METAPHORS

• A metaphor

• is a figure of speech

• make a comparison between two things that aren't alike but do have

something in common

• Done without asserting a comparison

• For long considered

• a matter of extraordinary language

• characteristic of language alone

• Metaphor

• I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,

starving hysterical naked…

…who disappeared into the volcanoes of Mexico leaving behind

nothing but the shadow of dungarees and the lava and ash of

poetry scattered in fireplace Chicago.

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

Folk theory of metaphor

• The idea that we understand the world, language included, in terms of prototypes,

which are simplified, generalized views or folk theories of experience

• Bachelor

• Lie

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980)

• (i) our everyday language is much richer in metaphors than we might suspect,

• (ii) metaphors are means of viewing one kind of experience in terms of another, and

• (iii) metaphors imply certain theories (or “folk theories”) about the world or our

experience of it

Cognitive theories see metaphors

• as processes “by which we understand and structure one domain of experience in

terms of another domain of a different kind”

• metaphors are that structure how we perceive, how we think, and what we do

Structural Metaphors - TIME IS MONEY

• You're wasting my time.

• This gadget will save you hours

• I don't have the time to give you.

• How do you spend your time these days?

• That flat tire cost me an hour.

• I've invested a lot of time in her.

• I don't have enough time to spare for that.

• You're running out of time.

• You need to budget your time.

• Put aside some time for ping pong.

• Is that worth your while?

• Do you have much time left?

• He's living on borrowed time.

• You don't use your time profitably.

• I lost a lot of time when I got sick.

• Thank you for your time.

ARGUMENT IS WAR

• Your claims are indefensible.

• He attacked every weak point in my argument.

• His criticisms were right on target.

• I demolished his argument.

• I've never won an argument with him.

• You disagree? Okay, shoot!

• If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out.

• He shot down all of my arguments.

Orientation Metaphor –

HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN

• I'm feeling up.

• That boosted my spirits.

• My spirits rose.

• You're in high spirits.

• Thinking about her always gives me a lift.

• I'm feeling down. I'm depressed.

• He's really low these days.

• I fell into a depression.

• My spirits sank.

• CONSCIOUS IS UP; UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN

• He's under hypnosis.

• He sank into a coma.

• HEALTH AND LIFE ARE UP; SICKNESS AND DEATH ARE DOWN
• He's at the peak of health.

• Lazarus rose from the dead.

• He's in top shape.

• He fell ill.

• His health is declining.

• He dropped dead.

• Ontological metaphors

• my head smokes

• my spirit is getting going

Metaphor and Cultural Coherence

• "More is better" is coherent with MORE IS UP and GOOD IS UP. "Less is better" is

not coherent with them.

• "Bigger is better" is coherent with MORE IS UP and GOOD IS UP. "Smaller is better"

is not coherent with them.

• The future will be better" is coherent with THE FUTURE IS UP and Good is UP. The

future will be worse" is not.

• "There will be more in the future" is coherent with MORE IS UP and THE FUTURE

IS UP.

• "Your status should be higher in the future" is coherent with

• HIGH STATUS IS UP and THE FUTURE IS UP.

Functional view of metaphors

• metaphors as ways of controlling our social and natural environment (Sapir and

Crocker 1977)

Metaphors and Gendered language

• Helen Haste (1994) – sexual metaphors

• How a child is lovingly called (affectionate name)?

• How wife/ girlfriend are addressed?

• Robert Baker (1975)

• the metaphorical concept theories are buildings

• foundation, support, shaky, stand, fall, collapse, framework

• conceptual metaphor understanding is seeing