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Gibbs 4:
Metaphor in Language and Thought
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Metaphorical language is not unusual
• Metaphor is not simply a form of speech -- it is a form of thought with its own epistemological (relating to origin and theory) functions
• Metaphors provide:– Foundation for everyday thinking and
reasoning– Foundation for our understanding of culture
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Metaphor plays a role in:
• Constituting ordinary concepts (eg. Emotion)
• Motivating semantic change (eg. see > know; root > epistemic modals)
• Motivating meanings of linguistic expressions
• Influencing how people make sense of why words/expressions mean what they do
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Metaphor frequencies
• People use an average of 1.80 novel metaphors and 4.08 frozen metaphors per minute of discourse.
• This works out to about 4.7 M novel metaphors and 21.4 M frozen metaphors in an average lifetime.
• (These figures probably aren’t very accurate or meaningful, but give a general idea…)
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Communicative Functions of Metaphor
• Metaphors provide a way of expressing ideas that would be extremely difficult to convey using literal language.
• Metaphors are compact.• Metaphors help capture the vividness of our
phenomenological experienceThese functions have been validated by
empirical research.
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Metaphor Improves Recall
“One reason why metaphors might be memorable is that these expressions furnish conceptually rich, image-evoking conceptualizations.” (p. 133)
Metaphor may aid learning
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Social Functions of Metaphor
• Metaphorical talk often presupposes and reinforces intimacy between speaker and hearer.
• Metaphorical language informs others about attitudes and beliefs.
• Slang contributes to group identity and cohesion.
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Metaphor and Politics
• POLITICS IS A SPORT
• POLITICS IS WAR
• Metaphor is consistently used to motivate foreign policy and political reasoning
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Extra Homework Idea:
• Analyze the metaphorical content of the political platforms of the candidates in the 2004 election.
• Analyze the metaphorical content of two sides of a highly politicized public debate.
• Cf. for the latter CLONING IS TWINNING vs. CLONING IS INCEST.
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Systematicity of Metaphor
• There are conceptual metaphors that motivate numerous expressions:
• LOVE IS A JOURNEY
• LOVE IS A NUTRIENT
• LOVE IS A NATURAL FORCE
• LOVE IS MAGIC
• LOVE IS A UNITY
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Polysemy
• “a state in which words have multiple meanings that are systematically related”
• Polysemy is the norm -- most words are polysemous, motivated by extensions
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Examples of Polysemy
• see > know in various langs
• root modals (ability can, permission may, obligation must) get extended to domains of reasoning, argument, theorizing > epistemic
• the latter is motivated by metaphorical interpretations of force and barrier
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Some Psychological Evidence:
• Gentner & Gentner: metaphoric reasoning in electricity as flowing liquid vs. electricity as moving crowd
• Use of metaphoric gestures indicating conceptualization of events and utterances as “things” in one’s hands.
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Two Metaphors for Time:
• Fixed observer, moving events (Christmas is coming)
• Fixed events, moving observer (We’re coming up on Christmas)
• [Note that it is possible to mix the two together in a single utterance: We’re looking forward to the events that will follow]
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Metaphor in Science
• Pedagogical Metaphors -- help to convey an idea• Theory Constitutive Metaphors -- are
indispensible parts of a scientific theory• Note: THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS is a
metaphor about theories.• “The computer metaphor is the most important
theory constitutive metaphor in contemporary psychology.” (p. 175)
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Metaphor in a few more places…
• Metaphor in Law: influences decision-making
• Metaphor in Art: cf. metaphoric images in cinema
• Metaphor & Myth: Odysseus’ journey, Jacob’s ladder “represent facts of the mind”
• Metaphor in Culture: conventional metaphors can be culture/language-specific
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Metaphor in thought and action:
• “Because metaphors organize our experience through their entailments, they help create social realities for us and become guides to action.” (p. 203)
• Our “cultural model for marriage” may be “motivated by a cluster of contiguous conceptual metaphors” [it doesn’t have to be entirely coherent] (p. 204)
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Concluding Thoughts
• “metaphor is a fundamental mental capacity by which people understand themselves and the world through the conceptual mapping of knowledge from one domain onto another” (p. 207)
• “metaphor is an integral part of human life”