Metaphor
Edited by Alper Yavuz (Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University)
About this topic
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? |
Key works | Davidson 1978 and his contemporary followers Lepore & Stone 2010 are against the notion of metaphorical meaning. Moran 1989 is an influential criticism of Davidson's arguments. Stern 2000 develops a semantic theory of metaphor inspired by Kaplan's account of demonstratives. Relevance-theoretic approach to metaphor in Sperber & Wilson 2008 is one of the most popular accounts. Searle 1993 argues that metaphorical meaning is a kind of speaker's utterance meaning. Interactionism emphasises the cognitive effects of metaphors. In their view seeing-as or framing effect is essential for metaphorical interpretation. Black 1955 and more recently Camp 2006 argues for interactionism. |
Introductions | Among the philosophy of language textbooks only Lycan 1999 dedicates a chapter to metaphor. Two philosophy of language companions have chapters on metaphor: Moran 1997 and Reimer & Camp 2006. There is also a SEP entry: Hills 2012. |
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Related categories
Siblings:
- Assertion (947 | 162)
- Context and Context-Dependence (1,005 | 290)
- Discourse (416 | 311)
- Implicature (323 | 32)
- Linguistic Communication (311)
- Linguistic Focus (59)
- Linguistic Force (77)
- Presupposition (339)
- Relevance Theory (217)
- Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction (462)
- Speech Acts (1,035 | 904)
- Pragmatics, Misc (421)
- Nonliteral Meaning (47)
- Slurs (130)
- Semantics-Pragmatics Distinction (462)
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