Cognitive Function Of Metaphor Research Articles

Cognitive Potential of Metaphor in Professional Discourse

The article focuses on the cognitive function of metaphor in professional discourse, which is a professional terminology system and a linguistic manifestation of a professional world view. The article demonstrates evolution of different approaches to the phenomenon of metaphor in scientific discourse and professional terminological systems. Convergence of research directions and methods, as well as integration and interpenetration of approaches to the object under study, made it possible to build the framework of the conceptual logic of mental knowledge structures objectified in systems of terminological units. A conceptual analysis of metaphorical terminological derivates enriched with semantic analysis of term definition components provided the empirical evidence that anthropocentric principle is the basic trend in the process of metaphor forming in the professional discourse of petroleum refining. The author sees metaphor as a cognitive mechanism that associates new unknown concepts with familiar phenomena from everyday human life. The dominant conceptual metaphors develop on the principle of anthropocentrism by combining the source-domain, including a system of deep ontological knowledge about a person and a target-domain representing special concepts of professional discourse. The cognitive potential of metaphorical models is described on the basis of the metaphorical derivation of the professional oil refining terminology system. In addition to their nominative function, metaphorically formed terminological units perform explanatory function by visualizing the processes of petroleum refining to provide an opportunity to understand complex structural organization of professional discourse.

Когнитивная функция метафоры во французском политическом дискурсе

The article deals with the cognitive role of political metaphor in the French media discourse on the example of interviews and video statements of French politicians (the current President of France E. Macron and the leader of the “Unconquered France” party J.-L. Melanchon). The aim of the research is to manifest the significance of such a cognitive linguistic tool as a metaphor, within the framework of the representation of a particular political ideology in French media discourse. The relevance of the work is due to the growing interest to the analysis of the phenomenon of political metaphor in the French media discourse as a cognitive unit that contributes to revealing the essence of political phenomena and analyzing the specificity of the structure and functions of political discourse in general. The article shows that linguistic units with metaphorical meaning contribute to the analysis of the semantics of the French political media discourse, as well as to the realization of a persuasive strategy and the manipulation of public consciousness to achieve certain political goals. It is emphasized that it is the cognitive function of metaphor as a visual and expressive medium of language that seems to be the most significant.

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

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.

Metaphorical Strategies in Chinese Children’s English Class

Although there is a lot of research on the cognitive function of metaphor in various fields, there has been relatively little comprehensive research on its function in the process of children English learning, especially in children’s EFL classroom within Chinese context. Therefore, this paper by studying three teachers and their respective classrooms in China attempts to analyze what metaphorical strategies are applied by teachers and their children.

Metaphorical Analysis of the Governing Images in Beloved

Toni Morrison is a great African-American writer who is deeply concerned with the experience and mental process of black people, especially black women under double discriminations. Her extraordinary writing skills and deep insights win great reputation for her and she contributes outstanding works to the literary world such as The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved. This paper aims to analyze the metaphors of the novel Beloved from the perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) put forward by Lakoff &Johnson and Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) by Fauconnier & Turner with the focus on the cognitive function of metaphors, thus offering an exploration of its deep themes and dense implications. The article is composed of four parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to Toni Morrison and her novel Beloved. The second part introduces the theories of CMT and CBT. The third part decodes the governing images of the novel and analyzes the metaphorical interpretations. Closely interrelated with each other, these metaphors form a semantic network to reveal the “huge iceberg” behind it, thus providing a better understanding of the novel and a new perspective of the study of Toni Morrison.

Metaphorical Analysis of the Image of Water in Beloved

Toni Morrison is the first black woman winning Nobel Prize for literature. She always focuses on the living conditions and spiritual world of black people as well as the mental process and unyielding struggle under such conditions. Her fifth novel, Beloved has won wide recognition since its publication. With superb writing techniques and full emotion, she shapes the image of the black characters vividly. One of the salient characteristics is the application of metaphorical language. As the language tool and main thread of the novel, metaphors not only strengthen the artistic effects of the work, but also contribute significantly to the exploration of its deep themes and dense implications. Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) put forward by Lakoff & Johnson and Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT) by Fauconnier & Turner, the thesis aims to analyze the metaphors of the novel. Traditional research of metaphors focuses on the rhetoric function and artistic effect, while CMT and CBT do the job from the level of the cognitive function of metaphors, thus providing us with better semantic and contextual understanding. The article is composed of five parts. The first part gives a brief introduction to Toni Morrison and her works. The second part introduces the development and significance of CMT and CBT. In the third part, the author tries to analyze the metaphorical meanings of the governing image of water. Closely interwoven with each other, these metaphors reveal the evil of slavery and the self-redemption of black spirit as well as forming a huge network. Therefore, the fifth part summarizes the case studies of the previous parts and analyzes the systematicity of metaphors to unveil the “huge iceberg” behind it, thus demonstrating the writing intentions and keen insight of the writer in hope that the thesis will offer a new perspective to understand and appreciate the novel Beloved.

Metaphors in English for Law: Let Us Keep Them!

A large number of legal concepts is expressed through metaphors, exemplifing the Conceptual Metaphor Theory created by Lakoff & Johnson. Indeed, the law often resorts to metaphors in order to allow us to understand an abstract and/or unknown concept in terms of another that is concrete and/or familiar (the metaphor of the “living tree” to describe some aspects of the Canadian constitution is a case in point). The law itself is often compared to an object (“to break the law”, “a law breaker”) or to a person (“Our Lady the Common Law”, “the arm of the law”, “the eye of the law”). What is more, some metaphors have allegedly contributed to developing new legal concepts (for instance the metaphor of “the golden thread” was used to evoke the then new notion of the presumption of innocence in Canada).However, though it cannot be denied that metaphors are useful to shed light on legal concepts, the interpretation of the latter is necessarily biased because the compared concept is always circumscribed to the comparing concept which, besides, tends to present the interpretation as the only possible one. This way, some metaphors can be used as manipulative tools.Finally, the cognitive function of metaphors may be limited: on the one hand, some metaphors may remain obscure even to the native speaker (“blue sky law”, “thin skull doctrine”), on the other hand, others may be misleading either because they are ambiguous or because they suggest (impose?) one vision of the world that excludes all the others.

Metaphor and literary comprehension: Towards a discourse theory of metaphor in literature

This essay presents a discourse-theoretical approach to the understanding of metaphor in literary texts. Three important functions of metaphor are distinguished, the expressive, the transactional and the interactional, which are related to three general dimensions of all discourse. The question is raised in how far the (predominantly transactional) cognitive function of metaphor is influenced by its literary or non-literary discourse status, which is made more specific by discussing the possible effect on the understanding of metaphor of the adoption of a literary attitude of reading. This is defined in terms of the E and P conventions, and the bearing of analogical processing on these conventions is discussed with reference to allegory and metaphor. Analogical processing at the level of language comprehension which is guided by the E and P conventions is thought to be responsible for the specifically literary comprehension of metaphor. The consequences for the identification, comprehension, and appreciation of metaphor are investigated and a proposal is made for a two-way distinction between explicit and implicit variants of these processes. Finally, a number of empirically testable hypotheses are formulated for further experimental study.