Summary |
Metaphor is a figure of speech. Although some people use it as an umbrella term for all figures of speech, it is usually distinguished from the other categories, such as irony or metonymy. Metaphor is often considered a powerful and pervasive linguistic phenomenon. Not only daily language, but also literature, politics, science, religion, and philosophy are full of metaphorical utterances. It is clear to most theorists that metaphorical utterances convey metaphorical meanings in addition to their literal meanings. Two basic questions concerning metaphor are as follows: (i) How
do we interpret metaphors? (ii) Why do we talk metaphorically? The first question concerns, for instance, how one arrives from "Juliet is the sun" to its metaphorical meaning. The second question, on the other hand, pertains to the significance of metaphorical speaking, and it can be broken down to further subquestions such as the following: Why does the speaker express her thought in such a devious way? Is metaphorical speaking just a colourful way of expressing some thought that can be expressed non-metaphorically or does it have some significant cognitive features other than communicating thoughts? |