Intégration conceptuelle et métaphore filée

Abstract

Philippe Grea : Conceptual Integration and Extended Metaphor In relation to the specific question of the metaphor, a comparison between two cognitive theories - the conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1986) and the conceptual integration theory (Fauconnier & Turner 1998) - is leading us to note their similarities but also a number of existing differences. Both of these two approaches share the idea that a metaphor is based on the initial severance of two entities (conceptual domains or mental spaces), which is to be resolved in a set of conceptual mappings. However, the conceptual integration puts in place a different formal structure which outlines the dynamic aspect of the problem. As a result, its explanatory capacity reaches the innovating metaphors and the extended metaphors, contrary to the conceptual metaphor theory which is often confined to the most generic conventional metaphors. We are illustrating this advantage of the conceptual integration with an example from the Doderer's novel. Such an example would allows us also to stress the importance of the optimality principles for the constitution of the integration network and in particular, of the blending space.