) the ways in which similarity is cued in multimodal, as opposed to verbal, metaphors; (2) the problems adhering to the verbalization of multimodal metaphors; (3) the influence of textual genre on the interpretation of multimodal metaphors.


Author(s):  
Jacek Woźny

The role of conceptual integration and simple dynamic scenarios in the meaning construction of the mapping in mathematicsOver the last two decades the impact of conceptual metaphor and conceptual blending on mathematics has been extensively researched (Lakoff & Núñez, 2000; Fauconnier & Turner, 2002; Turner, 2005; Núñez, 2006; Alexander, 2011; Turner, 2012; Danesi, 2016; Woźny, 2018). This paper examines the manner in which simple dynamic scenarios allow, through the process of conceptual integration, for multiple ways of constructing the meaning of a mathematical mapping. The paper analyses selected fragments extracted from two popular academic mathematics textbooks to ascertain how the authors use a number of simple dynamic scenarios to explain the concept. The paper then demonstrates how these dynamic scenarios help to avoid the problem of circularity of the (static) formal definition of the mapping. The results of the study indicate that conceptual blending may account for the flexibility of mathematics and its effectiveness in modelling the world around us. Rola integracji pojęciowej i prostych scenariuszy dynamicznych w konstrukcji znaczenia odwzorowania w matematyceW ciągu ostatnich dwudziestu lat pojawiło się wiele publikacji dotyczących roli metafor oraz integracji pojęciowej w matematyce (Lakoff & Núñez, 2000; Fauconnier & Turner, 2002; Turner, 2005; Núñez, 2006; Alexander, 2011; Turner, 2012; Danesi, 2016; Woźny, 2018). W tym artykule badany jest sposób, w jaki proste scenariusze dynamiczne wpływają, poprzez proces integracji pojęciowej, na konstruowanie wielu znaczeń odwzorowania (funkcji) w matematyce. Badane są fragmenty dwóch popularnych podręczników matematyki, w których autorzy wyjaśniają pojęcie odwzorowania poprzez proste scenariusze dynamiczne, unikając w ten sposób błędu logicznego „nieznane przez nieznane", którym obarczona jest statyczna definicja odwzorowania. Wyniki analizy mogą sugerować, że elastyczność matematyki – jej niezmienna skuteczność w modelowaniu otaczającego nas świata – jest efektem procesów integracji pojęciowej.


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