Conceptual Metaphor free essay sample

Traditionally, metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another by saying that one is the other, as in â€Å"He is a tiger†. It is a property of words, and is used for some artistic and rhetorical purpose. However, this view has been challenged recently by cognitive linguists (Liu Wen, 2012: 249). Cognitive linguists and philosophers have shown that metaphors are not just a way of expressing ideas by means of language, but powerful cognitive tools for our conceptualization of the world (Wang, 2011: 162). Cognitive linguists believe: â€Å"Metaphorical ideation is a kind of creative thinking ability that came to birth with the development of the human beings’ cognitive ability, it is the high-level stage of human beings’ cognitive development and especially it is necessary ability for human beings to observe abstract things. † (Zhao, 2001:102) Fauconnier (1998) points out that â€Å"mappings between domains are at the heart of the unique human cognitive faculty of producing, transferring, and processing meaning. Many abstract concepts are rganized with specific or well-known images by using metaphors. Metaphor in cognitive linguistics is a two-way affair: it can go from linguistic metaphor to conceptual metaphor or from conceptual to linguistic metaphor. For instance, cognitive linguists have used the abundant and systematic presence of metaphors in language as a basis for postulating the existence of conceptual metaphors, which illustrates the move from language to thought. Here is a whole series of conceptual metaphors which capture our thinking about ideas below. These are conceptual metaphors to the extent that they are abstractions of the ideas lying behind the common usage of such expressions as the following: Hes rich in ideas. That book is a treasure trove of ideas. He has a wealth of ideas. (cf. Gibbs, 1997: 1) 2. Conceptual metaphor Probably the most famous literature on metaphor is Lakoff and Johnsons conceptual metaphor theory. The publication of Metaphor We Live By in 1980 marked the beginning of modern research on metaphor with a cognitive perspective. This book proposes the conceptual metaphor theory. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) claim that we trequently think about objects, properties, or relations in one domain by systematically mapping these onto objects and properties in another domain (the source domain). The correspondence relation between these domains constitutes a potentially large and organized metaphor, by means of one domain in terms of the other. Much has been explained about conceptual metaphor since George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980) first introduced the idea. Indeed, research has supplied bundant evidence that most of our metaphors are based on conceptual metaphors such as argument is war, happy is up, life is Journey, and many others. Yet there is good reason to investigate further the ways conceptual metaphors operate in our writing and talk. Currently, conceptual metaphors are described in two main ways. First, they are seen as preexistent structures available to be concretely instantiated. Second, they are seen as underpinnings, even fundamental underpinnings, of culture (Eubanks, 1999: 430). 3. Study of metaphors in literary works from the perspective of cognitive linguistics . 1 Study of metaphors in I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud from the perspective of Conceptual Metaphor Theory Wordsworth emphasized the metaphor nature is a teacher again and again in the poem I Wandered lonely as a Cloud. There are a lot of similarities between the Source Domain nature and the Target Domain teacher. Nature is the incarnation of order and civilization, which could save people from degradation, and obviously nature has the cultivating function of a teacher. Furthermore, teacher is as pure, charming and refreshing as nature. The poet compared nature to a teacher to direct and save people. With this conceptual metaphor we can understand the real meaning that the poet wanted to express. Actually, metaphors help the reader explore their inner feelings and emotions. Without metaphor poetry would be extremely shallow. Shallow poetry is perhaps one of the most purposeless forms of writing available. By using metaphor, poets can illuminate our experience; explore the consequences of our beliefs, challenge the ways we think, because metaphor is a primary tool for understanding our world and ourselves. (Rui Zhao, 2010: 14-17) 3. Study of metaphor in Emily Dickinsons oem applying on Cognitive Linguistics Theory In her poem I Could Not Stop for Death, Emily speaks of death as coachman, and she is using all extension of the same general and ordinary metaphorical conception of death as departure that we use when we speak of someone passing away. In the poem I Took One Draught of Life, Emily uses two conventional met aphors draught of life and a single dream of heaven to describe one short experience of love. In Twas Warm at First Like Us, we can effortlessly draw metaphors from this poem: death as frost, part of corpse as object. There is a large amount of fresh, novel and conventional metaphors in Emily Dickinsons poems, applying appropriate and suitable metaphorical theory can assist a lot to apprehend the essence of beauty in the metaphor, to reproduce the image of the poet in the audiences minds. (Xie Zhou, 2011: 201 ) 4. Study of metaphors in economic reports from the perspective of cognitive linguistics According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), the conceptual metaphor can be divided into three categories: orientation, structural, and ontological metaphor. These are the bases ot metaphorical analysis in cognitive linguistics. In economic reports structural metaphors are used to express the economic concepts vividly. There are at least six kinds of structural metaphor in economic reports: metaphor of war, metaphor of machine, metaphor of road, metaphor of sports, metaphors of building and metaphor of stage performance. Orientation metaphor in economic reports means using the concepts of orientation, such as up and down, inside and outside, etc. to describe some behaviors or activities in economic field. As regards ontological metaphor, people are used to regard abstract expressions as entity. Personifying ome concepts is a common way of using ontological metaphor. Economic reports are abundant with ontological metaphors: metaphor of vessels, metaphor of bubbles, metaphor of temperature, etc.