What Language Looks Like: A Conceptual-Metaphoric Reading of Minimalism

Abstract

One way to check how language is conceived is to examine the types of metaphors it is described by. This study is a step on this way. The researcher detects the language used by minimalism to see how language is thought of according to this linguistic program. This paper ventures to detect the conceptual metaphors underlying the minimalist program, particularly in its early version in Chomsky's Minimalist Program (1993, 1995). Those early versions of minimalism are particularly focused on since they represent the original essence of this linguistic project. Reading the relevant minimalist literature, the researcher has found out that two metaphors dominate the minimalist thinking about language: LANGUAGE IS A MACHINE, and LANGUAGE IS AN ECONOMIC ENTITY. The latter metaphor subsumes two subsidiary metaphors: LANGUAGE IS AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM, and LANGUAGE IS AN ECONOMIC STRUCTURE. The present paper discusses the structure of the relevant metaphors and the implications of the conceptual-metaphoric reading.