The function of metaphor
Developing a corpus-based perspective
Anatol Stefanowitsch | University of Bremen
This paper presents a corpus-based approach to investigating the function of metaphor, specifically to the question whether the use of metaphorical language is motivated primarily by stylistic considerations or by cognitive principles. The paper focuses on concepts that can be expressed alternatively by a literal or a metaphorical linguistic expression with the same structural properties. Such expressions can be individual words (such asgraspandunderstand, which can both encode the concept UNDERSTAND), or fixed phrases (such asin the heart ofandin the center of, which can both encode the concept IN THE CENTER OF). It turns out that a comparison of the distinctive collocates of the literal and the metaphorical variant in each case provides clear evidence for the hypothesis that metaphorical language has a cognitive function.
Keywords: distinctive collocates, collostructional analysis, metaphor, function of, cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics
Published online: 14 June 2005
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.10.2.03ste
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.10.2.03ste
Cited by
Cited by 13 other publications
No author info given
2018.
In Le processus de textualisation [Champs linguistiques, ],
► pp. 237 ff. 
Arrese, Ángel & Alfonso Vara-Miguel
2016. A comparative study of metaphors in press reporting of the Euro crisis.
Discourse & Society 27:2 ► pp. 133 ff.
Domaradzki, Mikolaj
2018. Health metaphors and embodiment in Arab economic discourse.
Review of Cognitive Linguistics 16:2 ► pp. 317 ff.
GONG, SHU-PING, KATHLEEN AHRENS & CHU-REN HUANG
2008. Chinese Word Sketch and Mapping Principles: A Corpus-Based Study of Conceptual Metaphors Using the BUILDING Source Domain.
International Journal of Computer Processing of Languages 21:01 ► pp. 3 ff.
Gréa, Philippe
2017. Inside in French.
Cognitive Linguistics 28:1 ► pp. 77 ff.
Koller, Veronika
2009.
In Metaphor and Discourse,
► pp. 116 ff.
Lederer, Jenny
2016. Finding source domain triggers.
International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 21:4 ► pp. 527 ff.
Lederer, Jenny
2019. Lexico-grammatical alignment in metaphor construal.
Cognitive Linguistics 30:1 ► pp. 165 ff.
Oster, Ulrike
2010. Using corpus methodology for semantic and pragmatic analyses: What can corpora tell us about the linguistic expression of emotions?.
Cognitive Linguistics 21:4
Sanford, Daniel
2008. Discourse and metaphor: A corpus-driven inquiry.
Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 4:2
Shie, Jian-Shiung
2017. Variations in the use of metaphor at the macro-contextual level.
Pragmatics and Society 8:4 ► pp. 498 ff.
Stefanowitsch, Anatol & Juliana Goschler
2009.
In Politics, Gender and Conceptual Metaphors,
► pp. 166 ff.
Stickles, Elise, Oana David, Ellen K. Dodge & Jisup Hong
2016. Formalizing contemporary conceptual metaphor theory.
Constructions and Frames 8:2 ► pp. 166 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.