Beyond Cognitive Metaphor Theory

In this innovative collection, an international group of scholars come together to discuss literary metaphors and cognitive metaphor theory. The volume presents recent approaches to metaphor, illustrates a range of successful applications of the new cognitive models to literary texts, and provides an assessment of cognitive metaphor theory from a literary point of view.

In this innovative collection, an international group of scholars come together to discuss literary metaphors and cognitive metaphor theory. The volume's goals are three-fold. The first aim of the book is to present some recent approaches to metaphor which have no immediate connection with cognitive metaphor theory and have developed independently of it. While the cognitive approach has become the leading paradigm in the English speaking world, elsewhere (in Europe) rhetorical, semantic, and logical models have remained in use and continue to be elaborated. These models have so far had little international exposure. Their inclusion in this study is meant to provide a balance to the cognitive paradigm and to open up a possible discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of cognitive metaphor theory for the analysis of literary texts. The second aim of the collection is to illustrate a range of successful applications of the new cognitive models to literary texts. And, the third aim of the study is to provide an assessment of cognitive metaphor theory from a literary point of view.

The contributions in this volume go beyond the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor complementing it in a number of relevant ways. Some of the papers argue for a more dynamic, interdisciplinary approach to metaphor looking into it from semiotic, psychological and socio-cultural perspectives. Other contributions focus on the crucial role played by metaphor and metonymy in meaning construction at a discourse/textual level. Finally, the volume also includes proposals which revolve around the alleged universal nature of metaphorical mappings and their suitability to account for grammatical phenomena. The contributions in this volume display an ample gamut of theoretical approaches pointing to the viability of taking a functional-cognitive stance on the analysis of metaphor and metonymy in contrast to a purely cognitive one. This book is structured into three major sections: i) the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: revisions and recent developments; ii) metaphor and/or metonymy across different discourse/genre types; and iii) the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: current applications. Originally published in Review of Cognitive Linguistics 9:1 (2011).

This collection advocates for a more holistic picture of metaphor, extending the field’s focus beyond the cognitive paradigm and conventional metaphorical concepts to illustrate the possibilities afforded by the study of living metaphors. The volume brings together a diverse range of researchers in the discipline towards critically examining the presuppositions of the cognitive approach. The book shines a light on living metaphors – creative interpretations of conflictual meaning specific to a text or communicative act with their own unique functions – to throw into relief long-held tenets in existing metaphor research. Chapters reflect on the notion that creative metaphors spring from independent sources, not merely from metaphorical concepts, and the subsequent implications for our understanding of the relationship between linguistic forms and conceptual structures and the role of creative metaphors in organizing thought and action. Taken together, the book offers a complementary vision of languages and figures which integrates disparate lines of study within the cognitive paradigm with alternative perspectives for a more comprehensive portrait of metaphors. This book will be of interest to students and scholars interested in the study of metaphor, including such disciplines as theoretical linguistics, cognitive linguistics, semantics, literary studies, and philosophy of language.

Offers an extended, improved version of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), updating it in the context of current linguistic theory.

The Routledge Handbook of Metaphor and Language provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research on metaphor and language. Featuring 35 chapters written by leading scholars from around the world, the volume takes a broad view of the field of metaphor and language, and brings together diverse and distinct theoretical and applied perspectives to cover six key areas: Theoretical approaches to metaphor and language, covering Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Relevance Theory, Blending Theory and Dynamical Systems Theory; Methodological approaches to metaphor and language, discussing ways of identifying metaphors in verbal texts, images and gestures, as well as the use of corpus linguistics; Formal variation in patterns of metaphor use across text types, historical periods and languages; Functional variation of metaphor, in contexts including educational, commercial, scientific and political discourse, as well as online trolling; The applications of metaphor for problem solving, in business, education, healthcare and conflict situations; Language, metaphor, and cognitive development, examining the processing and comprehension of metaphors. The Routledge Handbook of Language and Metaphor is a must-have survey of this key field, and is essential reading for those interested in language and metaphor.

Many metaphors go beyond pionting to the existing similarities between two objects -- they create the similarities. Such metaphors, which have been relegated to the back seat in most of the cognitive science research, are the focus of attention in this study, which addresses the creation of similarity within an elaborately laid out interactive framework of cognition. Starting from the constructivist views of Nelson Goodman and Jean Piaget, this framework resolves an apparent paradox in interactionism: how can reality not have a mind-independent ontology and structure, but still manage to constrain the possible worlds a cognitive agent can create in it? A comprehensive theory of metaphor is proposed in this framework that explains how metaphors can create similarities, and why such metaphors are an invaluable asset to cognition. The framework is then applied to related issues of analogical reasoning, induction, and computational modeling of creative metaphors.

This book explores ways in which common metaphors can play a detrimental role in everyday life; how they can grow in outsized importance to dominate their respective terrains and push out alternative perspectives; and how forms of resistance might act to contain their dominance. The volume begins by unpacking the dynamics of metaphors, their power and influence and the ways in which they are bolstered by other rhetorical devices. Adams draws on four case studies to illustrate their destructive impact when they eclipse other points of view—the metaphor of mental illness; the metaphor of free-flowing markets; the metaphor of the mind as a mirror and the metaphor of men as naturally superior. Taken together, these examples prompt further reflection on the beneficiaries of these "monster metaphors" and how they promote such metaphors to serve their own interests but also on ways forward for challenging their dominance, strategies for preventing their rise and ways of creating space for alternatives. This book will be of interest to scholars interested in the study of metaphor, across such fields as linguistics, rhetoric and media studies.