Gibbs 4:

1
Gibbs 4

• Metaphor in Language and Thought

2
Metaphorical language is not unusual

• Metaphor is not simply a form of speech -- it is
  a form of thought with its own epistemological
  (relating to origin and theory) functions
• Metaphors provide
• Foundation for everyday thinking and reasoning
• Foundation for our understanding of culture

3
Metaphor plays a role in

• Constituting ordinary concepts (eg. Emotion)
• Motivating semantic change (eg. see gt know root
  gt epistemic modals)
• Motivating meanings of linguistic expressions
• Influencing how people make sense of why
  words/expressions mean what they do

4
Metaphor frequencies

• People use an average of 1.80 novel metaphors and
  4.08 frozen metaphors per minute of discourse.
• This works out to about 4.7 M novel metaphors and
  21.4 M frozen metaphors in an average lifetime.
• (These figures probably arent very accurate or
  meaningful, but give a general idea)

5
Communicative Functions of Metaphor

• Metaphors provide a way of expressing ideas that
  would be extremely difficult to convey using
  literal language.
• Metaphors are compact.
• Metaphors help capture the vividness of our
  phenomenological experience
• These functions have been validated by empirical
  research.

6
Metaphor Improves Recall

• One reason why metaphors might be memorable is
  that these expressions furnish conceptually rich,
  image-evoking conceptualizations. (p. 133)
• Metaphor may aid learning

7
Social Functions of Metaphor

• Metaphorical talk often presupposes and
  reinforces intimacy between speaker and hearer.
• Metaphorical language informs others about
  attitudes and beliefs.
• Slang contributes to group identity and cohesion.

8
Metaphor and Politics

• POLITICS IS A SPORT
• POLITICS IS WAR
• Metaphor is consistently used to motivate foreign
  policy and political reasoning

9
Extra Homework Idea

• Analyze the metaphorical content of the political
  platforms of the candidates in the 2004 election.
• Analyze the metaphorical content of two sides of
  a highly politicized public debate.
• Cf. for the latter CLONING IS TWINNING vs.
  CLONING IS INCEST.

10
Systematicity of Metaphor

• There are conceptual metaphors that motivate
  numerous expressions
• LOVE IS A JOURNEY
• LOVE IS A NUTRIENT
• LOVE IS A NATURAL FORCE
• LOVE IS MAGIC
• LOVE IS A UNITY

11
Polysemy

• a state in which words have multiple meanings
  that are systematically related
• Polysemy is the norm -- most words are
  polysemous, motivated by extensions

12
Examples of Polysemy

• see gt know in various langs
• root modals (ability can, permission may,
  obligation must) get extended to domains of
  reasoning, argument, theorizing gt epistemic
• the latter is motivated by metaphorical
  interpretations of force and barrier

13
Some Psychological Evidence

• Gentner Gentner metaphoric reasoning in
  electricity as flowing liquid vs. electricity as
  moving crowd
• Use of metaphoric gestures indicating
  conceptualization of events and utterances as
  things in ones hands.

14
Two Metaphors for Time

• Fixed observer, moving events (Christmas is
  coming)
• Fixed events, moving observer (Were coming up on
  Christmas)
• Note that it is possible to mix the two together
  in a single utterance Were looking forward to
  the events that will follow

15
Metaphor in Science

• Pedagogical Metaphors -- help to convey an idea
• Theory Constitutive Metaphors -- are
  indispensible parts of a scientific theory
• Note THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS is a metaphor about
  theories.
• The computer metaphor is the most important
  theory constitutive metaphor in contemporary
  psychology. (p. 175)

16
Metaphor in a few more places

• Metaphor in Law influences decision-making
• Metaphor in Art cf. metaphoric images in cinema
• Metaphor Myth Odysseus journey, Jacobs
  ladder represent facts of the mind
• Metaphor in Culture conventional metaphors can
  be culture/language-specific

17
Metaphor in thought and action

• Because metaphors organize our experience
  through their entailments, they help create
  social realities for us and become guides to
  action. (p. 203)
• Our cultural model for marriage may be
  motivated by a cluster of contiguous conceptual
  metaphors it doesnt have to be entirely
  coherent (p. 204)

18
Concluding Thoughts

• metaphor is a fundamental mental capacity by
  which people understand themselves and the world
  through the conceptual mapping of knowledge from
  one domain onto another (p. 207)
• metaphor is an integral part of human life