🆗Language and Cognition Unit 12 – Cognitive Linguistics: Conceptual Metaphor

Key Concepts and Definitions

• Conceptual metaphor theory proposes that metaphors structure our understanding and experience of abstract concepts through more concrete, embodied domains
• Metaphorical mapping involves systematically linking elements from a source domain to a target domain, enabling the target to be understood in terms of the source
• Source domains tend to be more concrete, familiar, and experientially grounded (journey, war, building), while target domains are typically more abstract (love, life, theories)
• Embodiment refers to the idea that our conceptual system is grounded in and shaped by our bodily experiences, perceptions, and interactions with the world
  • Includes sensorimotor experiences, spatial orientations, and manipulation of objects
• Entailments are the logical implications or inferences that follow from a conceptual metaphor, based on the structure mapped from the source to the target
• Invariance principle constrains metaphorical mappings, ensuring that the structure of the source domain is preserved in the target domain without creating contradictions
• Conventionality describes how deeply entrenched and automatically used certain conceptual metaphors are within a language community

Historical Background

• Conceptual metaphor theory emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, primarily through the work of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
• Lakoff and Johnson's 1980 book "Metaphors We Live By" laid the groundwork for the theory, arguing that metaphor is not just a linguistic device but a fundamental mechanism of thought
• The theory challenged traditional views of metaphor as a purely literary or rhetorical figure, instead positing it as a pervasive and essential aspect of everyday language and cognition
• Conceptual metaphor theory drew on earlier work in cognitive linguistics, such as Reddy's (1979) conduit metaphor and Fillmore's (1982) frame semantics
• The theory has roots in embodied cognition and experientialism, emphasizing the role of bodily experience and interaction with the environment in shaping conceptual structure
• Lakoff and Johnson's work sparked a proliferation of research on conceptual metaphor across various domains, including language, thought, and culture
• Subsequent developments in the theory have explored the neural basis of metaphor (Lakoff, 2008), the role of metaphor in political discourse (Lakoff, 1996), and the universality and variation of conceptual metaphors across languages and cultures (Kövecses, 2005)

Theoretical Framework

• Conceptual metaphor theory is situated within the broader field of cognitive linguistics, which views language as an integral part of general cognitive abilities and processes
• The theory rests on the premise that metaphor is not merely a linguistic phenomenon but a fundamental cognitive mechanism that structures our understanding and experience of the world
• Metaphorical mappings are seen as systematic correspondences between elements in a source domain and elements in a target domain, allowing for the transfer of inferential structure
• The directionality of metaphorical mappings typically goes from more concrete, embodied source domains to more abstract target domains
  • For example, the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY maps elements from the source domain of journeys (travelers, obstacles, destinations) onto the target domain of love (lovers, difficulties, goals)
• Conceptual metaphors are often unconscious and automatic, shaping the way we think and talk about abstract concepts without our explicit awareness
• The theory distinguishes between conceptual metaphors, which are cognitive mappings, and linguistic metaphors, which are the surface realizations of these mappings in language
• Conceptual blending theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002) extends the framework, proposing that metaphorical mappings can involve the integration of elements from multiple input spaces into a blended space with emergent structure

Types of Conceptual Metaphors

• Structural metaphors map the structure of a source domain onto a target domain, allowing the target to be understood and reasoned about in terms of the source (ARGUMENT IS WAR)
• Orientational metaphors organize concepts spatially, often based on bodily experience and physical orientation (HAPPY IS UP, SAD IS DOWN)
• Ontological metaphors conceptualize abstract entities as physical objects, substances, or containers, enabling us to refer to, quantify, and reason about them (MIND IS A CONTAINER, TIME IS MONEY)
• Primary metaphors are basic, embodied mappings that arise from correlations in everyday experience (AFFECTION IS WARMTH, IMPORTANT IS BIG)
  • These metaphors often serve as building blocks for more complex metaphorical mappings
• Novel metaphors are creative, unconventional mappings that are not deeply entrenched in a language community, often used in literature, poetry, or innovative thought (LIFE IS A GAME OF CHESS)
• Conventional metaphors are widely used, often unconscious mappings that structure everyday language and thought (LOVE IS A JOURNEY, THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS)
• Extended metaphors are elaborate mappings that sustain a metaphorical comparison across an extended discourse or text, often found in literature or rhetoric (Shakespeare's "All the world's a stage" monologue)

Cognitive Processes Involved

• Metaphorical mapping is the core cognitive process in conceptual metaphor theory, involving the systematic projection of elements from a source domain onto a target domain
• Embodied simulation is the activation of sensorimotor representations and experiences associated with the source domain when processing metaphorical language or thought
• Analogical reasoning plays a role in metaphorical thinking, as the structure and inferences from the source domain are used to understand and reason about the target domain
• Categorization processes are involved in metaphorical mappings, as the target domain is implicitly categorized as a member of the source domain (e.g., "Love is a journey" categorizes love as a type of journey)
• Conceptual blending involves the integration of elements from multiple input spaces (source and target domains) into a blended space with emergent structure and meaning
• Neural binding mechanisms are thought to underlie the cognitive processes of metaphorical mapping and blending, allowing for the co-activation and integration of distributed neural networks
• Metaphorical processing involves both automatic, unconscious processes (conventional metaphors) and controlled, conscious processes (novel metaphors and deliberate metaphorical reasoning)

Applications in Language Analysis

• Conceptual metaphor theory provides a framework for analyzing the metaphorical structure of language across various domains, including everyday discourse, literature, and political rhetoric
• Linguistic metaphors can be identified and traced back to their underlying conceptual metaphors, revealing the cognitive mappings that structure our understanding and experience of abstract concepts
• Metaphorical expressions in language can be analyzed to uncover the entailments and inferences that follow from the conceptual mappings (e.g., "We're at a crossroads in our relationship" entails decision-making, different paths, and potential obstacles)
• Corpus-based approaches can be used to investigate the frequency, distribution, and patterns of metaphorical language in large datasets, providing insights into the conventionality and variation of conceptual metaphors
• Discourse analysis can examine how metaphorical mappings are used strategically in communication to frame issues, persuade audiences, and construct social realities (e.g., political discourse, advertising)
• Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural studies can investigate the universality and diversity of conceptual metaphors, exploring how different languages and cultures conceptualize abstract domains through metaphorical mappings
• Applied linguistics research can use conceptual metaphor theory to inform language teaching and learning, helping learners understand and use metaphorical language effectively in their target language

Research Methods and Techniques

• Linguistic analysis involves identifying and examining metaphorical expressions in language data, such as texts, conversations, or corpora
  • This can include manual annotation, concordance analysis, and computational techniques for metaphor identification
• Experimental methods, such as priming studies and reaction time tasks, can be used to investigate the cognitive processing of metaphorical language and the activation of conceptual mappings
• Neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI and EEG, can provide insights into the neural basis of metaphorical processing and the involvement of sensorimotor and abstract conceptual regions in the brain
• Behavioral studies can examine how metaphorical framing influences reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving in various domains (e.g., political attitudes, consumer behavior)
• Corpus-based approaches use large collections of text data to investigate the frequency, distribution, and patterns of metaphorical language across different genres, registers, and languages
• Discourse analysis examines how metaphorical mappings are used strategically in communication to frame issues, persuade audiences, and construct social realities
• Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural studies compare conceptual metaphors across different languages and cultures to investigate universality and variation in metaphorical thought and language
• Computational modeling techniques, such as neural networks and semantic space models, can simulate the cognitive processes involved in metaphorical mapping and blending

Critiques and Limitations

• Some critics argue that conceptual metaphor theory overemphasizes the role of metaphor in thought and language, neglecting other important cognitive and linguistic processes
• The theory has been criticized for its reliance on intuition and introspection in identifying conceptual metaphors, rather than more objective, data-driven methods
• The universality of conceptual metaphors has been questioned, with some studies suggesting that metaphorical mappings can vary significantly across languages and cultures
• The directionality of metaphorical mappings (from concrete to abstract domains) has been challenged, with some examples of abstract-to-concrete mappings and bidirectional influences
• The theory has been criticized for its focus on conventional, entrenched metaphors, with less attention paid to novel, creative, and deliberate uses of metaphorical language
• Some researchers argue that the theory does not adequately account for the role of context, pragmatics, and individual differences in metaphorical processing and interpretation
• The neural basis of metaphorical processing is still not fully understood, with ongoing debates about the involvement of sensorimotor and abstract conceptual regions in the brain
• The theory has been criticized for its potential to reify conceptual metaphors as real, stable structures in the mind, rather than seeing them as dynamic, context-dependent, and emergent patterns of thought and language