The performative potential of metaphor

Abstract

AbstractThis article investigates metaphor, especially fresh metaphor, from a per-spective that integrates literary pragmatics, language as social semiotic,and cognitive linguistics. It proposes that such metaphor may be not onlythought but also forged by deliberate choice. It posits a performative viewof metaphor in use, that is, metaphor treated as possessing performativepotential — being able to perform force. To elucidate the performative po-tential of metaphor, this article will first discuss a list of thirteen functionsthat metaphors can perform and address the question of why metaphor issometimes used in favor of non-metaphorical language. It will then pro-ceed to characterize the performative potential of metaphor in the light ofHalliday’s theory concerning the metafunctions of language. The conceptof performative potential highlights the interpersonal function of languagewhile not disregarding its ideational and textual functions. The notion ofthese three functional components provides a perspective from which toconsider what can be performed by metaphor — to present and representthought, to enable the writer to articulate his notion of selfhood and itsrole, to interact with the addressee, and to exercise textual performance.By way of illustration, I will analyze two passages from William Blake’sThe book of Thel and juxtapose them with several passages from TheDhammapada, a Buddhist text consisting of aphorisms in verse form.Both texts articulate the nature of the struggle towards a meaningful life,and more importantly, both contain metaphors of love and wisdom.Keywords: fresh metaphor; functions of metaphor; metaphor as action;performative potential; social semiotics.