Metaphor

Ledia Kazazi, University of Elbasan "Aleksandër Xhuvani", Albania
ledia.kazazi@uniel.edu.al

Semino considers metaphors to be important in communication and cognition because they express, reflect. and reinforce different ways of making sense of particular aspects of our lives. (They involve the conceptualisation of more abstract notions in terms of more concrete ones. More specifically, conceptual metaphors are defined as the understanding of one more abstract domain of experience in terms of a more concrete domain of experience. Thus, the metaphor is considered a process and a product simultaneously. Kovecses sees the process aspect as related to the cognitive process of understanding a domain and the conceptual pattern that results from such an understanding is recognised as the product aspect. Lakoff feels that this process allows for the image of a familiar topic to replace the image of an unfamiliar topic in the auditor’s mind.

Another distinction for Kovecses embodied in the metaphor is the one between the ‘source domain’ and ‘target domain’. The source domain is a concrete domain, whereas the target domain is an abstract one. In the case of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY conceptual metaphor, the domain of journey is concrete as opposed to the domain of life. In general, concrete physical domains typically serve as source domains for more abstract targets, as in the case of LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor. This reasoning suggests that conceptual metaphors reside not only in language but also in cognition. Metaphors are connected to public opinion because they shape how people conceptualise, evaluate, and respond to various topics and issues. They activate specific knowledge structures and analogies, guiding thought and action in line with the metaphor’s framing. As such, metaphors are powerful tools for shaping public discourse, policy preferences, and societal attitudes.

Keywords: analogy, conceptualisation, cognition

Related Entries: Cognition/Cognitive Linguistics

References:
Kovecses, Z. (2017). Conceptual metaphor theory. In E. S. Demjen, Routledge handbook of metaphor and language. Routledge.
Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago University Press.
Semino, E. (2008). Metaphors in discourse. Cambridge University Press.