Publications
Publication details [#9030]
Quinn, Naomi. 2008. Metaphoric gestures and cultural analysis (Comment on Cienki and Müller, eds. 2008) In Cienki, Alan and Cornelia Müller. Metaphor and Gesture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 253–257. 5 pp. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Abstract
For cultural anthropologists, language is an important, if not primary, window into that part of culture that has been internalized and hence exists largely or only in people's heads. Cognitive and other psychological anthropologists, in particular, rely heavily on the methods that linguists provide (see Quinn, 2005). So psychological anthropologists will be interested in the methodological potential of this new set of methods for studying metaphoric gesture. In my own work, specifically, I have used metaphors to identify components of one cultural schema, Americans' model of marriage. Because speakers select metaphors to emphasize or clarify or expand upon (whether for themselves or for their listeners) the spoken points they are making, a systematic analysis of these metaphors, across speakers, can expose the shared concepts that underlie metaphor use. This methodological stance is consonant with David McNeill's distinction in this volume, between what he calls "static" and "dynamic" metaphors - or what I have elsewhere (Quinn, 1999) characterized as "naturalized" versus "intentionally selected" ones. It is intentionally selected, dynamic metaphors that have provided me with insight into Americans' schema for marriage.
(Naomi Quinn)