Publications
Publication details [#3245]
Camp, Elisabeth Maura. 2006. Metaphor in the mind: The cognition of metaphor. Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies 1 (2) : 154–170. 17 pp. URL
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
categorization theory of metaphor | cognitive models of metaphor comprehension | conceptual metaphor theory | critique of Lakoff | difference poetic metaphorliteral speech | feature-matching | juxtaposition theory of metaphor | philosophy | pragmatic theory of metaphor | psycholingu | speech act | structural alignment | theories of metaphor
Abstract
The most sustained and innovative recent work on metaphor has occurred in cognitive science and psychology. Psycholinguistic investigation suggests that novel, poetic metaphors are processed differently than literal speech, while relatively conventionalized and contextually salient metaphors are processed more like literal speech. This conflicts with the view of “cognitive linguists” like George Lakoff that all or nearly all thought is essentially metaphorical. There are currently four main cognitive models of metaphor comprehension: juxtaposition, category-transfer, feature-matching, and structural alignment. Structural alignment deals best with the widest range of examples; but it still fails to account for the complexity and richness of fairly novel, poetic metaphors.
(Elisabeth Camp)