The linguistic, conceptual and communicative dimension of metaphor: A corpus study of conversational Polish

Abstract

The paper presents the results of qualitative research into metaphors in Polish conversational style, based on the analysis of conversations on education-related topics. The conversations were conducted by young speakers aged 20–25. The function of metaphor is discussed by referring to the three-dimensional model of metaphor, i.e. metaphor in language, thought, and communication, as proposed by Steen (2008).The analysis of figurative language used by the Polish speakers suggests a consistent framing of the learning experience under two major conceptual metaphors, with their source domains allocated to the semantic fields of ILLNESS and DEFECATION. The article investigates the link between the linguistic expressions and some ‘primary metaphors,’ or analogical schemas, which are assumed to stem from embodied experience (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, 1999). In this part of the study, the primary focus remains on the cognitive function of metaphor in thought, and its linguistic realizations in figurative language used by the speakers. In the discussion of the data, the creative use of metaphors is also dealt with. Generalizations made on the basis of the analysis show that the novelty of metaphors used by the Polish speakers is achieved mainly through mixing up elements of well-established metaphorical expressions, combining two or more metaphorical concepts in one utterance, and constructing easily interpretable conceptual blends.In the next part of the study, the role(s) of deliberate and non-deliberate metaphors in the conversations is investigated, focusing on their communicative dimension. According to Steen, ‘a metaphor is used deliberately when it is expressly meant to change the addressee's perspective on the referent or topic that is the target of the metaphor, by making the addressee look at it from a different conceptual domain or space, which functions as a conceptual source’ (Steen, 2008: 222). Several cases of this change of perspective during discourse processing are examined, and the functions of the metaphors commented upon – all in compliance with Steen's view of discourse as a genre event in terms of language level, language concepts and communication. The communicative function of metaphor takes into account such elements of the recorded material as the content of the conversations, participants and setting, and register.