Chapter 8
Disentangling metaphoric communication
The origin, evolution and extinction of metaphors
This work addresses the different processes involved in the genesis and evolution of metaphors. Studying mainly cartoons published after dramatic events, I show how, when facing a communication need due to a situation of media stress, metaphors are generated to promote news dissemination and comprehension. I propose that an efficient metaphor quickly transforms into a meme that effectively colonizes the communication ecosystem, thanks to the Internet and social networks platforms. In addition, I explain how metaphors can collaborate and evolve together, in a process I name metaphor symbiogenesis. The way these metaphors approach particularly complex and delicate issues has great communicative potential and can become an independent process in metaphor evolution.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Metaphorgenesis: On the origin of metaphors
- Metaphors as memes and the eco-evolutive process
- Adaptation of metaphors and other evolutionary processes
- Evolving together: Metaphoric symbiogenesis
- Extinction of metaphors: Living fossils and dead metaphors
- Discussion and conclusion
-
Note
-
References
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