Abstract
Within cognitive semantics the metaphorical processes, which are very powerful, underlie the mechanism of thought. Semantic changes found in these processes are reflected in the connection between the source and the target domain through the semantic cognitive construction. Note is made of the broadening of the lexical meaning into abstract concepts within English and French cultures which changes the way in which the world is comprehended. The illustrated metaphors are based on their similarity and on cross-domain correlations, which give rise to the perceived similarities between the two domains within the corpus of English and French metaphors. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n4p69
Highlights
Cognitive Metaphor Theory has been brought to the centre by a diverse range of scholars within the field of cognitive linguistics
According to them: a) a metaphor is a property of concepts not words; b) the function of a metaphor is to better understand concepts; c) a metaphor is often not based on similarity; d) metaphors are used in everyday life; e) a metaphor is an inevitable process of human thought and reasoning
Conceptual metaphor involves a relationship between a source domain, the source of the literal meaning of the metaphorical expression, and a target domain, the domain of the experience being described by the metaphor: e.g. Pack thoughts into words
Summary
Cognitive Metaphor Theory has been brought to the centre by a diverse range of scholars within the field of cognitive linguistics. According to them: a) a metaphor is a property of concepts not words; b) the function of a metaphor is to better understand concepts; c) a metaphor is often not based on similarity; d) metaphors are used in everyday life; e) a metaphor is an inevitable process of human thought and reasoning This theory (CMT) holds that metaphors are central to thought. (Deignan 2005:13) Since 1980 up until the present day this topic has been elaborated, because the current interest surpasses the achievements made so far in the field The stages it passes in psycholinguistics have been developing and it connects language and mind (Chomsky 1968).
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