Meaning, Metaphor and Mind Flashcards
The traditional study of metaphor: Aristotle
“…a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity of dissimilars.” (Poetics 350BC)
Source Domain and target Domain
Metaphors borrow the words/ideas from one semantic domain and use them to describe another one.
SO
Source domain = the semantic domain from which the language is drawn
Target domain = the semantic domain to which it is applied.
eg. All the world’s a stage
Source domain = a dramatic performance
Target domain = life/the world
Metaphors and everyday life
Metahpors are a crucial way in which we understand daily life, they are not just isolated expressions or used solely for a literary effect, they shape the way we understand certain concepts and communicate with people.
Abstract concepts and Metaphors
It is very difficult to talk about highly abstract things without using any metaphors. These topics benefit from being viewed through metaphor as it means we can understand a concept through the ideas/language of something more concrete.
It is difficult to talk about things like: arguments love time ? life ?
Conceptual Metaphor Definition
A conceptual metaphor is a metaphor in which one conceptual idea/domain is understand in terms of another conceptual idea/domain.
eg. journey -> life
journey -> love
Structure of Metaphor
The structure of metaphor is systematic; one concept is structured in terms of another.
Conceptual Metaphor Formula (Kovecses)
“A is B or A as B, where A and B indicate different conceptual domains.”
Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus
The Historical Thesaurus shows all the categories that have shared common ideas and words which indicates that they have been linked by metaphor at some point in time.
eg. Intelligibility is light
Light = source domain (shed some light on) Intelligibility = target domain (make clear)
