RHETORIC
ENGLISH 5730 U/G
Dr. Richard Nordquist

What's a
meta-phor?

  Definitions
               Examples
          
met·a·phor
Pronunciation: 'me-t&-"for also -f&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French metaphore, from Latin metaphora, from Greek, from metapherein to transfer, from meta- + pherein to bear -- more at BEAR
Date: 1533
1 : a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); broadly : figurative language -- compare SIMILE
2 : an object, activity, or idea treated as a metaphor : SYMBOL 2
- met·a·phor·ic  /"me-t&-'for-ik, -'fär-/ or met·a·phor·i·cal   /-i-k&l/ adjective
- met·a·phor·i·cal·ly  /-i-k(&-)lE/ adverb

(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)

metaphor
sites

ATT-Meta Project Databank:
Examples of Usage of Metaphors of Mind
(maintained by John Barden)

Center for the Cognitive
Science of Metaphor Online

The Metaphor & Metonymy Group (University of Leicester &
University of Nottingham)

metaphor.org.uk

Metaphor: from Plato
to the Postmodernists
Hypertext by Erica Jean Seidel

The Metaphor Home Page:
Dedicated to computational
models of metaphor and
analogy
(Tony Veale)

Visual
Metaphors








"There is no metaphor in this house."

Books about
Metaphors

Death Is the Mother of Beauty: Mind, Metaphor, Criticism,
by Mark Turner
(U of Chicago P, 1987)
"This is a truly interdisciplinary book, a book of importance both to literary scholars and to scientists of the mind - linguists, psychologists, anthropologists, and researchers in artificial intelligence. It shows that the study of the literary mind is an integral part of the study of the mind in general. And it shows clearly that everyday language and literary language are not separate domains, that discoveries about one bear on the other."
- George Lakoff, from the Foreword

Figurative Language and Thought,
by Cristina Cacciari, Raymond Gibbs, Albert Katz, and Mark Turner
(OUP, 1998)
"Our understanding of the nature and processing of figurative language is central to several important issues in cognitive science, including the relationship of language and thought, how we process language, and how we comprehend abstract meaning. In this new volume in the Counterpoints series, internationally recognized experts in the field of figurative language provide a coherent and focused debate on the subject. The book's authors discuss a variety of questions, including: Is metaphor primarily a function of thought, or is it merely a matter of language? Why do we prefer to speak metaphorically in everyday conversation, rather than literally? Is metaphor the only vehicle through which we can understand abstract concepts? What role do cultural and social factors play in our comprehension of figurative language? Figurative Language and Thought will be thought provoking reading for a wide range of cognitive psychologists, linguists, and philosophers."

Metaphor and Thought,
by Andrew Ortony, ed (1993)
"This volume partially duplicates the first edition while providing the reader with additional insights from cognitive psychology, linguistics and philosophy of language. Owners of the first edition will want to augment it with this volume. The original group was impressive : Max Black, Ortony, Schank, Reddy, et al. Their ranks have been swollen with apt companions to produce this well organized discussion of the many ways metaphor influences the lives and cultures of the people using it to express ideas."

The Metaphoric Process: Connections between Language and Life,
by Gemma Corradi Fiumara & Gemma Corradi Fiumara (1995)
"Fiumara contends that metaphors lead to the creation of ever new worlds of experience, to which one could not otherwise gain access. Metaphor, as the window to the accessbile and inaccessible, reveals our complex relationship to life, meaning, and ourselves. Inventing new ways of thinking about metaphor, Fiumara suggests, generates new ways in which human beings can examin their relationship to themselves and the language in which they inhabit."

Metaphors of Memory: A History of Ideas about the Mind,
by Douwe Draaisma (2000)
"An engagingly presented and intelligent examination of the metaphors, past and present, employed in the explanation of memory."

More Than Cool Reason:
A Field Guide to Metaphor,
by George Lakoff & Mark Turner
(U of Chicago P, 1989)
"The authors restore metaphor to our lives by showing us that it's never gone away. We've merely been taught to talk as if it had: as though weather maps were more 'real' than the breath of autumn; as though, for that matter, Reason was really 'cool.' What we're saying whenever we say is a theme this book illumines for anyone attentive."
- Hugh Kenner, Johns Hopkins University

Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising,
by Charles Forceville (1998)
"Forceville (English, Free U. of Amsterdam) presents a compelling argument toward a new theory of "pictorial metaphor" using, primarily, the work of Max Black and Roland Barthe as a springboard for his investigation into modern advertisement. The development of his theoretical model leads him into discussions of verbal metaphor, word and image relations, relevance theory, and case studies of advertisements, as well as an exploratory experiment of individuals' reactions to IBM billboards. Includes black and white photographs."

updated 06 October 2004

What's a meta-phor?
Books about metaphors
Metaphor sites
On metaphors
Our metaphors
Visual metaphors

On Metaphors

The following online articles
explore metaphors from diverse academic perspectives.

"Boundless Paradox: A Discussion of Heraclitus, Anaximander, and Gorgias,"
by Tim Rohrer (1994)
Abstract:
In this paper I approach several Presocratic thinkers from the perspective of recent work in the cognitive science of metaphor and cross-modal psychology. I move from a consideration of paradoxes to an exploration of boundaries and limits in my discussion of Anaximander.  . . .  Next, I ask what Heraclitus thinks the logos (logic, rationality) is, and I argue he thinks it is of a boundless character. . . .  hen, I move to the rhetorician Gorgias, who produces arguments against established doctrine for his own amusement. I explain why offering such heresies is paradoxical, and extract the conclusion that Gorgias is actually posing a question about how far rhetoric and argumentation can be pushed in pursuit of aletheia (truth). I conclude by arguing that solving paradoxes is a metaphorical representation of the process of inquiry into truth.



"The Cognitive Science of Metaphor from Philosophy to Neuopsychology,"
by Tim Rohrer (May 1995)
Abstract
In this paper I review some of the theoretical issues surrounding metaphor, and trace them through the context of the cognitive neuroscience debate. Metaphor, like all figurative language, has been usually explained as a secondary linguistic process which takes place as a function taking place on literal language. However this explanation does not fit well with some of the recent work on right hemisphere processing of language or recent cognitive studies, both of which suggest that the figurative and literal language are processed simultaneously and share much structure. In seeking ways to operationalize the Lakoff and Johnson view of metaphor as a constitutive cognitive phenomenon, I begin to spell out what kinds of theoretical predictions the Lakoff-Johnson model would make on the neurophysiological levels cognitive investigation. I conclude by offering some rudimentary thoughts on possible proposals for further investigation using these methods.



"Making Sense of Metaphors:
Visuality, Aurality, and the Reconfiguration of American Legal Discourse,"
by Dr. Bernard J. Hibbitts
Abstract:
Building on the work of Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, David Howes and other scholars of the senses, this article examines the reconfiguration of contemporary American legal discourse represented by the apparent shift from mostly visually-evocative metaphors for law and legal practice (judicial "review", "bright-line" distinctions, "penumbras" of authority, "observing" the law, "squaring" precedents, etc.) towards a greater number of aurally-evocative figures of speech (law as "dialogue", "conversation", "polyphony", etc.).


"Metaphor, Metonymy, and Binding,"
by Mark Turner & Gilles Fauconnier (1998)

Contemporary accounts of metaphor and analogy have focused on structure-mapping from a source (or base) onto a target. Such mappings can exploit existing common schematic structure between domains, or project new structure from the source onto the target. The work on conceptual blending has shown that in addition to such mappings, there are dynamic integration processes which build up new "blended" mental spaces. Such spaces develop emergent structure which is elaborated in the on-line construction of meaning and serves as an important locus of cognitive activity.




"Metaphor--a propositional
comment and an invitation
to intimacy,"
by Ana Marjanovic-Shane
This paper deals with the phenomenon
of metaphor in speech, its role in meaning construction and its role in creating and changing interpersonal and social relationships.



"Metaphorical Competence and Conceptual Fluency: A
Study of Anglophone Learners
of Italian,"
by Gerard A. Russo
Abstract
An emerging theme in the study of
second language acquisition (SLA)
in recent years has been the degree to
which learners of a second language
acquire the capacity to express
themselves in the target language
using culturally appropriate
figurative language (Danesi 1994).
While this ability to create
novel metaphors in the target language
might not appear to be essential to self-expression at first glance, it is
becoming increasingly more evident
that the more we understand about
language, thought, and cognition, the
more we find ourselves faced with
the weighty task of trying to
define, explain, and understand metaphor.



"Metaphors We Compute By,"
by John M. Lawler (1995)



"The Three Little Pigs in a
Postmodern World,"
by Dennis R. Rader & Jan Rader
Abstract
Postmodernism is a concept that is still emerging into the cultural dialogue and
slowly contributing to our changing notions about educational processes. Through an original interpretation and multimedia presentation of a classic children’s story,
The Three Little Pigs (Revisited), three
such developing
notions—learner-initiated learning,
the construction of narrative beds
(narrative learning), and the power of metaphors—are illustrated and
investigated. How instructional
technologies fit into the emerging
postmodern theory of curriculum is also addressed



"USING METAPHOR ANALYSIS TO EXPLORE ADULTS’ IMAGES OF MATHEMATICS,"
by LIM Chap Sam
Abstract
This paper discusses the possible use of metaphor analysis in exploring adults’ images of mathematics.  Based on reviews of past literature and the author’s own experience of using this kind of analysis in one of the image
study, the potential advantages and problems encountered during the study are discussed.

"Visual Metaphor, Cultural Knowledge, and the New Logic,"
by Robert N. St. Clair
Abstract
Modern Western European ways of thinking are based on a print culture that tends to use verbal metaphors, and indigenous ways of thinking are based on oral culture that tends to use visual metaphors. This paper focuses on the Quaternity, a common recurring theme of the sacred number four in oral cultures that can be seen in the Mayans' four pillars, the Navajos' four sacred mountains, and the Plains Indians' Medicine Wheel. Teachers need to be aware of the distinction between these two types of metaphors if they are to understand better how Indigenous people learn.