218 ue Tameyr,D.€. 9, Compal em apres fone of mlaennce “tena aa fre evar bo, Wh Pe At Foo ‘ecomtiea Ste On “ey A: (97, Fares o inc. Pyebloal Review 8432-35 ‘Weel 98) Sint ond pron Unpelied mama. ‘Nef ne) Vaden yng Techs rere PAH ofS wines, (9 Leming sacra demrtn from example eh ep. NO A “Pei, Canby MA: MIT Avia fee srs. aod, B. BW) Some ruta on operon Pvomance in emerge ee I. Sa arent rts pee oon 3-0, Baro HY zak, Dak Wot, 5 (90). Tne prone ing and deco einen, Ee ania, 2. [METAPHOR AND SYMBOLIC ACTIVITY, 20) 218-22. ‘Copii 1, Lame Eu Ase, METAMETAPHORICAL ISSUES ——— Image Metaphors George Lakoff Department of Linguistics University of Clfornia “To date, this column has concentrated on conceptual metaphors met ‘hors that map complex conceptual structures in source domain ono coa- ‘eplual structures ina target domala. Take, for example, the common meta. Dhorieal understanding of Hife and death given by the mapping "LIFE 1S in which bith corresponds to arial nd death to de- parte; iis exemplified by common expressions like “He pased away,” [Theresa body on the way,” He stil with ws,” and many ober. ‘In addition to thet, there is another major type of metaphor that maps conventional mental images onto other conventional mentalimagesby virtue Of theie internal trctoe. 1 will refer to these as image metaphors. When ‘André Breton (1931/1984) in Free Union (vansation by David Anti) ‘wets, “My wife... whose wait ion hourglas."(p. 183), we understand {his as an image mapping in which the mental image of an hourglass ‘mapped ontothe mental image ofthe wife, withthe ceatral narrow portion of thetoutalss corresponding to the wife's waist. Image metaphors of this sort fare very common, anditis important to understand theirnatureand the ways in which they differ from conceptual metaphors. Cetus bepin withthe mental images involved inthe metaphors, Because of the research by Kostiyn (1980) and Shepard and Cooper (1982), the realy of ‘mental images has come to be generally recognized inthe cognitive cence ‘community. But the images to which kage metaphors apply have a some ‘ohat different character than those studied by comtive psychologist Kelp ample, have subjects in experiments look at fora pietore oF en object—and then frm ani by the eubjet on the spot forthe given Tens rp ld io Gere La, Dpto nn Uae ‘st Clitomi: Watery Cn 8220 LaKorr task. But the images that image metaphors apply to are conventional images—images that are acquired largely unconsciously and automatically ‘over the years by members ofa cultural community. For example, we all have ‘conventional mage ofan hourglass that we can call upon without being Showna particular hourglass or apicture of one. Itissuchaconventional i= that Breton was relying on inthe lin cited above. mapping one image ono another, we make use ofthe internal structure ‘of the images. But the current theories of mental images within cognitive psy ‘hology donot havean account ofthe appropriate internal strucire. For ex fmmple, Kosayn'scathode-ray-tube theory claims that imagesare stored inthe ‘ind in erms of bit of information nthe way that a computer stores an im fre to dieplay on ncathode ray tube. This theory doesnt attribute to mental rages the kind of structure needed to acount for image metaphors. Again, take the Breton example. To map the hourglass image onto the woman In age, both images mast be structured in terms ofa general shape ofthe same fort. Because the shape ofan hourglass isnot exactly therameas heshape of ‘a woman, the shapes must be reperented ina manne exible enought fit in ‘an image mapping: that, the shapes must be represented ina manner thats ‘more topological than pictre-tke topological in the sense of generalizing ‘over specific geometric shapes, Only then ean the shape ofthe hourglass map ‘ono the shape ofthe woman. Kossy'scathode-ray-ube mode! doesnot ‘tructueimagesin this way structureslmages dot by dot and doesnot have ‘such overall structures that generalize over shapes. “Although our main concern is with metaphor rather than with mental ‘mage research, the study of image metaphors nevertheless provides impor- {ant data forthe sty of the internal structure of mental images. Let uscon- sider two further examples that show the robustness of image metaphors. ‘The firsts from Brendan O'Hehi's as yet unpublished translation of “The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel," an Irish poem of the eighth or ninth century: ‘Agood sole isMac Cle. Hewat lathe depth it sep, ton bis backin ‘itroom when yous him. The wo bald heads beside the man with healt You sw, they are sto knees and his en The two lakes bse mourn, they are histo yes Beside is nese. The wo hides beside an akyou sm. bey [teh two cas beside shad Te wo five-beched bots asl cover ‘yousaw, they are hist wo shoes upon ssl The lender stream wate Ue $n Sins on, a the steamlet dows fom it, at the shri ‘word. The pila of king's house You saw there, hats indeed Ns nee. ‘The two surfaces of «Buc topped weve yous ther, they aes wo een ‘yebroms balanced acronis lovely ey cloredfeatres Here we see overall shape and size mapped ("The two lakes beside a moun- ‘ein, they are Ms two eyes Beside his nose), and wel as reflectance "The mace mevarHons 221 slender stream of water the sun shines on. «that i the shimmering of his Sword’. Its the same sort of image mapping one Cinds in Rabelais (0957/1985) The Deseripions of King Lent: “His toes were like the keyboard Gfespine.- Hisfee like guitare... Hisbalocks ke a double leather bot- Tens nipples ike carte horns. His teeth were lik boar pears. 5368); Examples ofthis sort can sls be found in the Navaho tration: My hos with hoot ke astrped aa Irn lock ikea ie eae pe: Thy bore whose les ar ike quik hing ‘Tone body san ule plumed arrow: Try hore whose ats He ealing Wack lw {Gwar Gods Hose Son 1930/1985, Words by Tal Kina tterpreted by {ovis Watchman.) Eachimage metaptor ofthis type is what refer to Such oneshot image metaphors aae to be dst r onceptval metaphors ike "DEATH 1S DEPARTURE” in important ways: 1. Oneshot mapping, as thei name implies, are not wed over and over again that i, they re nt conventionalized. 2, They are not used in everyday reasoning. : 3. There is no system of words and idiomatic expressions in the language whose meaning is based on them. 4. They map image structure instead of propositional structure ‘They are not wed to understand the abstract in terms ofthe concrete. {6 They do not havea basis in experince and commonplace knowledge that determines what gets mapped onto what Image metaphors ate nonetheless structure mappings e the conceptual level. As Such, they can interact in interesting ways with conceptual eta- ‘hors. Let us consider again Ann's translation of Bretons Free Union: My wife whose ais a brsh re ‘Whore thoughts are summer Hihting ‘Whore wait an hows ‘hone wai the wait ofa ter enught nthe teeth ie (183) “Take thelast ne Here theres fest of alla mapping ofthe image ofthe wast fof an oter caught in the teeth of tiger onto the image of the wife's was How much s mapped depends on theimagination ofthe reader: The wrth ‘motion ofthe otter may be mapped onto the wife's body; the dripping sheen ‘Of the eter’ far may be mapped onto the wife's shiny sweat Although how ‘ch i mapped i variable, the mechanism of image mapping i what does the job.222 Kore ‘Compare this tothe second line ofthe Breton poem: "Whose shoughis are summer lightning.” Va this ase, theres no target domain’ ally givenin advance. Thoughts are abstract; wehaveno conventional images map onto. Nonethelest, thre fa compelling metaphor i ‘eptual metaphor tht maps commonplace Knowledge about lighting onto the wife's thoughts. The mechanism used isthe common conceptual meta- ‘hor in which “UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING,” light is necessary for un- Gerstanding, andthe mind isa source of light that permits understanding. ‘Thus we have sentences such as" see what you're getting af" and "That was an tluminatine cussion," and someone who ean produce such mental light {s"brifion.” Breton is invoking this metaphor when he ays of his wife that her “thoughts are summer lightning.” The mapping ofthe conventional met- aphor applies to our knowledge of ighning. Just as ightning i brilliant ‘source of ight, ser thoughts are rilint sources of insight. Just i powerful and commands our attention, £0 are her thoughts. And jst lightning i unpredictable (and sometimes Seay), 30 are er lashes of Insight. Lines 1,3, and 4 ofthe Breton pocm are image mappings, cases where there ate images in both the source and target domains and where he source domain image's mapped onto the target domainimage. Butin Line2, theres ain image, and hence no image mapping. Instead, theres 2 ing about which we have knowledge ‘The image is not metaphorically mapped, but that knowledge is. And the ‘mechanism by which the knowledge mapping is accomplished isa common conceptual metaphor, "UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING.” ‘Thereisa moral hee: No every case where there is asouree domain image ind a metaphor fs an image metaphor. Inage metaphors only oecur when there is both a soure image and tare! image thatthe source image maps REFERENCES Bron, A (98 Fe ein. oP, Aer E43, The Random Howse oat of tnt oy Fach pty, Rew ar: Wee (ea ok elie 18) ery, 8M (98. map od min. Combe MA: Hard Unters res. abe F945 The pons Rig Lent in Rehr (22), Toca of he ‘ene 368 Bercy Univer a Calon Pra (Onl or pbs SR Nd oe LAE. etl ie nh oman Coie War Gods Har Son 9) a. Rthenbr 4), Teh 6 herd de, > a Reey Utero alli Pre, nel work pote 90) Cognition and Figurative Language tated by Ilcnard F Honeck, Unversity of Cincinnat! Robert . Hottman, Adelphi University ‘Adingshed pour of expe anarze he completes ad he ‘een of sve longo. The grpniaion ofthe woke reflects ‘mor frets wi cin = te otal a bnghea tacpound, tough meblems of ava representation Srl tean then, o development ends ard apicatons in irotion hing “hm ener book 1 contains hell ovens simatng heres 2ndome new datas = AAS. ‘a Moric! and PhicsopialPenpecvs. RR Hotiman, .P fan torial a ives, RR Hoffman, RP. Fane lohan, Grony arte rocesine and Represeriaon. ea Vorlapee ef Honee. K Voc, Me A Derm, RR Fitian: Rr Vai mA aber Fe onileh, PE Richman EL SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM SieTaRog ab Shun AHO Wl 2 Seis at yo a tame i (ies and mst pa ‘sk i pe ote the US. bet Canad mest wt rn Fo, al mee Scan el 1 ameter mde ee a oa Nits, L_iemrene Fehon Asatte, tne. radia, tdae, Wtnea2—_}