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Metaphors

Metaphors are conceptual operations that allow abstract concepts to be understood in more concrete terms. There are four main components in a metaphor: the tenor, vehicle, connecting verb, and grounds. Structural metaphors use an entire abstract concept structured in terms of a concrete one, like using war terms to discuss arguments. Orientational metaphors associate abstract concepts with physical orientation, like more is up. Ontological metaphors help understand abstract concepts through physical objects or substances, like representing ideas as containers or entities. There are three main types of ontological metaphors: container, entity, and substance.

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25 views8 pages

Metaphors

Metaphors are conceptual operations that allow abstract concepts to be understood in more concrete terms. There are four main components in a metaphor: the tenor, vehicle, connecting verb, and grounds. Structural metaphors use an entire abstract concept structured in terms of a concrete one, like using war terms to discuss arguments. Orientational metaphors associate abstract concepts with physical orientation, like more is up. Ontological metaphors help understand abstract concepts through physical objects or substances, like representing ideas as containers or entities. There are three main types of ontological metaphors: container, entity, and substance.

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rafitafatma
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metaphors

• Definition:
METAPHORS are conceptual (mental) operations reflected in human
language that enable speakers to structure and construe abstract areas
of knowledge and experience in more concrete experiential terms.
• Example:
Baby, you’re a firework. John Mayer’s song “Your body is a wonderland”
• Components in metaphor:
1. Tenor, the concept of being actually discussed
2. Vehicle, the thing to which it is compared.
3. Connecting verb, “to be” is the common connecting verb.
4. Grounds, the relationship between the topic and the vehicle.
Example
Time is Money
Time: the tenor
Is: the connecting verb
Money: the vehicle
Ground: valuable
Structural metaphor
• Definition
STRUCTURAL METAPHORS are abstract metaphorical systems in which
an entire (typically abstract) complex mental concept is structured in
terms of some other (usually more concrete) concept.
• example:
The war metaphor:
1. Your claims are indefensible.
2. He attacked every weak point in my argument.
ORIENTATIONAL METAPHORS
• Definition
ORIENTATIONAL METAPHORS give concepts spatial orientation by
associating an abstract knowledge area with some aspect of
experiential knowledge grounded in how human beings understand
their orientation in physical space, i.e. up vs down, front vs back, etc.
• Example
1. MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN: Speak up, please. Keep your
voice down, please.
HEALTHY IS UP; SICK IS DOWN: Lazarus rose from the dead.
He fell ill.
2. These people have very high standards.
3. I tried to raise the level of the discussion.
Ontological metaphors
• Definition
ONTOLOGICAL METAPHORS help structure our understanding of
abstract concepts and experiences, such as events, activities, emotions,
ideas, etc., in terms of our experience with actual physical objects and
substances in the real world.
• 3 types of ontological metaphors:
1. Container metaphor
2. Entity metaphor
3. Substance metaphor
Container metaphor
• A containment metaphor is an ontological metaphor in which some
concept is represented as:
Having an inside and outside, and
Capable of holding something else.
• Examples:
1. I’ve had a full life.
2. Life is empty for him.
Entity metaphor
• Definition
An entity metaphor is an ontological metaphor in which an abstraction
is represented as a concrete physical object. personification is belong to
entity metaphor.
• Example
1. Her ego is very fragile.
2. You have to handle him with care since his wife’s death.
Substance metaphor
• Definition
A substance metaphor is an ontological metaphor in which an
abstraction, such as an event, activity, emotion, or idea, is represented
as material.
• Example
1. There was a lot of good sprinting in the race.
2. I couldn’t do much sprinting until the end.

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