INTRODUCING METAPHOR

Introducing Metaphor is an accessible introduction to the different ways in which

metaphor permeates all areas of language, and other methods of communication,
covering both theoretical and practical approaches to the analysis of texts.
Combining a variety of approaches to this widely studied subject, the book provides a
thorough grounding in metaphor and word meaning, theories on the processing and
understanding of metaphorical language, and metaphor in other languages and
translation.
Knowles and Moon draw on a wide selection of authentic examples to explore
metaphor in relation to text, discourse, and society. Metaphors are examined in a range of
contexts such as politics, sport, and advertising, while literary metaphor is demonstrated
through fiction and poetry. A final section covering non-verbal metaphor looks at
metaphor in art, cinema, and music, further demonstrating metaphor theory in practice.
Featuring suggestions for further reading on topics in each chapter, and an appendix
for small-scale research investigations into metaphor, Introducing Metaphor will be
invaluable to undergraduate students of English Language, Linguistics, and Literature.
Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon are lecturers in English at the University of
Birmingham.

INTRODUCING METAPHOR
Murray Knowles and
Rosamund Moon

LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York,
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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2006 Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Moon, Rosamund. Introducing
metaphor/Rosamund Moon and Murray Knowles. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and
index. 1. Metaphor. I. Knowles, Murray, 1948. II. Title. PN228.M4M66 2005 808dc22
2005006717
ISBN 0-203-64236-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-68882-1 (OEB Format)
ISBN 0-415-27800-7 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-27801-5 (pbk)
CONTENTS



Acknowledgements

vi

1

INTRODUCING METAPHOR

1
2

METAPHOR, WORDS, AND MEANINGS

11
3

SYSTEMATIZING METAPHOR

23
4

METONYMY

37
5

UNDERSTANDING METAPHOR

48
6

METAPHOR ACROSS LANGUAGES

61
7

METAPHOR, IDEOLOGY, AND SOCIAL CONTEXT

73
8

LITERARY METAPHOR

93
9

NON-VERBAL METAPHOR

107
10

CODA

119

Appendix:

researching metaphor

123


Bibliography

127


Index

132
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are many people who helped us as we wrote this book, and we are indebted to them
all. We would like to thank in particular our families and friends for their constant
encouragement and support; our colleagues at the University of Birmingham for their
invaluable advice and interest; and our students, past and present, for their enthusiastic
discussions of points and texts. We must also thank the (anonymous) reviewers of our
manuscript: their suggestions and observations were greatly appreciated, and the shape of
the final book owes much to them. Finally, we must thank Louisa Semlyen at Routledge
and her colleagues Elizabeth Walker, Christabel Kirkpatrick, Kate Parker, Anne
Robertson, and J ulene Knox, who were all unfailingly patient, helpful, and positive at
every stage.
Corpus data used in this book is drawn from the Bank of English corpus created by
COBUILD at the University of Birmingham. Corpus citations are annotated as BoE.
The authors and publishers would like to thank the copyright holders for permission to
reproduce extracts from the following:
A section of Chapter 8 was previously published in Murray Knowles and Kirsten
Malmkjaer (1996) Language and Control in Childrens Literature, and is republished
here, substantially unchanged, by permission of the publisher, Routledge, and its authors.
Extract from J ohn Giles, Owen shouldnt be the scapegoat, from Daily Mail, 7
February 2003, Associated Newspapers Ltd. Reproduced by permission of Solo
Syndication.
Extracts from Rosie Gowan, Ireland correspondent, Peace process in turmoil after
police raid Stormont, from The Guardian, 5 October 2002, Guardian Newspapers Ltd.
Reproduced with permission.
Extract from Mark Townsend, Alien invasion: the plants wrecking rural Britain,
from The Guardian, 2 February 2003, Guardian Newspapers Ltd. Reproduced with
permission.
Excerpt from The Field Hospital from Poems: 19681998 by Paul Muldoon. 2001
by Paul Muldoon. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
Text from Ariel advertisement reproduced by permission of Procter & Gamble UK.
Excerpt from Reconciliation from Collected Poems by W.B.Yeats. 1950 by
W.B.Yeats. Reproduced by permission of A.P.Watt Ltd on behalf of Michael B.Yeats.
Every effort has been made to trace and contact copyright holders. The publishers
would be pleased to hear from any copyright holders not acknowledged here so that this
acknowledgements page may be amended at the earliest opportunity.
Murray Knowles
Rosamund Moon
February 2005
1
INTRODUCING METAPHOR
To begin, the opening of a speech from Hamlet:
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them
Knowing that this is a book about metaphor, you might, as you read through those lines,
have picked out examples of figurative language: the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune or a sea of troubles, and the idea of taking arms, taking up weapons, against
something intangible. Here now are the closing lines of Yeatss poem Byzantium:
Marbles of the dancing floor
Break bitter furies of complexity,
Those images that yet
Fresh images beget,
That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.
The whole poem is packed densely with symbols and elaborate ideas, and here you might
have picked out figurative language such as bitter furies of complexity or that dolphin-
torn, that gong-tormented sea, or the idea of images begetting other images. These
kinds of creative, poetic, expression and idea are typical of literature, and it is literature
with which metaphor is often associated.
But metaphor is not just a kind of artistic embellishment, at the rarefied end of
linguistic usage, divorced and isolated from everyday communication. It is instead a basic
phenomenon that occurs throughout the whole range of language activity. It is the
intention of this book to introduce the study of metaphor and other kinds of figurative
language, and to show how and why it is so important.
And, as you read that last paragraph, you might have noticed its metaphors: for
example, rarefied and divorced. A typical context for rarefied is in relation to air which
is less easy to breathe because of its distance above sea level (rarefied means less dense
or less solid); and the typical context for divorced is in relation to the ending of
marriages. We will come back later to the question of how we make sense of metaphors

like these: for the time being, it is worth noting that divorced might have different
connotations for different people, according to their moral, religious, or political
viewpoint. Isolated, too, could be classified as metaphorical, at least in terms of its
etymology: it ultimately derives from a Latin word insula meaning island. At a deeper,
perhaps subconscious, level, we can identify a metaphorical conceptualization in phrases
such as at theend of linguistic usage and occurs throughout the whole range of
language activity: here diversity is represented, in some way, as if it had physical
dimensions and existed in physical space. Finally, by referring to the intention of this
book, we attributed our own intentions as authors to an inanimate object. This too is
figurative.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This book deals first with background and theoretical issues. In this first chapter, we will
begin to define metaphor and to identify its different aspects, along with other kinds of
figurative language, including metonymy. Chapter 2 looks at metaphor in relation to the
meanings of words and phrases; Chapter 3 at systems of metaphor (some obvious, some
operating subconsciously) and at how we conceptualize experience through them; and
Chapter 4 looks at metonymy. Chapter 5 looks at models of how we understand
metaphor, while Chapter 6 looks at crosslinguistic aspects of figurative language. Later
chapters of this book take a different approach, and focus on figurative language in
context. Chapter 7 considers evaluative and ideological aspects of metaphor in a range of
social contexts; Chapter 8 considers literary metaphor; Chapter 9 considers non-verbal
metaphor; and Chapter 10 rounds off by presenting some final examples. We give
suggestions for what to read next at the end of each chapter, and suggestions for student
research into aspects of figurative language in an appendix.
THE MEANING OF METAPHOR
Before going any further, we need to establish a working definition of metaphor. When
we talk about metaphor, we mean the use of language to refer to something other than
what it was originally applied to, or what it literally means, in order to suggest some
resemblance or make a connection between the two things. We can illustrate this with
two examples taken from the Bank of English corpus (BoE), a 450-million-word corpus
of recent English texts (see Chapter 5 for discussion of corpus linguistics and metaphor).
In this case, they are metaphorical uses of single words or phrases, although metaphors
can be developed over much longer stretches of text:
The jewel in Northumbrias ecclesiastical crown is Lindisfarne Priory on
Holy Island, built as a monastery in 635 and reached by a tidal causeway.
We used to thrash all the teams in the Keith Schoolboy League. We
had a great squad and no-one could touch us.
Introducing metaphor 2
Clearly, a priory is not a jewel in the way that a diamond or sapphire is, nor does
Northumbria have any sort of ceremonial headgear in the way that a monarch
traditionally has: the literal meanings of jewel and crown. Clearly, one team is unlikely to
have hit the other teams with sticks or whips, and equally unlikely is the impossibility of
anyone making physical contact: the literal meanings of thrash and touch. We recognize
these words in these contexts as exaggerations and non-literal, and we interpret them
accordingly. Jewel represents something that is valuable, attractive, and desirable, and a
jewel ins crown refers to the most important or valuable achievement; thrash suggests
the totality of a victory, and touch suggests achievements and success which are much
greater than others seem capable of.
This explanation of metaphor is of course dependent on a definition of literalness.
Unless we identify and agree what the literal meaning of a word or expression is, we
cannot identify and agree what is metaphorical. We will come back to defining literalness
when we consider different kinds of figurative language later on in this chapter.
THE IMPORTANCE OF METAPHOR
Metaphor is pervasive in language, and there are two principal ways in which it is
important.
First, in relation to individual words: metaphor is a basic process in the formation of
words and word meanings. Concepts and meanings are lexicalized, or expressed in
words, through metaphor. Many senses of multi-sense words are metaphors of different
kinds, as in he meanings of field, hurt, and dark in the following BoE examples:
She has published extensively in the field of psychology.
The failure has hurt him deeply.
the end of a long tale, full of dark hints and unspeakable
innuendos.
Similarly, the names of many new concepts or devices are metaphorical or extended uses
of pre-existing words: for example, computer terms such as web, bug, and virus. Many
compound words encapsulate metaphors: browbeat, foothill, pigeonhole. Idioms and
proverbs are often metaphorical in origin: dont put all your eggs in one basket, miss the
boat, rattle someones cage, and, more obscurely, kick the bucket and a red herring.
These are mainly conventional metaphors (see below), and we will discuss them further
in Chapter 2.
Second, in relation to discourse: metaphor is important because of its functions
explaining, clarifying, describing, expressing, evaluating, entertaining. There are many
reasons why we use metaphors in speech or writing: not least, because there is sometimes
no other word to refer to a particular thing. But where we have a choice, we choose
metaphors in order to communicate what we think or how we feel about something; to
explain what a particular thing is like; to convey a meaning in a more interesting or
creative way; or to do all of these. We will look at examples later. Significantly, a lot of
Introducing metaphor 3

our understanding of things is mediated through metaphor. That is, we might well not
understand them except with the help of metaphorical models or analogies, and our
understanding is itself conditioned by the metaphor. For example, the cells in our bodies
react biologically in complex ways to infection: we can understand the process more
easily through a metaphor of war, thinking of it in terms of fighting and invasion, as in
Scientists believe stress may suppress development of T-cells, the white
blood cells which help to fight off invading micro-organisms.
(BoE)
Other metaphors might have been used, but this is the dominant, most familiar one, and
the way in which we now conceptualize the biological process is determined by it.
Similarly with the example throughout the whole range, from earlier in this chapter: we
represent diversity as physical space. It is typical that metaphors use concrete images to
convey something abstract, helping to communicate what is hard to explain.
CREATIVE AND CONVENTIONAL METAPHORS
We began this chapter with examples of literary language: with the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune and that dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea, Shakespeare and
Yeats create poetic effects by creating new images. We informally described this kind of
language as creative, but creative has a more technical meaning when applied to
metaphor. Creative metaphors are those which a writer/speaker constructs to express a
particular idea or feeling in a particular context, and which a reader/ hearer needs to
deconstruct or unpack in order to understand what is meant. They are typically new
(another term is novel metaphor), although they may be based on pre-existing ideas or
images, such as a traditional representation of fortune as a person, whether enemy or
friend. Creative metaphor is often associated with literature, but there are plenty of
instances of it in other genres. Here are two taken from, respectively, a tourist guide and
restaurant criticism, which we will return to later on:
The main street follows a higgledy-piggledy contour from the safe, sandy
cove beside which the east village sits, towards a busy harbour full of the
rippled reflections of brightly coloured fishing boats and cradled by the
crooked finger of the harbour wall.
(Greenwood et al. The Rough Guide to Ireland, 1999:227)
Got second Martini. No delicate shaving of lemon peel, just twisted to
release oils, but two strips of thick peel bearing pith. And it was warm.
Not the silver bullet whistling through the rigging, as it should be.
(Matthew Fort The Guardian (Weekend), 17 March 2001)
Creative metaphors contrast with conventional metaphors. These are metaphorical
usages which are found again and again to refer to a particular thing. Cases in point are
the metaphors of cells fighting off infection and of micro-organisms invading; and the
Introducing metaphor 4
metaphorical meanings of divorced to mean completely separated and field to refer to a
specialized subject or activity. These kinds of metaphor are institutionalized as part of the
language. Much of the time we hardly notice them at all, and do not think of them as
metaphorical when we use or encounter them: dictionaries are likely to record them as
separate senses.
The term dead metaphor is sometimes used to refer to conventional metaphors,
especially those which people do not recognize as metaphorical in ordinary usage. We
will not use this term, but it can be found in many discussions of metaphor.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: TERMS AND TYPES
So far, the metaphors mentioned have been of very different kinds, and it will already
have become clear that the term metaphor itself covers several different linguistic
phenomena. What they have in common is that they are non-literal, figurative uses of
language. While metaphor is the best-known form of figurative language, there are others
too. We now need to look at figurative language more widely, and to introduce simile and
metonymy: we also need to define some terms more precisely.
We have used the term non-literal: but what is literal? How do we know or identify
what the literal meanings of a word or utterance are? In the simplest cases, a words
literal meanings refer to a concrete entitysomething with physical existence in the
worldand its non-literal meanings refer to something abstract, or to abstract qualities.
Word Literal meaning Metaphorical meaning
fox an animal a cunning, wily person
jewel an ornamental precious stone something valuable
mountain a large piece of rock/ground a large amount of something
So the literal meaning here is the most basic and physical meaning: the meaning that is
most likely to occur to us if we are asked to explain what the word means, out of context.
The literal meaning is also typically the earliest historically: metaphor is a historical (or
diachronic) process.
Metaphors, therefore, are instances of non-literal language that involve some kind of
comparison or identification: if interpreted literally, they would be nonsensical,
impossible, or untrue. The comparison in a metaphor is implicit. If we say that someone
is a fox or that something is a jewel, we are comparing them to a fox or jewel, and mean
that they have some of the qualities that are traditionally associated with foxes or jewels.
A subtype of metaphor is personification, where something inanimate is treated as if
it has human qualities or is capable of human actions. In to take arms against a sea of
troubles, troubles are personified as a human enemyas is outrageous fortune;
similarly with the cells and micro-organisms in the white blood cells which help to fight
off invading micro-organisms. Two further examples are
Introducing metaphor 5

15 years later the company moved into the friendly glass and brick
building in Wellington Circus, with its almost circular auditorium
designed by Peter Moro.
(BoE)
The wind began to scream, and we could see the tops of the long-leafed
pine trees doing a mad dance against the black sky.
(BoE)
where it is, of course, not the building which is actually friendly, nor are the trees actually
dancing; while verbs such as scream, howl, whisper, shriek, which more literally describe
human or animal noises, are conventionally used metaphorically to describe the sound
made by the wind, machines, or other inanimates. Personification as a kind of
metaphorical transfer or anthropomorphism can be important, as we will see in Chapters
7 and 8.
Similes are very like metaphors, but there is one important difference: the comparison
is explicit. That is, similes are introduced or signalled by words such as like, as, compare,
resemble, and so on. To say that someone is a fox is to use a metaphor; to say that they
are like a fox is to use a simile. There may appear to be little difference between the
metaphor and the simile: just an arbitrary change of phraseology. However, there is an
important philosophical distinction. A metaphor is literally impossible or untrue, and on
the surface, metaphors are paradoxes or falsifications: after all, a person is a person and
not a fox, however they behave. In contrast, a simile is literally possible or true, even if it
is not especially appropriate or clear. We should add that some scholars regard the
metaphor/simile distinction as more important than others do. The following examples of
similes both emphasize speed and suddenness:
Not just anxiety, but sheer panic seized them. They took off like a bullet
from a gun.
(BoE)
There followed a chase in which we all ran like rabbits.
(BoE)
The first also suggests forcefulness and purposefulness; the second, perhaps, vulnerability
and desperation.
Simile is also the term for a type of fixed phrase that follows the pattern as clear as
crystal, as white as a sheet, as thin as a rake, as cheap as chips.
Metonymy is an important kind of non-literal language. Broadly, cases of metonymy
involve part-and-whole relations and associations. The word for a part of something is
used to refer to the whole, or else the whole is referred to in terms of something
associated with it. An example of the first type is hand, used to refer to a worker,
especially a manual worker (manual itself comes from a Latin word meaning hand): it
also occurs as the second element in compounds such as chargehand and farmhand. The
metonym draws on the body part of those workers that seems most relevant. Compare
similar metonyms in other contexts: football commentators sometimes refer to a
Introducing metaphor 6
substitute player as a fresh pair of legs; and the emigration of top-ranking scientists,
scholars, and thinkers is sometimes referred to as the brain drain. An example of the
second type is the stage, used to refer to the theatrical profession and its activities.
While metaphors are literally impossible or untrue, metonyms are partially true. There
is some observable, often physical, connection between the metonym and its meaning,
whereas metaphors rely on comparisons of sorts. For this reason, many linguists
distinguish carefully between metaphor and metonymy, seeing them as complementary
but quite separate. Some, however, see metaphor as a form of metonymy, or having
developed out of metonymy. Furthermore, individual phrases or stretches of figurative
language can be both metaphorical and metonymic. We will look at metonymy in more
detail in Chapter 4.
ANALYSING METAPHORS
To analyse and discuss metaphors in any depth, we need to identify and consider three
things: the metaphor (a word, phrase, or longer stretch of language); its meaning (what
it refers to metaphorically); and the similarity or connection between the two. In
traditional approaches to metaphor, including literary metaphor, these three elements
have been referred to as, respectively, vehicle, topic, and grounds. We can see how this
works with the cases of mountain and invade.
context Be prepared for a mountain of paperwork
metaphor/vehicle mountain
meaning/topic a large amount
connection/grounds ideas of size, being immovable and difficult to deal with
contextthe white blood cells which help to fight off invading microorganisms
metaphor/vehicle invading
meaning/topic developing in ways and places that cause ill health
connection/grounds idea of intrusion into places in harmful, dangerous, and unwanted ways
The topic of a metaphorical usage is its intended meaning, not its literal meaning (some
writers use the term tenor rather than topic). When we analyse the vehicles of metaphors,
it is the grounds, the relationship between the literal and metaphorical meanings, which
provide the key to how effective that vehicle is: this applies both in the case of
conventional metaphors (fox, invade, mountain) and highly creative ones (that dolphin-
torn, that gong-tormented sea). By examining the grounds, we can see how the metaphor
works: the special significance of the way in which meaning is being conveyed, and
which particular features of the literal meaning of the vehicle are being transferred to the
topic. For example, the conventional metaphor mountain exploits ideas of the size and
immovability of mountains, but there are other features which might have been drawn
onprototypical mountains are cold, perhaps snow-capped, rocky, jagged or pointed,
inhospitable, infertile. It is useful to consider which prototypical features are transferred
and which are ignored or suppressed.
Introducing metaphor 7

We can use this to analyse the metaphor in the description of the unpleasant Martini:
Got second Martini. No delicate shaving of lemon peel, just twisted to
release oils, but two strips of thick peel bearing pith. And it was warm.
Not the silver bullet whistling through the rigging, as it should be.
(Matthew Fort The Guardian (Weekend), 17 March 2001)
The vehicle is the silver bullet whistling through the rigging, and the topic is the taste of
an ideal Martini. For the grounds, we can see an analogy between the speed, forcefulness,
and sudden explosiveness of the bullet, though not its potential destructiveness; and the
coldness and dryness of the drink, along with the sudden sensation of its taste. We can
compare the way in which the adjective clean could be applied to both topic and vehicle
here: that is, it is used to describe flavours and smells on the one hand, and actions,
including the firing of bullets, on the other. The metaphor crosses over between senses:
an image based on sight and sound, and also touch, is applied to taste. This kind of
crossover is sometimes referred to as synesthesia.
SYMBOLS AND METAPHOR
This book is about figurative language. Metaphors and metonyms are a form of
symbolism, and it is possible to find non-verbal or non-linguistic metaphors and
metonyms in media other than language: dance, music, and particularly visual media such
as signage, art, and cinema and TV. For example, a slanting Z on a road sign
metaphorically represents a double bend, while a knife and fork metonymically represent
a caf or restaurant. Classic cinema makes use of stock, conventionalized, metaphors and
metonyms to represent events and feelings. For example, the metaphor of characters
going off into a sunset at the end of a film is used to represent the rest of their lives, while
storms or fogs are used not only as narrative devices but also metaphorically to represent
emotional turmoil or mystery; metonyms such as bells pealing or tolling are used to
represent weddings or death, and grazing animals to represent peaceful non-urban life.
See Chapter 9 for discussion of non-verbal metaphors.
Many of the metaphors that we will look at will be words or phrases: few will be
longer than a paragraph. However, it is possible to see whole texts as metaphorical: a
story that concerns one set of events and people is really a metaphor for another. This,
broadly, is what allegory is, with the metaphorical reading usually having moral
significance. Think, for example, of Aesops fables; stories such as The Lord of the
Kings, or childrens stories such as The Princess and the Pea or Hansel and Gretel;
political novels such as Animal Farm; religious texts such as the parables in the Bible;
and, non-linguistically, many paintings and other works of art.
Introducing metaphor 8
THE FUNCTIONS OF METAPHOR
We will return in later chapters to the reasons which underlie the use of metaphor:
metaphor has a purpose. As preliminary discussion, we can usefully begin with the non-
verbal examples just mentioned. Why does a road sign have a slanting Z and not just the
word double bend and why should film-makers end with characters riding off into the
sunset, or include storm and fog scenes rather than verbal expressions of emotion or
bewilderment? Perhaps because less is more: the visual impact of a stylized road sign is
faster in terms of communication than that of words, passed at speed; and what is left
unstated in a film is more resonant and leaves more to the imagination than what is said.
We know what kind of thing is meant, or is going to happen, and we can fill in the gaps
ourselves.
Something similar is true for linguistic metaphor, especially creative metaphor. By
using metaphors, much more can be conveyed, through implication and connotation, than
through straightforward, literal language. Take the case of the silver bullet whistling
through the rigging: how could the writer have communicated his idea, in a non-
metaphorical way, of what a perfect Martini should be like? Would this alternative
wording have been as powerful a description, or as succinct? Or that literary metaphor
dolphin-torn: what exactly is Yeats suggesting about the sea, and how else could this
have been expressed? Just as writers convey meanings more open-endedly when they use
metaphorical language, readers interpret less narrowly than they would literal language.
So meaning is communicated between writer and reader in a less precise way, even
though the metaphors may seem concrete and vivid. It is this imprecision, this fuzziness
of meaning, which makes metaphor such a powerful tool in the communication of
emotion, evaluation, and explanation too.
Conventional metaphors may not seem to communicate in the same way as creative
metaphors: their meanings are more fixed, and do not normally involve processes of
implication by the writer and inference by the reader. But the metaphorical content is
interesting nevertheless. The ideas, assumptions, and beliefs of a culture are present in its
conventional metaphors, even if this is not apparent on the surface. One way to examine
ideology is through metaphor, and we will begin to do this in Chapter 7. The next two
chapters prepare for this by focusing on conventional metaphor.
FURTHER READING
This book is only an introduction to key issues in the study of metaphor and other forms
of figurative language. A great deal has been written already on the subject, and further
papers and books appear each year, presenting new ideas and sometimes revising earlier
ideas. This means that it is important to take account of recent publications and new
editions of earlier publications.
The following two books give general overviews of metaphor: we will give references
for selected further reading on specific aspects of figurative language in later chapters.
Goatly, A. (1997) The Language of Metaphors , London: Routledge.
Introducing metaphor 9

Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Introducing metaphor 10
2
METAPHOR, WORDS, AND MEANINGS
In this chapter, we will look at metaphor in relation to the meanings of individual words
and phrases. We will mainly be concerned with conventional metaphor here, rather than
creative metaphor, and much of what we cover will be bound up with the histories of
words, and the development of meanings over time. Historical aspects of metaphor are
sometimes thought less interesting and relevant than textual aspects (such as the effects
of metaphor on us as readers, and the kinds of complex meaning which are being
conveyed). However, historical aspects help explain what metaphor is, how metaphors
develop, and how they produce the effects and meanings that they do.
METAPHOR AND ETYMOLOGY
The following compound words all embody some kind of metaphor:
a cooling-off period
freelance workers; to work freelance
to green-light a project
a last-ditch attempt
pigeonholes; to pigeonhole someone
seed money
In each case, the metaphorical meaning is more usual than any literal meaning in current
English. Although it is possible to have a literal cooling-off periodperhaps a period of
cooling down, after exercise or lying in the sunthe expression usually refers to a period
after the signing of an agreement, when it is still possible to cancel it. Seed money
could be money for buying seeds, but usually refers to money that is loaned to an
organization or group to enable them to start up a project. Last-ditch and pigeonhole can
both be related to metaphors and visual images, and freelance is a metaphorical transfer
from a mercenary knight, literally and originally someone with a lance who was free or
uncommitted.
Other words may not at first seem metaphorical; however, many have developed
through metaphorical uses of their root words in Latin, Greek, and other languages. In
Chapter 1, we mentioned that the word isolated derived from the Latin word insula,
meaning island, and some further cases are:
ecstasy from Greek ekstasis, standing outside oneself
involve from Latin in+volvere, in/into/inside+roll

kamikaze from J apanese kami+kaze, divinity+wind
poppycock from Dutch pappekak, soft dung
sarcastic from Greek sarkazein, speak bitterly, ultimately tear the flesh
sullied from French souiller, to soil
The etymological roots may conjure up visual images, and suggest reasons why the
words have their current English meanings.
Some information about the etymologies of words can be found in most large general
dictionaries of English: more detailed information can be found in dictionaries of
etymology or in historical dictionaries, of which by far the most important is the Oxford
English Dictionary (OED).
METAPHOR AND POLYSEMY
Polysemy is the technical term for words with two or more senses. Dictionaries show that
most common words in English have several senses, and many common words have a
large number of senses which have developed over time. There are several ways in which
senses develop from an original meaning, but very often they develop through figurative
processes of metaphor and metonymy.
To take the word branch: what does it mean, and what image comes o into our minds
when we think of the word? We are most likely to think of the branch of a tree. However,
we may visualize a branch that is attached to a tree, covered with green leaves or
blossom, or maybe bare; or a branch of a pine-tree; or a branch of a fruit tree, laden with
fruit; or a fallen branch, lying on the ground. Our friends and families may have the same
images, or very different ones; however, it is probable that the first meaning of branch
which occurs to us will be a woody part of a tree.
Most dictionaries give this tree sense of branch first, as sense 1, but they are likely to
list other senses of branch:
a subsidiary road, railway, or stream, leading off a larger one
a subsidiary office or place of business that is part of a larger
organization (a branch office; the local branch of a nationwide chain of
stores)
a division or sub-area of study or learning (branches of learning)
a sub-division of a family (another branch of the family settled in
Texas)
and so on. Some dictionaries combine some of these senses; others keep them separate
and add further technical senses to do with mathematics, computing, and physics. (Note
that very few modern monolingual dictionaries label senses as metaphorical, even where
the metaphoricity is clear.) There is also a verb to branch, which is commonly used to
mean to go in a different direction, both literally and metaphorically, as in the path
branches off here and they decided to branch out on their own.
Introducing metaphor 12
The senses are now established and recur: it is not difficult to understand how they
have developed, and what kinds of analogy have been drawn. If we look at them from a
historical point of view, the OED records that the tree sense of branch first appeared in
English in the last part of the thirteenth century, and records several of these other senses
as first appearing in the following two centuries. These metaphorical uses are old as well
as common.
CORE MEANING, METAPHOR, AND FREQUENCY
Many polysemous words are like branch. They have a basic meaning which refers to
something concrete or physical, from which have developed further senses which are
often metaphorical. This basic meaning is sometimes referred to as the core meaning.
Consider, for example, the following nouns, where there are fairly clear connections
between core and metaphorical senses (contexts are taken from BoE):
cream:porridge was served with cream and brown sugar;the cream
of pop: Bono, Robbie Williams, the Manic Street Preachers
fossil:hes found the fossils of two very small, very early birds; The old
fossils were moaning they had yet to receive their lap-top computers.
stream:a country house in woodland with its own trout stream;a
small but steady stream of visitors.
A similar phenomenon is found in verbs where the core meaning refers to a physical
activity or process, and adjectives where the core meaning refers to a physical quality.
For example, the core meaning of to feed is to eat or to give food to
someone/something: metaphorical senses can be seen in contexts such as feeding your
imagination or feeding lines to an actor. The core meaning of hollow is not solid,
empty: metaphorical senses can be seen in contexts such as their words rang hollow, it
raised a hollow laugh, and a hollow victory. Similarly with the following (contexts from
BoE):
float: A flotilla of tall ships floating along the Hudson river;press
releases float from office to office with compelling ideas but no practical
plan for making them happen.
nail down: Lay the roofing felt flat on the roof and nail it down using
galvanised clout nails;they have more work to do to nail down the
connection between global warming, shifting cloud layers and ecological
disruption.
juicy:ripe, juicy peaches;all the latest news and juicy gossip from
around the world.
magnetic:the curved force lines of the magnetic field; Foreign
investmentis further proof of the citys magnetic attraction.
In many cases, the core meaning of a word is its oldest and most frequent sense.
However, there are other cases where the oldest, literal sense is actually less frequent than
Metaphor, words, and meanings 13

a metaphorical one. In fact, sometimes the original concrete sense is now so rare or
restricted in use that the sense which we think of first, or think of as the core meaning, is
the metaphorical one. The original sense of culture related to the cultivation of plants and
crops, but now the dominant sense relates to arts, learning, and other signifiers of
civilizations, while the earlier sense is mainly restricted to scientific and horticultural
contexts. Sometimes the original, literal sense has died out altogether: muddle originally
meant wallow in mud or make muddy, and solve originally meant loosen or
unbind. The case of impress is more complex. Its dominant sense now is cause
someone to have a favourable opinion, as in it impressed me and I was very impressed
by; its original, literal sense was apply pressure to, so as to leave a mark, and
although now virtually obsolete, it can be traced in a current metaphorical sense make
someone realize the importance of something, as in they impressed upon me that. The
related noun impression retains the original literal sense, indentation, mark, but the
metaphorical sense reaction, opinion, idea is considerably more frequent.
METAPHOR AND GRAMMATICAL WORDS
The words which we have been considering are lexical words; however, many
grammatical words also have metaphorical uses, although it is less easy to discuss these
in terms of core meaning and polysemy. Perhaps the most obviously metaphorical are
prepositions and adverbs, where their first senses often seem to refer to physical position,
direction, or extentas far as it is possible to reconstruct the historical development of
languages from the surviving text evidence. For example, the physical sense of in (put it
in a box-, let them come in) seems to be historically prior to the temporal sense (in twenty
minutes-, in November) and uses such as in a difficult situation, fall in love, and take part
in a competition. It should be emphasized that all these uses are old, and date back to the
earliest forms of English.
It is also possible to identify metaphors in the adverbial and prepositional particles of
phrasal verbs (although they are often unanalysable). For example, phrasal verbs such as
melt away, wither away, fade out,fizzle out, and tail off convey an idea of something
disappearing or ending. The literal meanings of the particles relate to physical movement
in a direction farther away from the speaker or an imagined base point, so that the
metaphor here equates being at a distance or out of sight with coming to an end.
Chapter 3 looks further at metaphors of space and time, and Chapter 7 looks at the
concept of grammatical metaphor.
METAPHOR, NEOLOGISMS, AND BORROWINGS
We have seen that many senses of words are metaphorical. In a similar way, new
concepts or inventions may be named through the metaphorical usage of pre-existing
words. A widely-discussed case, mentioned in Chapter 1, is that of computer
terminology. In addition to web, bug, and virus, examples include cookie, crash, firewall,
icon, sprite, visit (a website), worm, and many others: phishing is metaphorical, although
the spelling has been changed. Another source of metaphorical neologisms is warfare.
Introducing metaphor 14
For example, the conflict in 2003 in Iraq contributed rubber numbers (imprecise or
widely-varying figures of casualties, etc.) and bug splat (targeted bombing). Mouseholing
has been used to refer to situations where troops are reluctant to enter buildings through
doors or windows, in case of trip wires and booby traps, and so instead blow holes in the
walls: any occupants are typically killed or maimed. Metaphor here is euphemistic: a
sinister way of avoiding direct statement.
A related process is borrowing, where English adopts words and phrases from other
languages. We have already discussed words such as ecstasy, involve, and poppycock,
where, just as with freelance and muddle, the etymological roots show that a
metaphorical process has happened; however, their metaphorical nature may not be
obvious unless we examine their etymologies. Where English has borrowed metaphorical
items from other languages, it has frequently borrowed only the metaphorical meanings,
and not any literal meanings which may have existed in the source language. This can be
shown most clearly with metaphorical borrowings which are marked out by their forms
and often pronunciation as non-English. For example, sangfroid means composure, self-
possession, and it comes from French, literally cold blood: compare the English
expressions in cold blood and cold-blooded which refer to ruthlessness rather than
composure. In flagrante delicto comes from Latin, literally in blazing crime, or in the
heat of the crime: the English expressions catch someone red-handed or a smoking gun
use different images but a related underlying metaphor. Metaphors in other languages
will be discussed further in Chapter 6.
METAPHOR AND IDIOMS
Idioms are conventionalized phrases such as spill the beans or jump the gun, where the
meaning of the whole phrase is different from the meaning which might be produced by
interpreting the individual words in the phrase. These examples are metaphorical, and we
will restrict our use of the term idiom to figurative phrases of this kind (idiom is
sometimes used more generally to refer to any fixed phrase). Some idioms are more or
less transparent, and we can see why they mean what they do; others are completely
opaque, and their origins are obscure.
The following are typical of English idioms:
bury the hatchet
cost an arm and a leg
kick the bucket
make a mountain out of a molehill
on the cards
out of the blue
put the cart before the horse
rain cats and dogs
a red herring
twist someone round your little finger
Metaphor, words, and meanings 15

In normal contexts, we are likely to interpret their idiomatic meanings without thinking
about the metaphors that they contain. If we read or hear:
The monthly payments cost an arm and a leg.
(BoE)
we interpret it as an emphatic way of saying that the monthly payments are high.
However, when we consider idioms from a metaphorical point of view, it is often
possible to make sense of their idiomatic meanings, to appreciate how these meanings
developed, and even to have mental images based on their metaphors.
This is easier in some cases than others. The metaphors in cost an arm and a leg and
twist someone round your little finger are relatively transparent; in contrast, kick the
bucket and rain cats and dogs are almost impossible to interpret. What has kicking
buckets to do with death, and how can it rain cats and dogs, or how can heavy rain even
resemble animals falling from the sky? (There are various theories about the origins of
these peculiar expressions, but none has been proved satisfactorily.) It may still be
possible to visualize even opaque idioms: for example, with rain cats and dogs we may
have an image of cats and dogs falling like rain, perhaps reinforced by images seen in
cartoons, advertisements, and so on, or the shower of frogs in the climactic sequences
towards the end of the 1999 film Magnolia.
The wording of idioms is often fixed or frozen: for example, we do not find such
variations as rain dogs and cats, rain budgies and canaries, out of the green, or a yellow
haddock. (If we did, we would either try to interpret them literally, or assume that they
were humorous, and re-interpret them in terms of the conventional idiom forms.) In other
cases, there can be quite a lot of variation, and the idiom wording is unstable, although
the metaphor and image remains the same. Corpus and text evidence shows up clusters of
wordings such as the following:
the final/last nail in the coffin
to put another/a further nail in the coffin
hammer/drive/bang the last/first nail into someones coffin (etc.)
nail down the coffin (lid)
one of the biggest nails in the coffin
wash your dirty linen in public
air your dirty laundry
do your dirty washing in public
launder your dirty washing
wash/air your linen/laundry in public
drag/hang out ones dirty laundry (etc.)
launder/air ones soiled/bloody linen (etc.)
As with other metaphors, if we interpret idioms literally, the meanings that we arrive at
would be false, inappropriate, or impossible in the context. In fact, some could never be
possible (jump down someones throat, move heaven and earth), but use exaggeration or
hyperbole to create their effect. There are a few idioms, however, which are always
true. To say that something is not ones cup of tea or that something is not a bed of
Introducing metaphor 16
roses is to be perfectly accurate. Nevertheless, the meanings of these idioms are still
derived from the metaphors that they contain: what it might mean if something was
indeed ones cup of tea or a bed of roses.
METAPHOR AND MEANING COMPONENTS
When we discussed topic, vehicle, and grounds in Chapter 1, we commented that only
some prototypical features of the literal meanings are transferred in the metaphorical
process, while others are suppressed: the example which we gave was mountain. These
features are sometimes referred to as meaning components. If we consider the word
branch, the transferred components relate to an idea of subsidiarity and connectionthe
idea that one thing is a subsidiary part of another, connected in some ways but also
recognizably distinct. Components which are not transferred include botanical and real-
world aspects of branches, such as the fact that they themselves subdivide into twigs, or
have leaves, blossom, and fruit, or that birds sit on branches, and so on. If we consider the
verb to pigeonhole, as in the following BoE examples:
Maria was an artist, [] but the work she did had nothing to do with
creating objects commonly defined as art. Some people called her a
photographer, others referred to her as a conceptualist, still others
considered her a writer, but none of these descriptions was accurate, and
in the end I dont think she can be pigeonholed in any way.
if you ever tried to pigeonhole their sound, youd come up with
something like reggae/hardcore/funk/indie/reggae/metal/danceand then
youd stop.
meaning components have been transferred from the original noun use, with reference to
a structure with a series of compartments for pigeons to rest or nest in. The ideas of
limited physical space and imposed, ordered, placement are transferred to the
metaphorical verb, and recast in terms of limited scope or flexibility and imposed
categorization. However, any neutral or positive aspects of the original use, such as the
practicality of housing pigeons in this way, are lost; instead, the metaphorical use takes
on a negative quality, where categories are seen as restricting and even misleading.
Similarly with other words mentioned, such as cream, fossil, float, hollow, juicy,
magnetic, or the idiom make a mountain out of a molehill: some components are
transferred from literal to metaphorical meanings, and some are suppressed, while new
components may be added. These new components may include evaluations, either
positive or negative. For example, hollow in its core sense is simply descriptive of a
physical structure, and is neutral in evaluative orientation; however, its metaphorical uses
exploit the idea of emptiness and a lack of solidity or density as purely negative qualities:
But the glossy choreography could not conceal a certain hollow centre to
the performance.
(BoE)
Metaphor, words, and meanings 17

Life will become increasingly hollow and pointless if you carry on like
this.
(BoE)
He tried to sound confident, but he knew his assurances were hollow.
(BoE)
We would use different wordsand conceptsaltogether if we wanted to express a
positive idea of hollowness: perhaps resonant or open, or even receptive in some
contexts. Similarly, the metaphorical sense of cream is entirely positive, and suppresses
or hides any idea that the food cream is fatty, sickly, or unhealthy. Finally, evaluative
orientations and the significance of transferred meaning components may well vary
according to viewpoint: in the case of those metaphorical neologisms from warfare, bug
splat and mouseholing, the troops, the targets, and we as readers are likely to have very
different opinions.
METAPHOR AND FUZZY MEANINGS
We may have given the impression that metaphors have fixed or specific meanings,
which can be contrasted with literal meanings, or neatly broken down into components.
However, we suggested at the end of Chapter 1 that one of the things which makes
metaphor so powerful as a communicative device is its imprecision or fuzziness. Whether
we are using metaphor as writers/speakers, or whether we are interpreting it as
readers/hearers, we manipulate metaphorical meanings with more latitude than we would
literal meanings. This applies to conventional metaphors as well as creative ones:
consider how much less precise hollow and cream are when metaphorical than when
literal. This is, perhaps, because only some of the literal meanings components are
transferred in the metaphorical process, and these components often correspond to
prototypical or idealized features of the literal. Imprecision seems to be the natural result.
Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson (1986) use the term loose talk to describe
imprecision in language, and they argue that metaphor is simply one form of this.
Although loose talk is itself a metaphorical and ambiguous phrase, it refers here not to
indiscreet or woolly language, but to language which is flexible and versatile. Meanings
are not fixed, but open to reinterpretation, depending on the context, and looseness
becomes an important factor in relation to successful communication between speaker
/writer and reader/hearer.
We can perhaps illustrate this most clearly with creative uses of figurative language.
Compare, for example, our discussion of the silver bullet metaphor in Chapter 1, or the
following, taken from spoken interaction:
The only thing was they give you a pittance. You know they didnt even
give you enough for one day never mind anything else. So really its sort
of like erm you know its like putting an arm to help you but just as you
fell [sic] to grab it they draw it back.
(BoE)
Introducing metaphor 18
The (male) speaker uses a simile to try to explain his viewpoint, and other items such as
you know and sort of demonstrate his hesitancy and uncertainty as he does so. This is not
actually a precise description, although the comparison might make it seem precise.
Looseness of language here is facilitating communication.
METAPHOR, EXPLOITATION, AND RELITERALIZATION
So far, we have been thinking explicitly about the metaphoricity of conventional
metaphors: an unnatural exercise. However, there are times when even in ordinary usage
we become aware of their metaphoricity, for example when someone makes a pun or tells
a joke which exploits the literal/metaphorical ambiguity. For instance, an old joke about
social class in Britain runs:
Why is the aristocracy known as the cream of society?
Because its rich and thick and full of clots.
The entertainment value of Colemanballs (in the magazine Private Eye) lies in the way in
which a speaker inadvertently mixes or confuses metaphors, or creates a clash between
literal and metaphorical meanings:
With regard to the broken finger, when batting Ill just have to play it by
ear.
Rooneys got the world at his feet, if he can keep his feet on the
ground.
Hes not the sharpest sandwich in the picnic.
Messner was a great mountaineer, but now hes 59. Surely hes past his
peak?
That sniper storysome bullet points
The people of Northern Ireland should step back and ask themselves
have they moved on
(Fantoni (ed.) Colemanballs 12, 2004)
Conversely, we may realize that the word or phrase we are using will be interpreted
metaphorically, rather than literally. The words literal/ literally are sometimes used to
indicate that we are not being metaphorical:
In space, you can find methanol in literally astronomical quantities.
(BoE)
The country is now witnessing unprecedented trials of the military, and
literally truckloads of secret documents are being released.
(BoE)
Literally, however, is more often used simply to add emphasis to an exaggerated or
hyperbolic statement, while acknowledging its metaphoricity:
Metaphor, words, and meanings 19

Everywhere public space is disappearing. Everywhere the city streets are

becoming meaner and the city just literally bristles with malice.
(BoE)
One way or another our future is moving towards Europe. Technological
change, plus increased communication and travel have literally shrunk
the world.
(BoE)
There are other formulae too which we use in similar ways: proverbial (which rarely co-
occurs with proverbs), so to speak, figurative/figuratively, and, in speech, if you like.
These also emphasize meaning, mark hesitation about a choice of wording, or indicate
that we have said something ambiguous or made a pun.
I have seen some cynical tactics in my time, but this takes the proverbial
biscuit.
(BoE)
Unheard for 400 years, the Cornish bagpipes are now making a comeback,
getting a second wind so to speak.
(BoE)
Books have nourished me literally as well as figurativelyI have made
my living by editing other peoples books since I graduated from college
in 1965.
(BoE)
Because at the end of the day the most logical structure is the clinical
directorate structure because that firmly puts the clinicianin the driving
seat if you like.
(BoE)
Finally, conventional metaphorical expressions can be reliteralized in context, so that
literal meaning is either reclaimed, or co-exists with the metaphorical one. For example,
the following lines are taken from a poem The Field Hospital by the Irish poet Paul
Muldoon:
We answer to no grey South
Nor blue North, not self defence,
The lie of just wars, neither
Cold nor hot bloods difference
In their discharging of guns
(Muldoon 1996:14)
Introducing metaphor 20
In cold blood, cold-blooded, and hot-blooded are conventional metaphors. However, the
collocation Cold nor hot bloods and its contrasting of cold and hot makes us react to the
underlying connection between literal and metaphorical meanings as if these are creative
metaphors.
SUMMARY
In this chapter, we have looked at the ways in which metaphorical meaning is
conventionalized in words and idioms. This can arise through simple processes of the
development of multiple meanings and of the freezing of metaphorical expressions, so
that they recur with non-literal meanings and in fixed or semi-fixed formulations. More
remotely in time, and often less obviously, metaphors can be traced back to the
etymological roots of words. We do not analyse conventional metaphors in ordinary
usage, and we are normally unconscious of their figurativeness; there are, however, times
when writers/speakers become aware that they are using metaphorical items, and so
indicate this in some way.
The very process of examining conventional metaphors often alerts us to hidden
meanings, such as evaluative orientation or ideological position. In later chapters, we will
consider how all this relates to creative metaphors too, and we will look further at the
understanding and interpretation of metaphors (Chapter 5), and the implications of
metaphor use in text (Chapters 7 and 8). First, in Chapter 3, we will look at how
metaphors work systematically.
FURTHER READING
Aitchison, J . (2002) Words in the Mind: an Introduction to the Mental Lexicon , 3rd edn, Oxford:
Blackwell. (Takes a psycholinguistic approach to word meaning: see, for example, Chapter 4,
and Chapter 13, which deals with metaphor.)
Carter, R. (2004) Language and Creativity: the Art of Common Talk , London: Routledge. (Chapter
4 deals with figures of speech.)
Chantrell, G. (ed.) (2002) The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories , Oxford: Oxford University
Press. (Very readable account of the historical origins and developments of 12,000 English
words, listed in alphabetical order.)
Pyles, T. and Algeo, J. (1993) The Origins and Development of the English Language , 4th edn,
Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace J ovanovich. (Chapters 10 and 12 deal with historical
changes in word meaning and vocabulary.)
Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. (1986) Loose talk, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 86 (1985
6), 153171. (For discussion of fuzzy meaning, and the continuum between literal and
metaphorical.)
Metaphor, words, and meanings 21

3
SYSTEMATIZING METAPHOR
In Chapter 1, we considered the example
Scientists believe stress may suppress development of T-cells, the white
blood cells which help to fight off invading micro-organisms.
and we commented on how our understanding of a biological process is made possible
through a metaphor of warfare: the micro-organisms are conceptualized as adversaries
and a bodys response to them is conceptualized as a fight. In fact, this metaphorical
conceptualization extends beyond this particular context. It is represented in conventional
metaphors in the following BoE examples:
died last weekafter a long battle against cancer
fell victim to peritonitis aged just 36.
the body has its own defence mechanism called the immune system to
enable it to fight off untoward conditions.
Deaths from malaria would almost double if the disease developed
resistance to all available drugs.
others say it helps to combat depression and side effects of the Pill.
and in the creative metaphors in this one:
[The newly-isolated peptide] could be used as a missile to carry other
lethal warheads to brain cancer cells It slides off the good cells, and
therefore only kills the bad cells.
(BoE)
We also talk about heart attacks and bouts of illness, aggressive therapies and
treatments, and patients being bombarded with antibiotics. (See Montgomery 1991 for a
discussion of the historical development of this metaphor.)
What we have here is evidence of a systematic transfer of lexical items from the
semantic field of war to that of illness. There are two ways of interpreting this. We could
simply say that many of the English words which refer to war and fighting are
polysemous and happen to have developed secondary metaphorical senses to do with
illness. But a more powerful way of looking at it is to say, as we have suggested, that in
order to talk about illness we use the metaphors of war: that our understanding of illness
is at least partly shaped by our understanding of war, and that we see an interaction
between organismsa biological processas a fight, rather than any other kind of
activity or process. So we can say that metaphor not only facilitates understanding but

mediates it too. It is this second approach to metaphor, one particularly associated with
the scholar George Lakoff, which we will explore in this chapter.
METAPHORS WE LIVE BY: LAKOFF, JOHNSON, AND
CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
George Lakoff and Mark J ohnsons book Metaphors we Live by, first published in 1980,
is generally credited with establishing a new approach to the study of metaphor. (Lakoff
and Johnson themselves acknowledge the work of Michael Reddy in stimulating their
own work.) Since 1980, Lakoff has developed this approach in a series of publications,
including collaborations with Mark J ohnson, Mark Turner, and Zoltn Kvecses: many
other scholars have also contributed to the exploration of metaphor along these lines. In
this chapter, we will discuss the original book by Lakoff and J ohnson, along with
adjustments which they made in an afterword to the second edition (2003); we will also
refer briefly to some other major contributions.
Lakoff and J ohnsons starting point is that metaphor is an ordinary part of language,
not extraordinary. They state that
We have found [] that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in
language but in thought and action.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:3)
and
Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act,
is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.
(1980/2003:3)
Although many of their examples, and the examples which we will discuss, involve
language, it is central to their argument that metaphor is a kind of thinking or
conceptualization, not limited to language; however, language provides a convenient way
to observe how metaphor works (see Chapter 9 for discussion of non-linguistic
examples). As with the cases which we looked at in Chapter 2, we are normally unaware
of the metaphoricity of our conceptual systems.
Their first example relates to a metaphorical conceptualization, or conceptual
metaphor, ARGUMENT is WAR. (Conceptual metaphors are conventionally written in
capital letters, with the metaphorical concept mentioned first.) They use this to
demonstrate how a concept can be metaphorical and structure an everyday activity. They
give the following, often-quoted, examples of expressions in which ARGUMENT IS
WAR appears:
Your claims are indefensible.
He attacked every weak point in my argument.
His criticisms were right on target.
I demolished his argument.
Introducing metaphor 24
Ive never won an argument with him.
You disagree? Okay, shoot!
If you use that strategy, hell wipe you out.
He shot down all of my arguments.
They assert that these represent far more than metaphorical linguistic expressions: to
quote them,
Many of the things we do in arguing are partially structured by the
concept of war.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:4)
That is, the way in which we conduct arguments is conditioned by the way in which we
conduct wars. They suggest that if our culture conceptualized arguments through a
different metaphormaybe a dancethen the discourse structure of arguments would be
different. An argument structured as a war consists of sequences of attacks and counter-
attacks, with winning as the goal, but an argument structured like a dance might prioritize
aesthetics and balance, and have different goals. In the 2003 edition of their book, they
broaden the conceptualization into ARGUMENT IS STRUGGLE, but the underlying
linkage between physical conflict and verbal conflict remains the same.
There are several important points to stress. First, these are conceptual metaphors, and
they relate to concepts, not to individual lexical items. The metaphor ARGUMENT IS
WAR (or STRUGGLE) links the conceptualization of argument to that of war or
struggle. The fact that the metaphorical expression a war of words means argument is
almost irrelevant. While it provides linguistic evidence of the conceptual metaphor, the
metaphorical link is between the underlying concept areas WAR and ARGUMENT, not
the individual items war of words and argument.
Second, the conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR/STRUGGLE is simply one
example, and there are many more relating to further aspects of human life: conversation
in general, truth and morality, knowledge and education, and so on. More significantly,
many conceptual metaphors relate to abstract phenomena which are difficult to define or
describe. J ust as a metaphor of war enables us to conceptualize illness, other metaphors
enable us to conceptualize life experiences, emotions, qualities, problems, and thought
itself. Metaphor therefore seems to be a normal part of the conceptualization process: as
Lakoff and J ohnson put it, Our ordinary conceptual system [] is fundamentally
metaphorical in nature.
Third, conceptual metaphors may be culture-specific. Saying that we view argument as
war or illness as an adversary is to say that Anglophone Western society does. Other
cultures may view argument and illness quite differently. At the same time, some
metaphors seem to be universal, and this is strong support for Lakoff and J ohnsons claim
about human conceptual systems. We will come back to this point later on in this chapter,
and we will deal further with crosscultural and cross-linguistic issues in Chapter 6.
ANALYSING CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
Systematizing metaphor 25

In Chapter 1, we introduced the traditional terms topic, vehicle, and grounds for elements
in a metaphor: respectively, the meaning, the linguistic expression, and the similarities or
connections between them. However, a different set of terms is used to identify the
elements involved in conceptual metaphors, and these reflect the very different
theoretical approach.
Conceptual metaphors equate two concept areas, as in ARGUMENT IS WAR. The
term source domain is used for the concept area from which the metaphor is drawn:
here, WAR. Target domain is used for the concept area to which the metaphor is
applied: here, ARGUMENT. (Compare the use of the terms source and target with
respect to translation, where the language of the original text is regarded as source, and
the language into which it is translated as target: we can compare the process of
translation with the process of re-structuring or re-stating one concept in terms of
another.)
Conceptual metaphor theory sees the connections between concept areas in terms of
correspondences or mappings between elements within source and target domains. For
example, a typical feature in the concept area or source domain WAR is a defensive
barricade or line of soldiers (concepts here represent idealized, traditional, notions of
war). In the target domain ARGUMENT, this corresponds to or maps onto the data, facts,
or beliefs which someone has and uses to substantiate their position. Similarly, barricades
and lines of soldiers have weak points, which adversaries try to find and attack in order to
win: these map onto weak points in argumentsincomplete data, incorrect information,
or false beliefs. Hence we can talk about lines of defence and outflanking or
outmanoeuvring adversaries in both warfare and argument. Not all aspects of a source
necessarily map onto the target: some mappings are much more extensive than others.
It is easy to think of correspondences and mappings in terms of similarities between
elements in domains. However, Lakoff and J ohnson believe that conceptual metaphors
are not based on similarities, but on the correlating elements in source and target
domains: if there seem to be similarities, they derive from those correlations, not the
other way around. The use of the terms correspondence or mapping, then, helps ensure
that in analysing conceptual metaphors, connections are made between aspects, features,
or roles in source and target domains at a conceptual level. Note that other theories of
metaphor have different views of similarity, and the relationship between simile and
metaphor, as we will see in Chapter 5.
METAPHORS AND TIME
The second case which Lakoff and Johnson discuss is TIME IS MONEY (or TIME IS A
RESOURCE/COMMODITY). The phenomenon time is difficult to explain non-
scientifically; however, we conceptualize it metaphorically as a physical commodity and
something which we can possess, use, acquire, or lose. Lakoff and Johnson give the
following examples:
Youre wasting my time.
I dont have the time to give you.
How do you spend your time these days?
Introducing metaphor 26
That flat tire cost me an hour.
Ive invested a lot of time in her.
I dont have enough time to spare for that.
Youre running out of time.
You need to budget your time.
These are common, unremarkable, uses of words: some such as have, give, and enough
barely seem metaphorical at all.
This is not the only way in which we conceptualize time, and some other traditional
metaphorical expressions to do with time include:
Time is a great healer.
Its a race against time.
The sands of time are running out.
Had any of these conceptualizations developed as extensively as TIME IS MONEY, we
might conceive of time quite differently. How might the mappings of TIME IS A
DOCTOR or TIME IS A COMPETITOR have worked? The sands of time refers to
traditional hour-glasses: but would it be possible for a basic conception of time to be in
terms of grains of sand, something which forms through a process of fragmentation and is
unstable, heaped up or levelled out by natural forces, capable of swallowing things up or
of being shaped into walls or sandcastles, ultimately collapsing or being blown or washed
away? However difficult it is to think about, we need to remember that TIME IS
MONEY represents just one conceptualization of time. It happens that in English what
we do with time is to pass or spend it: these are its commonest verb collocates. In French,
the literal equivalent of spend is dpenser but it is not used about time: French speakers
would use the verb passer pass or, in translating a context such as spend time doing
something, the verb consacrer, which is cognate with the English verb consecrate and
could be back-translated as devote (time to something).
In fact, the collocation of pass and time represents another conceptual metaphor, one
which in this case does seem to be universal rather than language- or culture-specific.
Time is generally conceptualized as if it had physical dimensions or is physically located
in space: the ways in which we talk about time are similar to the ways in which we talk
about distance and position. In addition to passing time, or time passing, there are verb
uses such as years go by, Christmas is coming, the end of term is approaching, the
holidays came and went, how do you fill your time?; noun uses such as at this point in
time, over the course of time, a length of time, a time span; and adjectival uses such as
long, lengthy, short, drawn-out. Their metaphoricity is relatively obvious once we begin
to think about it. We pointed out in Chapter 2 that grammatical words may also have
metaphorical meanings: many prepositions and adverbs have literal meanings which are
spatial, and metaphorical meanings relating to time. Examples here include in the weeks
ahead, in April, at the weekend, on Sunday, within eight months, quarter past nine
(compare American English quarter before nine and quarter after nine), looking back
into the past, or looking ahead/forward to the future, and five years ago (etymologically
linked to the verb go).
Systematizing metaphor 27

METAPHORS OF COMMUNICATION AND UNDERSTANDING

We said earlier that the work of Michael Reddy contributed to the development of this
approach to metaphor: in particular, a paper first published in 1979. In this paper, Reddy
drew attention to the metaphorical way in which we talk about communication, and the
effect which this has on our thinking. He writes:
[The] evidence suggests that English has a preferred framework for
conceptualizing communication, and can bias thought process toward this
framework, even though nothing more than common sense is necessary to
devise a different, more accurate framework.
(Reddy 1993:165)
Reddy refers to this framework as the conduit metaphor, and analyses its major features
as follows:
(1) language functions like a conduit;
(2) in writing and speaking, people insert their thoughts or feelings in the words;
(3) words accomplish the transfer by containing the thoughts or feelings and conveying
them to others; and
(4) in listening or reading, people extract the thoughts and feelings once again from the
words.
(Reddy 1993:170)
That is, we conceptualize communication as a transfer of thoughts, words, and ideas from
one person to another and as if those thoughts, ideas, and words have physical
substancein the way that a substance might be transferred from one place to another
along a conduit. He says that, based on the evidence, 70 per cent of English words and
phrases to do with communication are instances of the conduit metaphor. Amongst
Reddys examples are:
Try to get your thoughts across better.
Try to pack more thoughts into fewer words.
The sentence was filled with emotion.
Let me know if you find any good ideas in the essay.
In his paper, Reddy goes on to discuss the social and cultural implications of the conduit
metaphor, including ways in which the conduit metaphor is harmful rather than helpful,
especially in relation to developments in mass communication. For example, the
metaphor encourages us to think that the more information we transfer or store, the more
successfully we are communicating; yet in fact, successful communication depends on
whether the receiver understands, not how much they have received. In an extended
discussion, he argues that we think of our cultural heritage in terms of books and so on,
containing knowledge and ideas, with libraries representing repositories of culture, but
this is a misleading view of culture. To paraphrase his discussion, it is not enough to have
knowledge stored in a library; we also need people who are able to understand, interpret,
and use it. His observation has other parallels now, in the internet era. Search engines
Introducing metaphor 28
make it easy to retrieve enormous quantities of information through electronic conduits;
however, information alone is not enough, and we need techniques, tools, and
considerable analytical skills in order to make use of the information and so for the
communication of information to succeed.
The conduit metaphor is a basic metaphor of communication: several aspects of it can
be explored through further conceptual metaphors relating to knowledge and
understanding. For example, just as we conceptualize communication as containing
data, we think of our minds as containers and having spatial dimensions. Thoughts enter
our heads or cross our minds; we talk about cramming for examinations, or filling our
heads with facts; and we search our memories or have vague recollections in the back of
our minds. Similarly, we conceptualize the process of understanding in terms of sight or
touch, as if what we understand has some kind of physical reality. The metaphors can be
stated as UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING or UNDERSTANDING IS HOLDING, and
some of the many conventional lexical realizations in English are:
see what someone means, see someones point
look at the facts
recognize that there is a problem
insight, foresight, perception
getting to grips with a problem
a grasp of a subject
put ones finger on something
kick an idea around
The same metaphors can be traced in the etymologies of further words which refer to
understanding, such as clarify, elucidate, illuminate; and comprehend, (in)tangible.
METAPHORS AND EMOTIONS
Our final examples of conceptual metaphors relate to the conceptualization of emotion.
J ust as with thoughts, words, and ideas, we think of emotions as if they have physical
substance or presence: we have feelings, or are filled with emotion, love, pride, rage, we
react to things with astonishment, anger, enthusiasm, we fall in love. When something
affects us emotionally, we conceptualize it as if it has a physical impact on us: news hits
us hard, we are struck or touched by events, actions, and people, or bowled over or
knocked out by them (compare our comments on literal and metaphorical senses of
impress/impression in Chapter 2). Lakoff and J ohnson express this as EMOTIONAL
EFFECT IS PHYSICAL CONTACT (1980/2003:50).
Individual emotions are also conceptualized metaphorically. For example, affection
and love are conceptualized in terms of heat and fire, and relationships in general in terms
of physical proximity and connections. There are many expressions, conventional
metaphors, which demonstrate this:
a warm welcome
she was very cool/cold/frosty with us
Systematizing metaphor 29

a red-hot lover
be on heat
inflame someones passions
smoulder with desire
a close relationship
inseparable friends
a rift between them
they broke up
Anger, too, is conceptualized in terms of HEAT, including notions of redness and of
heated fluid or steam in a container:
a heated argument
a fiery temper
flare up
hot under the collar
see red
scarlet with annoyance
blow ones top
explode
make someones blood boil
Happiness and sadness are conceptualized in terms of UP /DOWN (or HIGH/LOW) and
LIGHT/DARK:
on a high
raise someones spirits
things are looking up
feel low
downcast
depressed
shining eyes
future is bright
dark thoughts
a sombre mood
Extended discussion of these and other metaphorical conceptualizations of emotions can
be found in Kvecses (2000; also 2002:85ff. and elsewhere), and Lakoff (1987:380ff.).
TYPES OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
In the 1980 edition of Metaphors we Live by, Lakoff and J ohnson identify three
categories of conceptual metaphors: structural, orientational, and ontological. Because
these terms and categories are used in the literature on metaphor, we will discuss them
briefly, before considering how Lakoff and J ohnson revised them later.
Introducing metaphor 30
ARGUMENT is WAR is an example of a structural metaphor. According to Lakoff
and J ohnson, structural metaphors are cases where one concept is metaphorically
structured in terms of another (1980/ 2003:14). Source domains supply frameworks for
target domains: these determine the ways in which we think and talk about the entities
and activities to which the target domains refer, and even the ways in which we behave or
carry out activities, as in the case of argument.
An orientational metaphor, according to Lakoff and Johnson, organizes a whole
system of concepts with respect to one another (1980/2003:14). It typically involves an
orientational or spatial concept of some kind, such as up/down and in/out. Two examples
are HAPPY IS UP/SAD IS DOWN, which we have just considered, and MORE IS
UP/LESS IS DOWN. In each case, the target concepts are paired just as the source
concepts are: they are antonyms or counterparts. Lakoff and Johnson give these examples
for MORE IS UP/LESS IS DOWN:
The number of books printed each year keeps going up.
My income rose last year.
The number of errors he made is incredibly low.
If youre too hot, turn the heat down.
UP/DOWN orientational metaphors recur in a number of other target domains:
CONSCIOUS IS UP, HEALTH AND LIFE ARE UP, HAVING CONTROL OR FORCE
IS UP, HIGH STATUS IS UP, GOOD IS UP, and their opposites. Lakoff and Johnson
claimand research generally supports thisthat many of these metaphors are universal
rather than culture-specific.
Ontological metaphors allow us to conceptualize and talk about things, experiences,
and processes, however vague or abstract they are, as if they have definite physical
properties. Lakoff and J ohnson say:
Once we can identify our experiences as entities or substances, we can
refer to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify themand by
this means, reason about them.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:25)
Metaphorical conceptualizations of time, communication, and understanding are cases in
point. This is similar to the conceptualization of abstract qualities as if they were objects:
we have, acquire, or lose qualities and attributes such as beauty, wisdom, or a reputation.
Finally, we conceptualize something that is difficult and problematic as if it has physical
form or else an illness: for example, we talk about facing problems, ironing out
difficulties, teasing out tricky areas; a remedy for a problem, a sick society, a headache
for the government.
There are overlaps between these three categories. Structural metaphors and
orientational metaphors may have ontological functions too, while ontological metaphors
depend on having structured source domains. In fact, in the afterword to the second
edition of their book, Lakoff and Johnson refer to their earlier categorization as
artificial, arguing that all conceptual metaphors are structural and ontological: they also
Systematizing metaphor 31

comment that many conceptual metaphors are orientational (see Lakoff and J ohnson
2003:264265).
SYSTEMATICITY
The idea that metaphors are systematic is fundamental to conceptual metaphor theory.
But the sheer numbers of different metaphors, of which we have considered just a few,
sometimes give the impression of a lack of system. This impression may be particularly
strong in cases of multiple mappings, when a single source domain provides
conceptualizations for multiple target domains (WAR for both ARGUMENT and
ILLNESS) or a single target domain is conceptualized by multiple source domains
(TIME as both COMMODITY and SPACE). There are cases, too, of many-to-many
mappings (HAPPY IS UP, HAPPY IS LIGHT; MORE IS UP, UNDERSTANDING IS
LIGHT), and of domains being both sources and targets (ILLNESS IS WAR,
PROBLEMS ARE ILLNESSES). One challenge for conceptual metaphor theory is to
show that such metaphors are consistent or coherent, not contradictory, and in the next
section, we will discuss how multiple mappings can be compatible with one another. First
we will look at how creative, conventional, and idiosyncratic metaphors fit into systems,
and then at different levels of generality in conceptual metaphors.
Most of the linguistic examples which Lakoff and J ohnson use, or which we have
given, are conventional metaphors: institutionalized senses of polysemous words (attack,
see, spend), fixed phrases of different kinds (shoot down, put ones finger on, hot under
the collar), and a few etymological metaphors (elucidate, intangible). While this is a
convenient way to demonstrate systematicity, creative non-institutionalized metaphors
may also be systematic. The following BoE examples include both conventional and
creative metaphors (the metaphor in the second one is partly expressed through simile),
and relate to aspects of the conceptual metaphors ARGUMENT IS WAR, TIME IS
SPACE, and ANGER IS HEAT:
And so Max flagellated us with the purists cudgel, but just as often, I
suspect, he wielded it stringently at himself.
a future stretching out as broad and as bright as a beach at sunrise.
My anger flared again Something stirred in the seething stew of my
thoughts.
A further example is a widely-discussed conceptual metaphor which we have not yet
mentioned: LIFE IS A JOURNEY. Conventional metaphors for birth, death, and
experiences in between include ideas of travelling and movement: babies arrive, or are
said to be on the way; the dead are referred to as the departed or are said to have gone;
we talk about moving on and getting ahead in our lives, about having direction and
reaching particular ages or milestones, about rites of passage and the courses of our lives.
Creative metaphors here can be found not just in single phrases or sentences but as whole
texts, framed round a journey which is used to represent or symbolize life in some way.
Language-based examples range from songs (The Beatles Long and Winding Road,
Lynyrd Skynyrds Freebird, J oni Mitchells Woodstock) to books and plays (Cervantes
Introducing metaphor 32
Don Quixote, Tolkiens Lord of the Rings, Becketts Waiting for Godot). We will look at
some non-verbal examples in Chapter 9.
However, not all metaphors fit neatly into systematic sets, and some are idiosyncratic.
Perhaps the most useful approach to these is to analyse them in terms of very general
modes of conceptualization, rather than over-specific ones. For example, we could say
that the idiom put the cart before the horse represents a conceptual metaphor DOING
SOMETHING IN THE WRONG ORDER IS HARNESSING AN ANIMAL
INCORRECTLY, but a better analysis would be in terms of temporal sequences
corresponding to physical positions, and relating to TIME IS SPACE. And when a critic
reviewing a novel says that themes
are tossed into [J ohn] Irvings literary wok, then spiced with the paprika
of his black humour and stirfried in his extraordinary imagination.
(BoE)
it is possible to identify a specific conceptual metaphor INTELLECTUAL QUALITIES
ARE SPICES, a broader metaphor WRITING IS COOKING, and a very general one
where creative, verbal, and intellectual processes are conceptualized metaphorically as
physical ones.
Systematizing metaphors in this way, in fact, helps clarify the consistent patterns in
metaphorical conceptualization. For example, both ARGUMENT IS WAR and the
conduit metaphor relate to a more general VERBAL IS PHYSICAL metaphor.
Orientational metaphors with UP/DOWN have extensive sets of mappings for individual
target domains, and a more general tendency is for UP metaphors to be positive
(MORE/HAPPINESS/CONSCIOUSNESS/POWER IS UP) and counter-parts with
DOWN to be negative (LESS/SADNESS/UNCONSCIOUSNESS/ POWERLESSNESS
IS DOWN): see further in Chapter 7. These very general conceptualizations are some of
the most interesting of all, particularly in terms of what they reveal about basic processes
of human thought.
HIGHLIGHTING AND HIDING
When we looked at word meaning in Chapter 2, we said that generally only some
meaning components are transferred from literal meanings to metaphorical ones.
Conceptual metaphor theory uses the term highlighting to refer to the selective mapping
of source domain features onto target domains: the suppression of other features is
termed hiding (see Lakoff and Johnson 1980/2003:10ff.). The concept areas of source
and target domains are complex, and different aspects are highlighted in different
metaphors. So when a source or target domain has multiple mappings, the individual
mappings represent different sets of highlighted features. For example, Lakoff and
J ohnson point out that the UP /DOWN source domain relates to many different target
domains, but these target domains highlight and exploit different kinds of up-ness.
Lakoff and J ohnson discuss highlighting and multiple mapping in relation to
ARGUMENT, and four source domains (1980/2003:87ff.). In addition to the domain
WAR, they consider the metaphors AN ARGUMENT IS A J OURNEY, AN
Systematizing metaphor 33

ARGUMENT IS A CONTAINER, and AN ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING: these relate

to logical or academic argument, rather than quarrels. The metaphors are not in conflict
with each other, but each foregrounds different correspondences between sources and
targets. J ust as ARGUMENT IS WAR highlights conflict and the business of winning or
losing, AN ARGUMENT IS A J OURNEY highlights the goal (or destination) of an
argument, and the process by which the goal is achieved or reached; AN ARGUMENT
IS A CONTAINER highlights the content of the argument, and its shape or form; and AN
ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING highlights the strength and structure of an argument.
Their examples include
We will proceed in a step-by-step fashion.
So far, we have seen that no current theories will work.
You dont have much of an argument, but his objections have even less
substance.
Your argument wont hold water.
Youve got the framework for a solid argument.
He is trying to buttress his argument with a lot of irrelevant facts
See Lakoff and Johnson (1980/2003:87ff.); further in-depth discussion of these and other
multiple mappings can be found in Kvecses (2002:79ff.).
THE EXPERIENTIAL BASIS OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS
So far we have looked mainly at how conceptual metaphors work, rather than why
specific metaphors should have developed in the first place. Theorists suggest that many
conceptual metaphors can be related to very basic human experiences: what has been
referred to as an experiential basis for metaphors. For example, an explanation for the
metaphor ANGER IS HEAT can be found in the physical sensations produced by
angerrising temperature, altered breathing patterns, and so on. There also seem to be
physical explanations for the orientational metaphors UP and DOWN. We are vertical
when we are active and awake, but we lie down when we are ill, asleep, or unconscious
(CONSCIOUS IS UP, SICK/UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN); we stand straighter or move
more floatingly when we are happy, but slump or look down when we are unhappy
(HAPPY IS UP, SAD IS DOWN); one person wins a fight by being physically on top of
another and holding them down (POWERFUL is UP, POWERLESS is DOWN). MORE
is UP/LESS is DOWN relates to the way in which greater quantities of things form
larger, higher heaps. Lakoff explains KNOWING/UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING as
most of what we know comes through vision, and in the overwhelming majority of
cases, if we see something, then we know it is true (1993:240). See Lakoff and J ohnson
(1980/2003; 1999), and Kvecses (2002:67ff. and elsewhere) for further discussion. The
idea of such a basis for metaphor is important, and we will consider further aspects in
Chapter 5.
SUMMARY
Introducing metaphor 34
This chapter has provided a brief introduction to conceptual metaphor and the ideas of
Lakoff and his colleagues. Amongst the key points are that metaphor operates concept-to-
concept; it is systematic; it provides structures for our conceptual system and affects the
ways in which we think about things; and it may have an experiential basis. Conceptual
metaphor is not limited to language, although language can be used to demonstrate how it
works. There are important implications relating to ideology (how we view the world)
and to philosophy (the nature of thought itself).
The work of Lakoff and colleagues has been hugely influential, and we will discuss
other aspects in later chapters. It is important to note, however, that the cognitive
approach to metaphor has been criticized. Amongst the objections are that it is
insufficiently rigorous; its analyses of conceptual metaphors often seem ad hoc; it pays
insufficient attention to authentic data, including linguistic data; and its claims about
thought are often unverified or unverifiable.
We have tried to show the strengths and range of conceptual metaphor theory. More
than any other theory, it has integrated metaphor into mainstream semantics and
linguistics, and shown how far-reaching it is. The enormous interest in figurative
language at the present time can be directly attributed to Lakoff and colleagues, and their
work. Perhaps an appropriate way to end this chapter is to list some of the many
metaphors which we have used ourselves in writing it, in order to draw attention to what
we were conceptualizing, how we were doing so, and what the significance is for the
meaning of the text. For example, in this section alone, we have
metaphor operates
how we view the world
the cognitive approach
mainstream semantics and linguistics
shown how far-reaching it is
enormous interest in figurative language
at the present time
and more.
FURTHER READING
Gibbs, R.W. (1994) The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding ,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gibbs, R.W. and Steen, G. (eds) (1999) Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics , Amsterdam: J ohn
Benjamins.
Kvecses, Z. (2000) Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture and Body in Human Feeling ,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G. (1993) The contemporary theory of metaphor, in A.Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and
Thought , 2nd edn, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 202251.
Lakoff, G. and J ohnson, M. (1980; new edn 2003) Metaphors we Live by , Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Systematizing metaphor 35

(1999) Philosophy in the Flesh: the Embodied Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought ,
New York: Basic Books. (Especially parts I and II.)
Reddy, M.J . (1993) The conduit metaphor: a case of frame conflict in our language about
language, in A.Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought , 2nd edn, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press: 164201.
Introducing metaphor 36
4
METONYMY
In Chapter 1, we introduced metonymy as a specific kind of figurative language. We
explained it as involving either part-and-whole relations, such as using hands to refer to
workers, or else naming by association, such as using the stage to refer to the theatrical
profession. Metonymy is important in relation to the study of metaphor, and we will
examine it in more detail in this chapter.
Here are some further examples of metonyms:
Metonym Meaning
the Crown the monarchy
plastic credit cards
threads clothes
wheels vehicle
dish form of prepared food
bricks and mortar a house or other building
a roof over ones head place to live
Wheels and a roof over ones head are like hands: the whole is referred to in terms of one
of its constituent parts. In the cases of threads, and bricks and mortar, the whole is
referred to in terms of the material that it is made out of. Crown is like stage, and names
by association: it refers to an institution, rather than an individual king or queen, and
denotes something symbolic that is associated with kings or queens, rather than an actual
ceremonial headdress.
METONYMY AND SYNECDOCHE
We have used metonymy as a general term to refer to this kind of figurative language.
However, synecdoche (pronounced/sin-neck-doe-key/) is sometimes used as a traditional
term for part-and-whole metonymy. That is, synecdoche covers cases where the whole
entity is referred to by the name of one of its constituent parts, or where a constituent part
is referred to by the name of the whole. Hands is an example of the first of these;
Scotland have a great chance of winning the game, where Scotland refers to a Scottish
national sports team, is an example of the second.
Where the term synecdoche is used, metonymy has a narrower meaning, and refers just
to the process of naming by association. So while hands=workers is an example of

synecdoche, stage=theatrical profession and Crown=the monarchy would be examples of
metonymy. However, it is often difficult to distinguish between metonymy and
synecdoche. Plastic=credit card is a case of synecdoche because credit cards are made
from plastic, but it is also metonymic because we use plastic to refer to the whole system
of paying by means of a prearranged credit facility, not just the cards themselves. In fact,
many scholars do not use synecdoche as a category or term at all. We will not use it in
this book, but will continue to refer to both kinds of naming phenomenonpart-and-
whole and naming-by-associationas metonymy.
METONYMY, POLYSEMY, AND MEANINGS
In Chapter 2, we saw that figurative processes often account for cases of polysemy. J ust
as many senses of polysemous words are metaphorical, many others are metonymic. The
metonymic meanings of hands, plastic, threads, and wheels discussed above are
subsidiary senses of hand, plastic, thread, and wheel, and not the core ones we would
think of first.
There are some consistent patterns of metonymic transfer. A common one is where
words which refer, very broadly, to some kind of container are also used to refer to the
contents. At its simplest, glass, jug, tin, packet, and so on are frequently used to refer to
what is in the glass, jug, tin, or packet: drink three glasses a day, probably need three tins
to finish the job. Words referring to buildingshouse, university, school, office,
churchcan be used to refer to the people in the building, or to the institution or
organization associated with the building: the college was outraged by the news.
Similarly, the names of nations and peoples can be used to refer to their sports teams,
armed forces, or other representatives: Sweden 1, Argentina 1; Rome conquered Britain.
Words referring to forms of spoken or written matter, recorded music, art, and so on
conversation, book, newspaper, letter, CD, paintingcan be used to refer to the
intellectual or artistic content of what is spoken, written, recorded, or painted: a
fascinating book as opposed to a large book. These kinds of metonymic transfer are
almost grammatical in their regularity.
Other recurrent patterns in metonymic senses can be found with hands, crown, stage,
where parts of the body represent the whole body or person, items of clothing represent a
person or subgroup of people (regardless of what they are actually wearing), or aspects of
work represent the workers. For example, we also talk of head of cattle, or counting
heads; we use eye(s) to represent people paying attention, as in all eyes were on her; we
use blonde, brunette, redhead to represent someone with hair of a particular colour; and
some terms of insult are metonyms based on words for sexual organs and other parts of
the body. In colloquial language, suits can refer to people, usually men, in power or in
management, skirt to a young woman, considered in terms of her sexual attractiveness,
and anorak to someone who is socially awkward and obsessional. Similarly, the cloth
represents the clergy, especially of the Anglican Church; the Bar represents barristers in
Britain (or the legal profession generally in the United States); and sparks and chips are
colloquial terms for electricians and carpenters. There are parallel uses in expressions
such as blue collar and white collar to refer respectively to manual/industrial and
Introducing metaphor 38
clerical/professional work, chalkface to refer to teaching, and grease monkeys to refer to
mechanics (monkey here is metaphorical).
In most of the examples so far, the literal or core sense is fairly concrete, physical, or
specific, while metonymic uses vary between concrete, abstract, and general. The
following examples are of words referring to sounds, with metonymic uses referring to
actual physical things: most of these are echoic, or developed through onomatopoeia, and
the core or original sense is often a verb. Fizz and pop both refer metonymically to
effervescent drinks, and bubble-and-squeak, a dish made by frying cooked potato and
cabbage, refers to the noises made during the cooking process (compare metonymic uses
of bubbles and bubbly to refer to champagne). Finally, rattle childs toy, instrument
developed from a verb referring to the noise it makes; and patter in expressions such as
the patter of tiny feet, to refer to a planned or expected baby, is also metonymic.
METONYMY AND ETYMOLOGY
The historical development of metonymic senses of polysemous words is often fairly
clear. As with metaphors, the original sense is typically the most concrete, physical sense,
and may well still be the core or commonest sense. This is the case with many of the
words we have mentioned so far, such as crown, dish, hand, thread, and wheel.
However, other cases are more complex. For most people, the dominant or core sense
of the noun train is now a kind of vehicle: a locomotive and carriages or wagons which
run on railway lines. The word train has a long, complicated history: its earliest sense,
now obsolete, meant delay or tarrying. It also had early senses relating to dragging (it
ultimately derives from a Latin verb trahere to drag); to groups of people that follow
behind someone or something, as in a train of followers; and to series of things that are
dragged behind something or are strung together, as in a wagon train. After the invention
of the railway, it was natural to talk about a train of carriages behind the locomotive, and
this later became shortened to train and eventually to include the locomotive itself: a
whole-for-part metonym (referring to a locomotive as an engine is also metonymic).
Like metaphors, metonyms may be concealed within etymologies. Capitation is an
allowance paid to a school, health centre, and so on to provide services for a specified
number of people: it derives from the Latin noun caput headas in the expression per
capitaand metonymically refers to people in terms of their heads. Map derives from
mappa mundi, literally sheet of the world, or the sheet, cloth, or parchment on which
the world was drawn: it is a metonym in the same way that plastic and threads are.
Words such as surgeon and surgery ultimately derive from Greek roots kheir- and ergon,
respectively hand and work: this is a very similar metonym to that involved in hand in
the sense worker.
The next example is especially complicated. Cattle refers to livestock: now only
bovine livestock, although in Middle English it could also denote horses, sheep, and
pigsgenerally creatures regarded as property. This sense of cattle is connected with an
earlier sense property, wealth, and is metonymic: the livestock are representative of the
property or wealth. (Exactly the same metonym had existed in Old English, where feoh
denoted both cattle and money or property.) Although the earlier property sense no
longer exists for cattle, it is still found in chattels, which historically is a variant of cattle,
Metonymy 39

with a common origin in French. This in turn derives ultimately from Latin capitalis,
caput relating to the head, head. Both Latin capitale and modern English capital have a
sense property, assets, which can be traced back to an idea of main or most
important asset or source of wealth: thus a metaphorical sense led eventually to the
development of later metonymic ones.
Finally, a few metonymic expressions from other languages have been adopted into
English without changes in form. Per capita is one example; another is French tte tte
conversation, literally head to head. Head-to-head itself is lexicalized in English, and
also refers to a conversation: it has other meanings, too, to do with competition and
opposition. However, tte tte has connotations of intimacy or secrecy, where head-to-
head has connotations of confrontation or negotiation.
METONYMS AND IDIOMS
In Chapter 2, we looked at idioms and proverbs which are metaphorical: they can be
metonymic too, and a roof over ones head is a case in point. Many metonymic idioms
and proverbs involve parts of the body: hate someones guts, two heads are better than
one, and show ones face somewhere. Items which mention a particular part of the body
often share connotations or aspects of their meanings. For example, the word heart
typically occurs in expressions to do with emotions and feelings, as in absence makes the
heart grow fonder, set ones heart on something, and lose ones heart to someone. Others
involve items of clothing or equipment. The idiom hang up ones boots typically refers to
the retirement of a football player, and there are many possible variants, where boots is
replaced by another item appropriate to the retiree: gloves (boxer), microphone
(broadcaster), helmet (cyclist), racquet (tennis player), and so on.
This last idiom, like many of the others listed, is also metaphorical: the hanging up is
not literal, and hang up ones boots may be said of retirees other than sports players. In
fact, there is often a complicated relationship between metonymy and metaphor,
especially with those which mention parts of the body. To fight tooth and nail for
something is metaphorical: no actual physical fight takes place, just some kind of intense
activity towards a particular desired goal, and there may not be an actual human rival or
enemy. We could express this metaphor in conceptual terms as INTENSE EFFORT IS
WAR (compare the words strive and strife, which have a common etymology). At the
same time, to fight tooth and nail is metonymic: two body parts are named, and stand for
the whole person, or his or her actions. This can be illustrated further with a pair of
idioms which may seem contradictory. If you say that people get their hands dirty, you
mean that they get involved fully in some activity; if you say that people have dirty (or
bloody) hands, you mean that they are guilty of something. The first of these implies
admiration, the second, condemnation. The idioms are both partly metonymic, with
hands representing an activity, but a difference between them can be detected in their
metaphorical uses of dirty: in the first, dirty simply represents the side effects of hard
physical work, but in the second, dirty can be linked to a conceptual metaphor:
VIRTUOUS IS CLEAN; NOT VIRTUOUS IS DIRTY.
Introducing metaphor 40
METONYMY AND METAPHOR
Although some idioms are both metaphorical and metonymic, there are important
differences in kind between metaphor and metonymy. Traditional linguists would say that
at the heart of each metaphor is a similarity drawn between one entity and another: the
entities themselves are separate and usually unrelated, and they represent different kinds
of thing. In conceptual metaphor theory, this would be expressed in terms of
correspondences between two entities which represent two different domains. In both
cases, the topic and vehicle, or target and source, remain essentially separate.
In contrast, at the heart of each metonym is a closeness rather than a similarity or
correspondence (some scholars refer to this closeness as contiguity). The metonym is an
integral part of the entity that it is used to refer to, or vice versa, or is closely connected to
it by association: the two elements in a metonym are essentially part of a single thing, and
belong to the same domain. The metonym either picks up on one component or
connected feature in order to name the wholeor else picks up the whole to refer to a
part.
The difference can be seen by comparing the use of head in sixty head of cattle and the
head of the organization. The first is a metonym where whole cattle are referred to in
terms of a body part (perhaps the part that is simplest to count): heads and cattle are part
of the same entity. The second is a metaphor, relating to a metaphorical analogy, or a
conceptual mapping, between an organization and a body: organizations and bodies are
separate kinds of entity, though there are parallels between them which can be drawn
consistently. Lakoff and J ohnson (2003:266) give an example based on time/space,
comparing San Francisco is a half hour from Berkeley with Chanukah is close to
Christmas. A half hour is metonymic, referring to a distance which it takes half an hour to
travel; close to is metaphorical.
Kvecses (2002:146) describes Gibbss is like test to distinguish metaphor from
metonymy. If one thing can be said to be like another, then it is a metaphor. If it would
be nonsensical to say this, then it is a metonym. For example, it is possible to say the
head of an organization is like the head of a body, but it would be meaningless to say
heads of cattle are like cattle: rather, we would simply say heads of cattle stand for
cattle. Gibbss examples are from American English contexts:
The cream puff was knocked out in the first round of the fight,
(metaphor)
We need a new glove to play third base, (metonymy)
The boxer is like a creampuff works: the third baseman is like a glove does not.
Parallel examples, drawn from BoE, are:
She fell head over heels in love with a man who has turned out to be a real
rat. (metaphor)
He is the brains behind the outfit, (metonymy)
Metonymy and metaphor also have fundamentally different functions. Metonymy is
about referring: a method of naming or identifying something by mentioning something
Metonymy 41

else which is a component part or closely or symbolically linked. In contrast, metaphor is

about understanding and interpretation: it is a means to understand or explain one
phenomenon by describing it in terms of another.
Finally, we should point out that although metonymy and metaphor are generally
distinguished, some scholars see them as a single phenomenon and consider metaphor as
a kind of metonymy, or metonymy as a form of metaphor. We will not discuss this
viewpoint further, except in the context of the experiential basis of metonymy: see below.
SYSTEMATIZING METONYMY
Cognitive approaches to metonymy argue that, like metaphor, metonymy is conceptual in
nature:
Metonymic concepts structure not just our language but our thoughts,
attitudes, and actions.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:39)
Metonymic processes are shown to be systematized according to the kind of relationship
between the metonym and its meaning, just as metaphorical processes can be
systematized according to the conceptual mappings that underlie metaphorical
relationships.
Kvecses and others use the terms vehicle entity and target entity in analysing
metonyms. The vehicle entity is the word or phrase which is being used metonymically,
while the target entity is the intended meaning or referent. Hence
Vehicle entity Target entity
hands workers
the Crown the monarchy
plastic credit cards
threads clothes
wheels vehicle
bricks and mortar a house/building
a roof over ones head place to live
Their terms here can be compared to their use of source domain and target domain for
metaphorsmetonyms only relate to one domainand also to the use of vehicle in
traditional frameworks for metaphor analysis (see Chapter 1).
A very basic, general metonym is THE PART FOR THE WHOLE, as in the use of
hands to refer to workers. (Conceptual metonyms are conventionally written in this way,
mentioning the vehicle entity first and target entity second: this contrasts with the
formulation of conceptual metaphors such as ARGUMENT IS WAR, where the target
domain is mentioned first and source domain second.) THE PART FOR THE WHOLE
Introducing metaphor 42
itself subsumes other more specialized metonyms, and Lakoff and J ohnson draw attention
to one, THE FACE FOR THE PERSON, as in we need some new faces around here
(their example). THE PART FOR THE WHOLE metonym is reversible to THE WHOLE
FOR THE PART, as in England scored just before half time.
Some further metonyms which Lakoff and J ohnson list, along with their examples, are
as follows (1980/2003:389):
PRODUCER FOR PRODUCT
He bought a Ford.
Hes got a Picasso in his den.
OBJ ECT USED FOR USER
The sax has the flu today.
The buses are on strike.
CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLED
Nixon bombed Hanoi.
Napoleon lost at Waterloo.
INSTITUTION FOR PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE
Youll never get the university to agree to that.
I dont approve of the governments actions.
THE PLACE FOR THE INSTITUTION
The White House isnt saying anything.
Wall Street is in a panic.
THE PLACE FOR THE EVENT
Lets not let Thailand become another Vietnam.
Remember the Alamo.
We can begin to categorize the conceptual metonyms in some of our earlier examples:
Vehicle entity Target entity Conceptual metonym
the Crown the monarchy THE PART FOR THE WHOLE
threads clothes THE MATERIAL FOR THE OBJ ECT
dish form of prepared food THE CONTAINER FOR THE CONTENTS
bricks and mortar a house/building THE MATERIAL FOR THE OBJ ECT
a roof over ones head place to live THE PART FOR THE WHOLE
glass, cup, etc. (its contents) THE WHOLE FOR THE PART
Some of these metonyms are in fact more complex, with a further layer of metonymic
meaning, just as in the case of plastic which refers to both credit cards and the system of
paying by credit. When we refer to a roof over ones head, we are referring to a home,
not just a physical building. When we use hands to refer to workers, we are referring to
people in terms of the work they produce, or traditionally produced, by using their hands.
Similarly, a fresh pair of legs is used to refer to a substitute soccer player, or brains to
refer to someone who works with or is noted for their intellect: the body part which has
been selected as vehicle entity is conventionally associated with a particular skill,
Metonymy 43

activity, function, or interest factor of the person. The target entity, however, may be the
skill, activity, function, or interest factor, rather than the person. See Kvecses
(2002:207210) for a detailed discussion of metaphors and metonyms which involve
hand.
In the case of Crown, where the target entity is the institution of monarchy, we can
detect the broad metonym THE PART FOR THE WHOLE, and a more delicate one,
THE CEREMONIAL REGALIA FOR THE INSTITUTION. Crown is being used
symbolically, and Lakoff and J ohnson argue that symbolsin particular, cultural and
religious symbolsare essentially metonymic in nature. We will look further at symbols
in Chapter 9.
Lastly, an interesting and important pair of conceptual metonyms is EFFECT FOR
CAUSE and its reverse CAUSE FOR EFFECT: these, like THE PART FOR THE
WHOLE and THE WHOLE FOR THE PART, are very general. One of Kvecses
examples of EFFECT FOR CAUSE is a slow road (2002:154): slow refers to journey
speeds, but stands for slow-moving traffic on the road. An example of CAUSE FOR
EFFECT is its a long/ difficult/easy road to refer to kinds of journey: road is metonymic
and stands for the journey. The whole notion of cause and effect is tied up with the
attribution of responsibility for actions and events, and it is particularly interesting in any
exploration of ideological and evaluative aspects of texts. As Lakoff and J ohnson point
out:
Nixon himself may not have dropped the bombs on Hanoi, but via the
CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLED metonymy we not only say
Nixon bombed Hanoi but also think of him as doing the bombing and
hold him responsible for it.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:39)
THE EXPERIENTIAL BASIS OF METONYMY
We referred briefly in Chapter 3 to observations that conceptual metaphors may have an
experiential basis: for example, MORE IS UP/ LESS IS DOWN from the sizes of heaps,
and ANGER IS HEAT from physiological sensations associated with feeling angry.
Lakoff and J ohnson see metonyms too as having an experiential basis. They comment
that this basis is more obvious
since it usually involves direct physical or causal associations. The PART
FOR WHOLE metonymy, for example, emerges from our experiences
with the way in which parts in general are related to wholes THE
PLACE FOR THE EVENT is grounded in our experience with the
physical location of events.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:3940)
It has also been suggested that conceptual metaphors may in turn derive experientially
from metonyms, or have developed through metonymy. Kvecses explains this as
follows:
Introducing metaphor 44
The body heat produced by anger can be viewed as a metonymy: BODY
HEAT FOR ANGER. Thus, we have the following chain of
conceptualization: ANGER produces BODY HEAT (metonymy); BODY
HEAT becomes HEAT (generalization); HEAT is used to understand
ANGER (metaphor). The metaphor ANGER is HEAT is a case where the
source domain of heat emerges from the target domain of anger through a
metonymic process.
(Kvecses 2002:156157)
Embedded within this is the metonym EFFECT FOR CAUSE: body heat is the effect,
anger is the cause. It is the effect which gives rise to the metaphor.
Another metaphor conceptualizes relationships in terms of physical proximity (a close
relationship, inseparable; drift apart, break up, etc.). The experiential basis is fairly
clear, and we can link it to a metonym of causation. However, in this case, we might
argue about which part of the metaphor relates to CAUSE in the metonym, and which to
EFFECT. Is it that physical closeness causes emotional closeness, and physical distance
causes emotional distance? Or is it the other way around, with emotional closeness
leading to physical closeness, and emotional distance to physical distance? Or both?
SUMMARY
We began this chapter by considering different kinds of metonym, and then metonymy in
relation to polysemy and to the meanings of words and idioms. We also looked at
conceptual or cognitive approaches to metonymy and the kinds of system which have
been identified within metonyms. While we have made a distinction between metonymy
and metaphor, we have pointed out lexical items which can be seen as both metonymic
and metaphorical, and we commented on how experiential metonymic bases have been
said to underlie conceptual metaphors.
Metonymy may sometimes seem a less rich and interesting form of figurative
language than metaphor. However, although the evaluative and ideological significance
of metaphor may be more obvious, there is also significance in the ways in which
metonyms are used, why they are chosen, and what kind of metonymic relationship is
highlighted (see Chapter 7). Consider, to conclude, the difference between saying that
you like Beethoven or the Red Hot Chili Peppers and saying that you like their music; or
saying that Britain sent in troops, rather than that the British government did. This is one
of the reasons why metonymy is important.
Metonymy 45

FURTHER READING
Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapters 11, 14, and 15.)
Lakoff, G. and J ohnson, M. (1980; new edn 2003) Metaphors we Live by , Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. (Chapter 8.)
Introducing metaphor 46


5
UNDERSTANDING METAPHOR
We have said in earlier chapters that metaphor provides us with ways of explaining,
describing, and evaluating; we have also said that metaphor enables us to understand and
communicate about abstract and other difficult concepts. But we have not yet addressed
the question of how we make sense of metaphorical language, and what mechanisms and
processes are involved. Sources for discussion of this topic include psycholinguistics,
usually based on experimental data; theoretical discussions in philosophy and semantics;
conceptual and cognitive approaches to metaphor, some of which also draw on
experimental data; and textbased studies. We will look at these in turn. Discussion will be
limited to the understanding and decoding of metaphor, and we will not look at the
production of metaphor. In this chapter, we will only consider metaphor in relation to a
first or native language: different mechanisms may be involved in understanding
metaphor in a foreign language, and we will discuss this briefly in Chapter 6.
METAPHOR AND THE BRAIN
Neurological and psycholinguistic research has indicated that different language
functions are associated with different parts of the brain. Early research involved people
with brain damage and language disorders: by correlating the location of the brain
damage with the nature of the disorder, it was possible to hypothesize about which aspect
of language was controlled by which part of the brain. Evidence suggested that, for most
right-handed people and many left-handed people, the primary areas for language
functions are lateralized, in the left hemisphere of the brain. These include Brocas area,
particularly associated with the production of speech, and Wernickes area, particularly
associated with comprehension. More recent research supports some degree of
lateralization of basic language functions, but has shown that the situation is more
complicated: for example, experiments using electrodes or magnetic resonance imaging
have found evidence of activity across both hemispheres of the brain.
Other research has suggested that the right side of the brain (in standard
lateralizations) is associated with language processes which involve humour, inferencing,
irony, and metaphor: all non-literal processes. We can relate this to a more general view
of a distinction between left-brain activities (logical, analytical, and rational) and right-
brain activities (emotional, expressive, and creative). So one hypothesis is that non-
literal language has its own localization and lateralization within the brain. For example,
some patients with damage to the right hemisphere of the brain are able to produce and
comprehend literal language, but have problems with understanding metaphorical uses.
Nothing, however, is certain, and ongoing research is not conclusive. Furthermore, we
have already seen that there are different kinds of metaphor: creative and conventional. If
the hypothesis that metaphor processing is lateralized is correct, then it is possible that
creative and conventional metaphors are processed differently. That is, creative
metaphors would be partly processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, since the
intended meaning is not the same as the surface meaning, while conventional metaphors
would be processed just like literal meanings, in the left hemisphere. Note that, curiously,
when we process conventional metaphors, we may still have residual mental images
which relate to the surface meaning of the metaphor, as opposed to its intended meaning:
cognitive theorists have made observations about this, and we will discuss them later in
this chapter.
METAPHOR AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
The ability to understand and use metaphor is sometimes referred to as figurative (or
metaphoric) competence, and in this section we look at how it develops in children as
they acquire language. We can assess figurative competence by considering how far a
child recognizes that the intended meaning of a stretch of language is not its literal
meaning, and interprets it metaphorically. It would obviously be unreasonable to expect
very young children, capable of producing only very simple one- or two-word utterances,
to have any understanding at all of what metaphor is. Most studies investigate children no
younger than three, and many studies have focused on children of school age and above.
Generally, children seem to have acquired figurative competence somewhere between
the ages of ten and twelve, and to have begun to acquire it by the age of five or six;
however, children up to the age of eight or so are likely to produce literal interpretations
of metaphorical language, or inappropriate non-literal interpretations. It is difficult to be
more precise, since individual children develop linguistically at different rates. Findings
from research studies are variable too, partly because of differences in the kinds of task or
the kinds of metaphor to which the child informants are asked to respond. In general,
young children find it easier to understand explicit similes than metaphors, where
similarity or analogy is implicit. However, even very young children are capable of
accessing imaginary worldsthey follow stories, and understand what it means to
pretend and play. It has been argued that this ability to deal with the unreal is an early
form of figurative competence: a pre-figurative competence, perhaps.
Some of the problems which children have with linguistic metaphor arise from their
lack of knowledge of the lexicon and of the world. They may know few or no idioms, and
they are unlikely to engage in abstract thought. So they may simply not know enough in
general to process metaphors, even though they may recognize that a literal interpretation
does not make sense. For example, an investigation reported by Ellen Winner
(1988:39ff.) and carried out by Winner, Rosenstiel, and Gardner, asks children about
After many years of working at the jail, the prison guard had become a
hard rock that could not be moved.
Some six-year-olds could not interpret it; some assumed the rock referred to prison walls,
or thought it meant that the prison guard was very strong and physically hard (another
meaning of hard, though not the one meant here); and others produced a magical
Understanding metaphor 49

explanation, with the guard being turned into a rock. Some eight-year-olds also produced
inappropriate interpretations, although nearly a third of them interpreted the text as
referring to the guards feelings or behaviour. Interestingly, Winner reports that even
where informants misunderstood the exact meanings of metaphors, they often recognized
whether a metaphor had a positive or negative evaluative orientation.
Most children develop figurative competence in due course along with other cognitive
and linguistic abilities. A failure to do so can be considered a dysfunction, and it is
symptomatic of particular conditions. For example, one characteristic of some forms of
autism, including Aspergers syndrome, is an inability to interpret metaphors, irony, and
other non-literal language: this in turn leads to difficulties with conventional social
interaction. A 2004 publicity advertisement for the National Autistic Society draws
attention to this by listing a number of idioms (All thumbs, two left feet, [] every cloud
has a silver lining, eyes in the back of your head) and then commenting How can
someone with autism trust people when all they do is lie? A novel by Mark Haddon, The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003), is a first-person narrative by a
teenager with Aspergers. An important theme is his complete honesty, his hatred of lies,
including social lies, and his literal use of language and understanding of language. He
discusses metaphor:
These are examples of metaphors
[] He was the apple of her eye.
They had a skeleton in the cupboard.
We had a real pig of a day.
[]! think it should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and
people do not have skeletons in their cupboards. And when I try to make a
picture of the phrase in my head it just confuses me because imagining an
apple in someones eye doesnt have anything to do with liking someone a
lot and it makes you forget what the person was talking about.
(Haddon 2003:1920)
It is interesting to consider this perspective in the light of the following discussions of
metaphor in relation to truth.
UNDERSTANDING METAPHOR: TRADITIONAL VIEWS
Turning to theories of how people make sense of metaphors, we will look first at
traditional views. These largely developed within philosophymore specifically, the
philosophy of languageand semantics, and they predate the work on conceptual
metaphor by Lakoff and colleagues. There are important implications to considering
metaphor through philosophy, since a major concern has been with truth and logic,
including the truthfulness and logic of utterances. This leads to an interest in literal and
non-literal meanings, and the extent to which they are truthful.
If we take sentences or utterances such as apples are fruit, fire burns, water is a
colourless liquid, we can show them to be literally true as propositions, since they
represent real states of affairs. Literal linguistic truth corresponds to truth in the world.
Introducing metaphor 50
Conversely, apples are not fruit, fire does not burn, water is not a colourless liquid can
be shown to be false (we are discounting special contexts such as water is not a
colourless liquid if you mix it with ink). In general, utterances which conflict with literal
truth, or real-world truth, are seen as problematic. They might result from a deliberate
intention to deceive: someone who had knowingly committed a crime might well say I
did not do it in order to avoid punishment. However, it would be wrong to say that all
utterances which are not literally true are false, wrong, or lies, and metaphor is a case in
point.
Some major developments in twentieth-century semantics have resulted from
explorations of apparently untrue utterances where there is no intention to deceive or
lie. For example, pragmatics in general and speech act theory in particular have explored
utterances such as Can you pass the salt? and I name this ship Argo, where the first is
a request, not a question about ability, while the second is not a simple statement of fact,
since by uttering the words the speaker actually performs the act of naming the ship.
Other examples of strictly untrue utterances include ironic ones and apparently
irrelevant remarks: in both cases, the speaker intends the utterance to be meaningful in
context. So in each of the pairs
Can you lend me twenty quid?
Id love to.
When are you going to finish that essay?
Nice weather, isnt it?
the second utterance has a meaning which is not identical with its literal meaning but
which is not untrue and irrelevant. These are cases of a gap between sentence meaning
and utterance meaning. That is, there is a gap between the surface meaning and the
intended meaning, and so a gap between the meaning of the linguistic form in abstract
and its meaning in context.
This, then, is how metaphor fits in, as an example of another kind of gap between
sentence meaning and utterance meaning. It becomes another problem to investigate in
relation to truth and language: a very old topic, in fact, as Aristotle discussed metaphor in
the fourth century BC. There are of course many theories and models of metaphor within
the philosophy of language; here, however, we will look at just two, very broad,
approaches to the question of how we understand metaphorical language.
In the first of these approaches, metaphor is considered as a kind of substitution or
transfer. This fits with the etymological meaning of the word metaphor itself, transfer:
in compound words, the Greek prefix met- often conveys an idea of change, and -phor is
from a Greek verb phrein to carry, bear. The process of understanding metaphor
consists of recognizing that a particular word or expression is polysemous and being used
with a secondary metaphorical meaning, rather than its literal meaning. This secondary
meaning substitutes for another word or expression with a literal meaning. In
We used to thrash all the teams in the Keith Schoolboy League. We had a
great squad and no-one could touch us.
(BoE)
Understanding metaphor 51

the metaphorical meaning of thrash substitutes for a more literal word such as defeat:
thrash has another, literal, meaning, hit. This can be expressed more schematically:
Word A has literal meaning A
has literal meaning B1 Word B
has metaphorical meaning B2
Metaphor: B2 is substituted for A
This view means that we have to consider B as polysemous. However, the metaphorical
relationship and substitution is between B2 and A, and we do not need to establish any
further connection between B1 and B2. Note that the treatment of polysemous words in
current monolingual dictionaries seems to suggest a substitution view of metaphor:
metaphorical senses are treated separately from literal ones, but their metaphoricity is
usually left implicit and not explained or labelled.
In the second approach, metaphor is considered as a comparison. When a metaphor is
used, it implies a similarity between the topic and vehicle of the metaphor, and is a
shorthand way of saying that the vehicle is like the topic. The process of understanding
metaphor is one of recognizing that it is a comparison, what the similarities are, and how
the vehicle is relevant to the topic. In the thrash example, the metaphor implies an
underlying statement winning a game easily is like hitting ones opponents:
understanding the metaphor requires us to understand how and why winning a game is
like a physical attack. This can be expressed schematically as:
Word A; has literal meaning A
Word B has literal meaning B
Metaphor: A is like B
This view suggests a closer connection between metaphor and simile, and between the
different meanings of a word.
We said in Chapter 1 that some linguists regard the distinction between metaphor and
simile as more important than others. It might be truer to say that some linguists are more
interested in it than others. If you regard metaphors as comparisons, then similes are also
comparisons, and it seems relevant to consider similes too. If you regard metaphors as
substitutions, then similes are quite different kinds of item: it would seem less relevant to
consider simile than it would metonymy and polysemy in general.
This section has presented a very simplified account of just two overarching
approaches to a theory of metaphor. There are other approaches, such as Max Blacks
Interaction view (Black 1993), and ones which combine elements of substitution and
comparison, or take into account the degree to which a metaphorical meaning is
conventionalized. For example, it is possible to see substitution and comparison
approaches as complementary, with a substitution theory fitting better with conventional
metaphors, and a comparison theory fitting better with creative ones. So with a context
such as
Introducing metaphor 52
The news had shocked her: she was very agitated.
we directly accessor substitutea meaning upset and worried for agitated, without
analysing further its relationship with a literal meaning physically shaken or stirred, or
considering its etymological connections. But with a context such as
The news had shocked her: a whirlwind of emotions blew her hither
and thither.
we need to identify points of similarity between whirlwinds and emotional states, and
what the implications are, in order to make sense of it.
METAPHOR AND PRAGMATICS
We mentioned that pragmatics developed through exploring gaps between sentence
meaning and utterance meaning. Pragmatics theory itself has tried to take account of
metaphor, and one instance of this is in the work of H.P. Grice. Grice suggested that there
is a Cooperative Principle, or set of conventions or maxims, which we follow in
conversation. The maxims relate to Quantity (giving an appropriate amount of
information), Quality (being truthful), Relation (being relevant), and Manner (being
clear). Hearers expect speakers to conform to these maxims: if they do not conform, but
obviously breach or flout a maxim, hearers have to interpret the flouting, to understand
what the speaker really meant. Grice comments on metaphor as a flouting of one of the
maxims of Quality, Do not say what you believe to be false. Since a remark such as You
are the cream in my coffee (Grices example) is a falsity, the speaker must mean
something different: in this case, the speaker is drawing parallels between the addressee
and the cream.
Metaphorical language can be seen as breaching other maxims too. Literary metaphor
in particular may be unclear or excessively informative or under-informative, flouting
the maxims of Manner and Quantity, and requiring readers to work at interpreting the
writers meaning. Metaphors may also breach the maxim of Relation by being irrelevant.
The operation of the maxim of Relation is the focus of relevance theory, developed
by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson (1995), following Grices work. This theory sees
relevance as the key issue in how we interpret utterances, and it is interested in the
mechanisms of how we make use of contextual meaning and make inferences in making
appropriate interpretations. The assumption is that the speaker has supplied all the
information necessary and relevant for us to understand the speakers meaning. How does
this apply to metaphors? The following example is an edited transcription of informal
conversation, drawn from BoE:
A: Shes complaining that she might have an overdraft that she will have to pay back, and she
wants to emigrate the day she qualifies.
B: Well, youve opened up a whole new can of worms here, I think.
Understanding metaphor 53

If A interpreted Bs response literally, it would be irrelevant and nonsensical. A must

assume that B means to be relevant and meaningful, and that no further background
knowledge is necessary: A therefore interprets it metaphorically, as an evaluation of what
A is talking about.
UNDERSTANDING METAPHOR: COGNITIVE APPROACHES
It is not surprising that Lakoff and colleagues take a very different approach to metaphor
from those just mentioned. As we saw in Chapter 3, they argue that metaphor is an
essential part of human thought, and that metaphors relate concepts, not the lexical
itemsor utteranceswhich realize the concepts. It follows from this that metaphor
cannot be considered either problematic or aberrant; that it would be pointless to discuss
truth and falsehood in relation to metaphor, since our concepts of truth and falsehood
are themselves constructed through metaphor; and that it would be equally pointless to
analyse metaphors in terms of the relationship between topics and vehicles, since the real
relationship is between the underlying concepts, which consists of correspondences and
not similarities.
What then, within the cognitive framework, is said about the mechanisms by which we
understand metaphor? Although much is theoretical, some has a basis in psycholinguistic
experiments and informant testing, and we will begin with this.
It might be assumed by default that literal meaning is psycholinguistically prior. That
is, when we read or hear a word or phrase used metaphorically, we first try to make sense
by interpreting it literally: then, when this interpretation fails because it does not fit the
context, we try a secondary, metaphorical reading. When we read
If the Premier had any backbone he would stand up and say I wont have
this.
(BoE)
we first interpret backbone in its literal meaning of spinal column. This, however, does
not make sense: everyone has a spinal column. At this point, we reject the literal reading
for a conventional metaphorical one, courage and determination, which fits
satisfactorily, taking into account the points of correspondence between backbones and
courage or determination. This process of trial and error would, like linguistic processing
in general, happen instantaneously and subconsciously, but it would still be a two-stage
process and should therefore take longer than the processing of literal, straightforward
meanings (if the Premier had any courage or the evolution of the mammalian
backbone)according, at any rate, to the default assumption.
However, psycholinguistic experiments have indicated that this is actually not the
case. The processing of metaphors and other nonliteral usages does not normally take any
longer than the processing of literal ones, and is not normally any more difficult or
problematic. (We should exclude from consideration here the special cases of complex,
highly stylized literary metaphors, such as that dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea).
One scholar particularly associated with the cognitive approach and with
investigations of the psycholinguistic processing of non-literal language is Raymond
Introducing metaphor 54
Gibbs. He makes a crucial point about the ease with which we understand metaphor,
metonymy, irony, and other non-literal language (tropes, in his terms):
Speakers cant help but employ tropes in everyday conversation because
they conceptualize much of their experience through the figurative
schemes of metaphor, metonymy, irony, and so on. Listeners find tropes
easy to understand precisely because much of their thinking is constrained
by figurative processes.
(Gibbs 1994:253)
Gibbs, often in collaboration with other scholars, has conducted a series of experiments
into the processing of metaphorical idioms: for example, recording the reaction times of
informants encountering expressions such as let the cat out of the bag and spill the beans.
Results indicated that the default interpretations were actually the idiomatic meanings,
not the literal ones. In fact, when informants were given examples with literal uses of the
same expressions, they took longer to process and interpret them than the idiomatic
equivalents.
This suggests that in encountering a context such as
they were getting dinner ready when J ack spilled the beans
we would assume that spilled the beans meant revealed a secret. If the following
context made it clear that J ack had actually dropped vegetables, we would have to
backtrack and re-interpret accordingly. From a psycholinguistic point of view, it suggests
that idioms are stored in the mental lexicon as complete linguistic units along with their
meanings, and are not normally interpreted word by word.
Evidence suggests that conventional idiomatic and metaphorical meanings are
processed directly. However, there is also evidence that, if different informants are asked
for any mental images of the metaphorical content, they are not only able to describe
these images but there is remarkable consistency between them. For example, when
Lakoff asked (American) informants about the images that they had of spilling the beans,
the general view was that the beans were uncooked and in a container about the size of
the human head, that the spilling was accidental and not deliberate, and that the beans
were widely dispersed and difficult to retrieve (see Lakoff 1987:446ff.). In our
experience, British informantsmainly undergraduate studentstend to have images of
baked beans in a can, but the images are still consistent, and so may simply represent a
subcultural variation.
METAPHOR, EXPERIENCE, AND NEURAL MAPPING
We referred in Chapters 3 and 4 to the experiential basis of metaphor which Lakoff and
J ohnson have described, such as ANGER is HEAT relating to physiological changes and
MORE IS UP relating to the sizes of heaps, while KNOWING/UNDERSTANDING IS
SEEING reflects how much of our knowledge is derived from vision. The metaphors
AFFECTION IS WARMTH and AFFECTION IS CLOSENESS can be attributed to the
Understanding metaphor 55

physical sensation of warmth or actual physical closeness which arises when one person
holds another as an expression of caring and affection: lexical realizations include
expressions such as warm regards or a close friendship. A metaphor PURPOSES ARE
DESTINATIONS is attributed to the fact that people go to particular places in order to
acquire or achieve particular things: lexical realizations include arrive, reach, goal, and
go to great lengths to Many other conceptual metaphors have been explained in this
way, either by Lakoff and Johnson themselves, or by other scholars working within the
same framework.
From this, it can be argued that we acquire metaphorical conceptualizations through
our experiences in early life. For example, when we are held as babies by our parents, we
learn to associate affection with warmth and closeness, or when we are taken to a
particular place to get a particular thing, we learn to associate purposes with destinations.
The hypothesis developed by Christopher J ohnson (see Lakoff and J ohnson 1999:48)
suggests that we first equate or conflate the two concepts, then later learn to
differentiate them, and to separate the two domains. (Note that this relates to the
acquisition of metaphorical concepts, rather than metaphorical vocabulary items.)
Lakoff and J ohnson take the argument further:
Metaphor is a neural phenomenon. What we have referred to as
metaphorical mappings appear to be realized physically as neural maps.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 2003:256)
They suggest that when we make the physical association between affection and warmth,
the part of the brain which deals with emotion and the part which deals with temperature
are activated simultaneously. As a result, the two parts develop neural connections, and
there is thus an actual neural structure for the AFFECTION IS WARMTH metaphor.
They imply that there are similar mappings with other conceptual metaphors which
originate in basic human experiences, and say:
You dont have a choice as to whether to think metaphorically. Because
metaphorical maps are part of our brains, we will think and speak
metaphorically whether we want to or not.
(Lakoff and J ohnson 2003:257)
This view is radical. However, it remains a hypothesis, and it is difficult to see how it can
be tested methodically at the present time.
BLENDING THEORY
The final aspect of the cognitive approach to be considered is more abstract. Blending
theory originated in the late 1980s with work by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner
(who co-wrote a book on literary metaphor with George Lakoff). It tries to explain what
happens when we process metaphors, including the inferences that we make, by means of
a complex, dynamic model.
Introducing metaphor 56
An important part of blending theory is the concept mental space. As a person
processes a piece of language, he or she creates a space in the mind. Into this space go
all the pieces of information and conceptual knowledge that are needed to process the
ideas contained in that bit of language. This will not be everything that is known, but only
what is relevant to the context.
Blending theory identifies four spaces in relation to the processing of metaphor, which
can be represented as follows (after Grady et al. 1999):
generic
space
input input
space 1 space 2
blended
space
The two input spaces contain the features that characterize target and source domains,
while the generic space contains the general features which are common to the two input
spaces. In the blended space, the data from the other spaces blends together: the output of
this space is the meaning of the metaphor.
We can see how this would work with the backbone example:
If the Premier had any backbone he would stand up and say I wont have
this.
(BoE)
One input space would contain data relating to human behaviour and actions: relevant
here is the kind of behaviour and mental attitude needed when difficult action has to be
undertaken. The other input space would contain data relating to spinal columns: relevant
here is the fact that the backbone is more or less straight and vertical when a person is
standing up and in a physical position to take action (irrelevant, hidden features are its
structure or position when someone is lying down). There would be mappings between
the two spaces, as between target and source domains. The generic space would contain
data relating to the features common to the input spaces: here it could crudely be stated as
ability to take action. The blended space blends data from the other spaces, to generate a
meaning to do with having a quality that keeps you steady and firm when you prepare to
take action. This is a simplified analysis, but broadly represents the different elements
involved.
A significant feature of blending theory is that both source domain and target domain
actively contribute to the blend and eventual meaning: the blend is dynamic. This
contrasts with simpler analytical models where contributions to metaphorical meaning go
in one direction, from source to target, or vehicle to topic. Supporters of blending theory
argue that it provides a much more sophisticated way to analyse complex and creative
metaphors; detractors argue that it is too complicated to apply.
Understanding metaphor 57

UNDERSTANDING METAPHOR: TEXT-BASED APPROACHES

We could characterize the approaches so far as being largely interested in constructing
models and theories to explain how people make sense of metaphoreven those which
are based on experimental data, or take context into account, as relevance theory does. In
the final part of this chapter, we look at approaches which are primarily interested in
describing language, rather than constructing theories, and which analyse authentic text
data in order to explain how metaphorical meaning is reached.
Corpus linguistics makes use of large quantities of texts, stored on a computer, to
analyse the lexis and grammar of a language. Words and phrases are retrieved in multiple
contexts, which makes it easy to observe their typical behaviour. Corpus data provides
statistical evidence for the relative frequency of different meanings, and what kinds of
text they occur in. For example, 70 per cent of occurrences of attack represent physical
assaults, while less than 20 per cent are metaphorical and refer to arguments and
criticism: the commonest text source for these metaphorical uses is print journalism, and
they are not especially common in spoken interaction. Corpus data shows that there is
often little or no evidence of literal meanings of expressions such as spill the beans or can
of worms: over 99 per cent of examples of spill the beans are metaphorical, as are all
examples of can of worms. This suggests that people are likely to be predisposed to
expect metaphorical, not literal, uses, and it supports the psycholinguistic findings which
we reported above, where informants took longer to interpret literal uses than idiomatic
or metaphorical ones: literal uses are aberrant and therefore unexpected.
Frequency is only one aspect of linguistic behaviour, and corpus linguists also make
observations about the collocational and phraseological patterning of different words, or
different meanings of a word. Literal and metaphorical meanings are often associated
with different clusters of collocates and different phraseologies: gold, diamond(s), ruby/
rubies, sapphire(s) co-occur with the literal meaning of jewel, while real, hidden, and
glittering co-occur with metaphorical uses. Even when literal and metaphorical meanings
have collocates in common, there are often some other lexical or structural distinctions: a
precious jewel is more likely to be metaphorical than literal, but the plural form precious
jewels is more likely to be literal.
Corpus linguists use data like this to demonstrate that different meanings are normally
associated with different patterns and different frequencies in text: ambiguity is rare,
because the context shows clearly which meaning is being used. This applies to
individual polysemous items such as attack and jewel, or idioms such as spill the beans:
it also applies to utterances such as sam is a pig, since the context makes it obvious
whether the discussion relates to a person or an animal, and whether the remark is
therefore a metaphorical evaluation or a literal statement of fact. Because context
distinguishes meanings so strongly, discussions of ambiguity or of literalness and
metaphoricity seem entirely artificial. Conventional metaphors are considered simply to
be ordinary uses, with their own characteristic patterns and behaviour; creative, one-off,
metaphors are considered as atypical or deviant uses, which can be explained by taking
into account what would have been normal patterning and behaviour.
Text analysts, too, are concerned with describing meaning in context, including
discoursal and cultural context. How should readers interpret figurative language and its
Introducing metaphor 58
ideological subtext, and what kinds of meaning have been created? The following is a
longer version of an example we gave in Chapter 1:
Further around the Waterford coast, Dunmore East settles snugly between
small, chunky sandstone cliffs topped by masses of rambling golden
gorse. The main street follows a higgledy-piggledy contour from the safe,
sandy cove beside which the east village sits, towards a busy harbour full
of the rippled reflections of brightly coloured fishing boats and cradled by
the crooked finger of the harbour wall. From here, the ruddy sandstone
cliffs make bold ribs around the coast. This is still a very active fishing
harbour, but has also cashed in on its undeniable picturesqueness, with
self-consciously new thatched houses sneaking in alongside the originals.
(Greenwood et al. The Rough Guide to Ireland, 1999:227)
A text analyst would be interested in the meanings that we construct as readers, for
example, from the personifications and metonymies of the village sitting, the harbour
cashing in onthe new houses sneaking in; and the effect created by cradled by the
crooked finger of the harbour wall, with a possible dissonance between cradled and
crooked, depending on whether we read crooked as an adjective meaning bent, awry
with a negative evaluation, or the past participle of the verb crook form into a hooked
shape. Similarly, with the following example from a novel, which contains an extended
simile and personification as well as the conceptual metaphor TIME IS SPACE (the
narrator is an elderly woman with heart disease):
I think of my heart as my companion on an endless forced march, the two
of us roped together, unwilling conspirators in some plot or tactic weve
got no handle on. Where are we going? Towards the next day.
(Margaret Atwood The Blind Assassin, 2000:83)
The comparison suggests a special relationship between woman and heart because of her
disease. They are literally inseparable, of course, but figuratively the heart is represented
here as a separate being, tied to the woman only through external forces. As readers, we
interpret the comparison as showing the womans attitude to her disease, although our
individual interpretations may well vary. Compare our discussion of fuzzy meanings in
Chapter 2; Chapters 7 and 8 will look further at figurative language in text, and its
implications.
SUMMARY
This chapter has looked at several quite different approaches to the understanding of
metaphor. The most scientific investigate real cases, and use experimental data to
describe how the brain processes metaphorical language, and how figurative competence
develops in children. The most traditional or philosophical approaches investigate
metaphor in relation to truth and word meaning, analysing metaphors through logic.
Cognitive approaches investigate metaphor through their argument that thought is
Understanding metaphor 59

fundamentally metaphorical and conceptual. Context-based and text-based approaches

investigate how information in the context indicates that language is metaphorical, and
what kinds of meaning hearers/readers ascribe to metaphor.
None of the theories associated with these approaches, even if it is supported with
external evidence, is definitely right, nor is any definitely wrong or misguided. Modelling
what goes on when we think is, after all, very hard, even impossible. Perhaps it is
appropriate here, then, simply to consider which approaches (and there are others) seem
more plausible or satisfying; and how far they conflict with each other or are compatible.
FURTHER READING
Black, M. (1993) More about metaphor, in A.Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought , 2nd edn,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1941. (On his Interaction view of metaphor.)
Deignan, A. (2005) Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics , Amsterdam: J ohn Benjamins. (A detailed
study of metaphor through corpus data.)
Gibbs, R.W. (1994) The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding ,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (A cognitive linguistic approach to metaphor: Chapter
9 deals with the acquisition of figurative competence.)
Goatly, A. (1997) The Language of Metaphors , London: Routledge. (Chapter 5 deals with
relevance theory.)
Grady, J ., Oakley, T., and Coulson, S. (1999) Blending and metaphor, in R.W.Gibbs and G.Steen
(eds) Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics , Amsterdam: J ohn Benjamins: 104124. (Explanation
and discussion of blending theory.)
Kittay, E.F. (1987) Metaphor: its Cognitive Force and Linguistic Structure , Oxford: Clarendon
Press. (Detailed discussion, with a traditional approach to metaphor.)
Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapters 11, 14, and 15.)
Lakoff, G. and J ohnson, M. (1980; new edn 2003) Metaphors we Live by , Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. (Chapter 8.)
Mahon, J .E. (1999) Getting your sources right: what Aristotle didnt say, in L.Cameron and
G.Low (eds) Researching and Applying Metaphor , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press:
6980. (On Aristotles discussion of metaphor.)
Searle, J .R. (1993) Metaphor, in A.Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought , 2nd edn, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press: 83111. (On the interpretation of metaphor.)
Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. (1995) Relevance: Communication and Cognition , 2nd edn, Oxford:
Blackwell. (Detailed account of relevance theory.)
Winner, E. (1988) - The Point of Words: Childrens Understanding of Metaphor and Irony ,
London and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. (Deals with the acquisition
of figurative competence.)
Introducing metaphor 60
6
METAPHOR ACROSS LANGUAGES
So far, we have been considering metaphor and metonymy in relation to English. In this
chapter, we will look at how they work crosslinguistically in other languages and
cultures. This has practical importance in relation to language learning and translation,
and is also significant in relation to more abstract issues of language, culture, and
thought.
FIGURATIVE AWARENESS
We have commented that in normal circumstances we are unaware of the figurativeness
of conventional metaphors and metonyms: we simply use them as we would ordinary
non-figurative meanings or words. We have also commented that figurative competence
in children develops over a period of several years: while very young children can only
process literal meanings, children of ten or twelve can generally handle most
metaphorical usages in non-literary language. However, this applies to the acquisition of
a first language, and not a foreign language. Foreign language learning typically begins at
an age when we are already competent with metaphor to a greater or lesser extent in our
first language. Furthermore, in learning the vocabulary of another language, we may well
notice that items are metaphorical, even if the metaphors are conventional: we may also
analyse compound items, and think of their literal, compositional meanings. As our
comprehension and production of the other language become automatic, this heightened
figurative consciousness is likely to fade until it is no stronger than that of native
speakers.
For example, when first learning that the French word for potato is pomme de terre,
we may analyse it as apple of the ground and think of it as some kind of metaphor;
similarly with German Eintopf stew, which literally means one pot and is metonymic.
Further examples of metaphorical and metonymic names of foods include the following:
Metaphors
mille-feuille French thousand leaves: cake made with layers of pastry
Apfel Strudel German apple whirlpool: cake with grated apple etc. rolled up in pastry
linguine Italian little tongues: flat, narrow strips of pasta
burrito Spanish little donkey: tortilla wrapped around meat, beans, or cheese
dim sum Chinese dot hearts: meal/course comprising small portions of different foods
Metonyms
paella Spanish pan: rice dish with chicken, shellfish, and saffron

balti Urdu pail: kind of curry served in a large metal dish
METAPHORS IN OTHER LANGUAGES
One interesting question is the extent to which conventional English metaphors are also
found in other languages. To investigate this, we can take some of the words which we
discussed in earlier chaptersfox, jewel, mountain, hollowand see whether there are
similar uses in French and German. The following gives the translations listed in
dictionaries for literal and metaphorical senses of the English words.
English word Sense French translations German translations
fox animal renard Fuchs
crafty person un fin renard ein alter/schlauer Fuchs
gem bijou, joyau Edelstein, Juwel
something bijou, joyau, Juwel, Goldstck
jewel
valuable trsor, perle
large hill montagne Berg
large amount montagne, Berg
mountain
monceau, tas
not solid creux, etc. hohl
meaningless, faux, vain, etc. hohl, innerlich
hollow
false, in vain,
vacuous, etc. creux hohl, leer
French and German, then, have similar metaphorical expressions for the crafty person
sense of fox. While both languages have other expressions or words for such a person,
just as English does, the metaphorical idea that foxes are wily and deceitful crosses the
languageculture barriers. It recurs in other languages too, for example Spanish (zorra,
zorro) and Italian (volpe, volpone): compare the reference in names in the film The Mask
of Zorro, or Ben J onsons play Volpone. French and German equivalents for literal jewel
are also used metaphorically, and there are parallel uses for broad synonyms of jewel.
The translations offered for French include trsor treasure and perle pearl, and for
German Goldstck piece of gold: these can be compared with metaphorical uses of
treasure, pearl, gem, diamond, and so on in English. In the case of mountain, both French
montagne and German Berg are used metaphorically: the other French translations
offered for the metaphorical sense mean pile or heap. With hollow, translations vary
according to collocation, whether we are talking about a hollow laugh, promise, threat, or
person. In French, creux can be used to suggest meaninglessness: cest creux can mean
theres nothing in it; but in other contexts translations such as faux false or vain vain
Introducing metaphor 62
would be used instead. In German, hohl hollow covers a wider range of contexts, and
leer empty contains a similar metaphorical idea.
Not all metaphorical usages are as obvious as these. Many common verbs in English
are highly polysemous, and many of their senses are historically metaphorical, although
we do not usually notice this. However, when we learn parallel verbs in other languages,
we have to consider overtly whether we can use the same verb in all senses. For example,
the French equivalent for literal run move quickly using ones legs is courir, the
German is laufen or rennen, but different verbs might be used to translate other senses. In
contexts such as
the water is running (=flow)
the machine is running (=in operation)
run a business(=manage)
French would use respectively couler flow, marcher walk, or fonctionner function,
and diriger direct, steer; German would use laufen for water or machines running, but
fhren or leiten lead for running a business. Finding out how another language
lexicalizes English meanings may increase our sensitivity to the metaphoricity of English,
if only momentarily.
It is not surprising that there are parallels between English and French or German:
English and German developed from the same language-stock, and English absorbed a lot
of French vocabulary items, particularly in the Middle Ages, following the Norman
Conquest. Completely unrelated languages may have fewer parallels. J apanese, for
example, has similar metaphorical meanings for fox, mountain, and hollow, but not for
jewel and run.
IDIOMS
We saw in Chapter 2 that idioms are institutionalized metaphorical expressions with
meanings which are sometimes transparent and sometimes obscure. J ust as with
metaphorical senses, some idioms have direct translations in other languages,
incorporating exactly the same metaphor. For example, be in the same boat translates
directly into French as tre tous dans la mme galre (galley), Danish vre alle i
samme bd, German sitzen alle in einem Boot, Italian essere tutti nella stessa barca, and
Spanish ser embarcados en la misma nave. The less transparent idiom bury the hatchet
translates into French as enterrer la hache de guerre and German das Kriegsbeil
begraben: hache de guerre and Kriegsbeil both literally mean axe of war.
Other English idioms have direct parallels in terms of meaning and underlying idea,
but details differ, as with kill two birds with one stone:
Dutch twee vliegen in n klap slaan kill two flies with one blow
French faire dune pierre deux coups make two shots with one stone
German zweifliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen kill two flies with one blow
Italian prendere due piccioni con una fava catch two pigeons with one bean
Metaphor across languages 63

Portuguese matar dois coelhos de uma cajadada so kill two rabbits with a single stick
Spanish matar dos pjaros de un tiro kill two birds with one shot
The English expression butter someone up has broad parallels in several other languages:
Dutch iemand stroop om de mond smeren spread treacle around someones mouth
French passer de la pommade a quelquun rub ointment on someone
German jemandem Honig um den Mund schmieren rub honey on someones mouth
Portuguese dar graxa a algum give shoe polish to someone, polish someones shoes
Spanish dar jabn a alguien rub soap on someone
where the last also shares a metaphorical image with English soft-soap someone.
In some cases, idioms are peculiar to a single language. Kick the bucket is an example:
one French dictionary suggests casser sa pipe, literally break ones pipe, as a translation
in terms of register and meaning. But the metaphor is quite different, and they are not true
equivalents.
METONYMS IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Conventional metonymic uses in English sometimes have exact parallels in other
languages, and sometimes do not. The names of places and buildings are widely used to
refer to people associated with those places or buildings: the White House, French la
Maison Blanche, and German das Weie Haus can refer either literally to the official
residence of the President of the United States, or metonymically to the President and
entourage. Words denoting containers are very widely used to refer to their contents:
English cup, glass, French tasse, verre, and German Tasse, Glas can either refer to the
objects or have the meanings cupful, glassful, and so on.
In Chapter 4, we discussed metonyms such as these:
Metonym Meaning
the Crown the monarchy
hands workers
head (of cattle) (number of) cattle
wheels, motor vehicle
a roof over ones head place to live
The following gives their equivalents in French and German, where they exist:
English French German
the Crown la Couronne
hands
Introducing metaphor 64
head (of cattle) ttes de btail
wheels, motor
(have) a roof over ones head avoir du toit ein Dach ber dem Kopf haben
Even if there are no exact equivalents in French and German, there may be related
conventions. The French expression main doeuvre, literally hand of work, is used to
refer to a workforce or manpower; and the German words Handarbeiter and
Handwerker, manual worker, and Handlanger, odd-job man, all incorporate the
morpheme Hand with metonymic reference. The idiom give someone a hand has
parallels in French tendre la main and German jemand zur Hand gehen. The German
expression pro Kopf literally means per head, and is used in much the same way as the
English expression, with reference to people and also cattle and other animals. However,
the colloquial uses of wheels and motor to refer to a vehicle seem to have no direct
parallels at all.
CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS AND OTHER LANGUAGES
Chapter 3 was concerned with conceptual metaphors and the work of Lakoff and
J ohnson. One interesting aspect of conceptual metaphors is the extent to which they are
unique to a particular culture, or shared with other cultures. If they are universal, it
suggests something very important about human experience and human
conceptualizations of phenomena such as life, emotions, causation, and so on. Conceptual
metaphors, of course, link concepts, but crosslinguistic discussions naturally focus on
language, and that is what we will do here.
While Lakoff and J ohnson themselves mainly refer to examples in English, they make
some claims about metaphors which they believe to be universal. For the most part, these
are the metaphors where the source domains are basic human experiences: orientational
metaphors such as MORE/POWERFUL/SUCCESSFUL/ALIVE IS UP, etc., metaphors
relating to anger or affection, and so on. Many English realizations of these metaphors
are in colloquial expressions or idioms, and other languages do not necessarily have
direct equivalents, as we have seen; however, the important issue is whether other
languages do indeed incorporate such ideas.
We can investigate this by looking at some examples in French and German. Anger
metaphors in English include expressions such as see red, explode with anger, and a fiery
temper. The first two of these have direct parallels in French voir rouge, exploser de rage
and German rot sehen, explodieren; German also has parallels for fiery in feurig and
hitzig, but French would use violent instead, reflecting the same conceptualization as
English a violent temper.
Both languages have orientational metaphors relating to MORE IS UP, LESS IS
DOWN. This can be seen with verbs such as French monter and German steigen climb,
and French tomber and German fallen, sinken fall, which also have the meanings
increase and decrease. Tomber in French occurs in collocations such as tomber
malade, tomber de fatigue fall ill, be dropping (from tiredness); fallen in German can
mean be killed, as with English fall in battle, and fallen and umfallen occur in
Metaphor across languages 65

expressions to do with sleep and tiredness, such as zum Umfallen mde sein to be ready
to drop. French remonter le moral quelquun literally means raise again someones
morale, and tre aux anges be with the angels has the same kind of meaning as walk on
air or be on top of the world. In German, steigen climb occurs in expressions such as
meine Stimmung stieg my spirits rose; Wie auf Wolken gehen (go as on clouds)
parallels English walk on air and on cloud nine-, and niedergeschlagen (lower-beaten)
means dejected.
If we consider less closely-related languages, J apanese also conceptualizes anger in
terms of heat, and has orientational metaphors relating to quantity, power, success,
happiness, and sadness. In fact, as we commented in Chapter 3, all languages investigated
so far draw on UP/DOWN concepts in fairly similar ways. This suggests that, to some
extent at least, such metaphorical mappings may indeed be universal.
The situation with other metaphors may be more complicated. One way in which
English conceptualizes understanding and opinion is in terms of seeing (I see, insight,
vision, view, viewpoint); another is in terms of holding or touching (grasp an idea, get a
handle on, put ones finger on). Parallel metaphors exist in many languages. Viewpoint
has close equivalents in French point de vue, Italian punto di vista, Spanish punto de
vista, and German Gesichtspunkt. Both literal and metaphorical senses of see, perceive
with eyes and understand, have correspondences in French voir, Italian vedere, Spanish
ver, and German sehen. However, these verbs cannot be used to translate all contexts
where English see understand is used: French comprendre, Italian cornprendere,
Spanish comprender, and German verstehen could well be used instead. Interestingly,
these last verbs etymologically embody metaphors in which understanding is
conceptualized as a physical activity. The first three derive, like English comprehend,
from Latin prehendere seize; German verstehen is a compound of stehen stand, which
corresponds to the literal meaning of stand in understand, even though in English
understand has from the earliest times referred only to cognition and not to physical
position. With respect to non-European languages, J apanese does not seem to
conceptualize understanding in terms of seeing in the same way: there is no parallel
polysemy in the J apanese equivalent to see. Compare, too, the Native American language
Hopi, which makes distinctions through its grammatical system between knowledge
based on visual evidence and knowledge based on inference and intellectual reasoning:
this could suggest a fundamental separation between Hopi conceptualizations of seeing
and knowing.
METAPHOR, THOUGHT, AND CULTURE
We have seen that certain metaphorical analogies recur across a wide range of different
languages, perhaps because of their basis in human experience, although we have also
seen that the detail of metaphors and their exact realizations in vocabulary may vary
between languages, even where those languages are related. We have already discussed
the argument by Lakoff and others that the use of metaphor to conceptualizea
metaphorical way of thinkingis a fundamental human cognitive process. We now need
to see how all this relates to broader issues of language, thought, and culture.
Introducing metaphor 66
A key issue concerns the interdependence of language and thought. Is the language of
a culture determined by the way in which that culture thinks? If so, a language evolves to
reflect and express the experiences of its speakers. But what if the opposite is true, and
the thoughts of a culture are determined by its language? In this case, its experiences and
its understanding of those experiences are constrained because they can only be
expressed in the ways which its language allows. An extreme form of this second view is
known as the SapirWhorf hypothesis.
The Americans Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, who lived in the first half of
the twentieth century, are noted for their linguistic work, with an anthropological
perspective, on Native American and Mexican languages. Whorfs research in particular
drew attention to major differences between languages in the ways in which concepts are
expressedfor example, Hopi making grammatical distinctions between kinds of
knowledge which English does not. Such systematic distinctions have profound effects
on how truth is represented or objects are considered, because language conditions or
forces speakers to make those distinctions and to think in those ways. The SapirWhorf
hypothesis developed out of such observations. Differences between languages enforce
differences in thought, it claims; their speakers are likely to view the world and its
phenomena very differently; and there will not be enough shared ground between
speakers of those languages, so that translation becomes impossible.
Few people now support the extreme form of this hypothesis. One counterargument is
that translation is not impossible, even if we need lengthy paraphrases to explain
distinctions in meaning. Yet there is clearly an intricate connection between language and
thought, and it is equally difficult to support an extreme form of the opposite hypothesis,
that language is entirely driven by thought, and that thinking and expression are never
constrained by the linguistic forms available in a language.
This is particularly relevant to discussions of conceptual metaphor from crosslinguistic
and crosscultural perspectives. We can relate the argument that thought determines
language to the evolution of conceptual metaphors, especially where physical objects and
experiences provide sources for the lexicalization of abstract concepts: argument being
conceptualized as war, anger as heat, success and happiness as up, understanding as
seeing, and so on. The metaphors are responses to cognitive and expressive needs.
Curiously enough, we can at the same time relate conceptual metaphors to the opposite
argument that language determines thought. This is most obvious in the case of
ontological metaphors. The normal way in which we think of certain abstract concepts
is by means of metaphor, and we draw on the linguistic resources of our language
through a process of analogy. Thus as English speakers, part of our understanding of
illness now is in terms of war, of knowledge in terms of vision and light, of our minds as
if they have physical dimensions, and so on. It is difficult for us to think about them in
other ways because the metaphors both construct and constrain our understanding.
In English, one way in which we think about large organizations and how they work is
in terms of machines: we talk about the machinery, mechanism, or wheels of government,
being cogs in a machine, and wheels within wheels (after Ezekiel in the Bible). There are
similar metaphors in other European languages: French les rouages du gouvernement,
literally the cogwheels/gear wheels of government; Italian ingranaggi dello stato the
mechanism/clockwork of the state; and German die Mhlen der Regierung the mill of
government. But if we think of the case of a pre-technological society with a highly-
Metaphor across languages 67

developed social hierarchy, such as some early societies of the Americas, a machine-
based metaphor would have been impossible. (This can be related to Lakoff and
J ohnsons comments about ARGUMENT IS WAR, that if we had come to conceptualize
arguments as dances, we would understand and evaluate arguments very differently.) Do
the English metaphors, then, construct our understanding of organizations or simply
reflect our experiences of them?
To take another case: organizations are also conceptualized in English in terms of
buildings, and we talk metaphorically and metonymically about the corridors of power,
smoke-filled rooms, back rooms, the hoard room, the powerhouse, and so on. What if in
talking about another aspect of an organization or institution, we were to conceptualize it
in terms of other kinds of room, such as a store-room, kitchen, cellar, or bedroom? Our
uses of such metaphors would be mediated by our knowledge of the usual functions and
activities associated with those rooms. However, in the case of the Hopi language and
culture, Whorf reported that in spite of a relatively highly-developed architecture, and in
spite of buildings being divided into sections used for different purposes, there are (or
were, at the time of his research) no different terms for different rooms, but only a single
word roughly denoting space, found in restricted grammatical structures. With respect
to different kinds of building: house, church, school, and so on, all have metaphorical
uses in English, but Hopi did not distinguish between different kinds of building. So
metaphorical uses which involve rooms or buildings, and draw on the specific
characteristics of different kinds of room or building, would not have been possible in
Hopi. When we looked at metonymy crosslinguistically, we referred to buildings being
used to refer to their occupants or to the associated institutions, and said that there are
parallels in other languages. But this metonym appeared not to be possible in Hopi, which
conceptually separated occupants from the spaces which they occupy, formalizing a
cognitive distinction between places and people.
Looking at metaphor in languages other than English, especially when the languages
are very different from English, helps our understanding of metaphor in general. The very
nature of conventional metaphor is that we are normally unaware of its figurativeness; the
way it affects meaning and thought is therefore subliminal. But if we are told, say, that in
Inuktitut inuktariwa can mean either killed him or took him as servant, we could well
make inferences about power in Inuit society, or about an equation of loss of life and loss
of independence; and if we are told that nakkertok can mean goes fast or goes far, we
could make inferences about equations of speed and distance. They seem significant, but
are perhaps no more so than conventional English metaphors, such as slaughter in
Manchester United slaughtered Arsenal 61 or long in I travelled for a long time. See
Kvecses (2002:163197) for extended discussion of metaphor in languages other than
Western European ones.
TRANSLATING METAPHOR
The final sections of this chapter consider implications for the translation of metaphor.
Translation is straightforward at times. The same metaphor may exist in both the source
language (or original language) and the target language (or language into which the text
is being translated). The following examples are taken from novels in English in BoE:
Introducing metaphor 68
He leaned against the tiled wall and considered the pointlessness of
further pursuit. Enrico was too good, an old fox, cunning. He was giving
nothing away.
I wish I had heard it, said the Admiral. He refilled J acks glass and
said, Your surgeon sounds a jewel. He is my particular friend, sir: we
have sailed together these ten years and more.
As we have seen, French, German, and J apanese all have conventional metaphors which
more or less correspond to that of English fox. Similarly, a translator could feel
reasonably confident that a French or German reader would understand bijou/joyau or
Edelstein/Juwel in much the same way as an English reader would understand jewel.
However, there are sometimes differences in connotation or usage which affect the
meaning. For example, seed(s) is used metaphorically in phraseologies such as seeds of
doubt, dissension, conflict, success, etc. In many languages, parallel uses of seed(s) can
be used either of good or bad situations, but in some others, only of good (there may be
cultural reasons for this, with crops and plants being regarded entirely positively).
Sometimes languages have corresponding metaphors, but they differ in frequency or
formality, so a translator might well choose a different form of words: someone
translating I see what you mean into German might use the verb verstehen understand,
rather than a metaphorical expression with sehen see.
Some metaphors do not translate exactly into other languages, although there may be
very similar metaphors which exploit the same underlying concept. It would be
appropriate, then, for someone translating
It proposes no startling changes to the machinery of government that has
been in place since 1975.
(BoE)
into French or German to select les rouages du gouvernement or die Mhlen der
Regierung. Another possibility is that source and target languages may both have
metaphorical expressions with similar meanings, but the actual metaphors do not
correspond. An example is English invest, as in Ive invested a lot of time (compare the
literal use Ive invested a lot of money). Since the French equivalent for the
metaphorical use is consacrer devote, consecrate, as in jai consacr beaucoup de
temps, the connotation of the metaphor is different (investir and placer are equivalents
for the literal meaning). There are degrees of correspondence too: French faire dune
pierre deux coups and German zwei fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen seem to
correspond well enough to English kill two birds with one stone. In the case of French
casser sa pipe and English kick the bucket, a translator may feel that the crucial part of
the translation is the dysphemistic informality of the idiom, not the image, so that
selecting an idiom as translation seems a better way of representing the meaning of an
English original than simply using mourir die.
In other cases, there is no institutionalized metaphorical equivalent at all, and so the
only or best translation would be non-metaphorical. We commented earlier on
translations of run to refer to flowing water. In English, we can talk of rivers running too:
Metaphor across languages 69

We were on a bend in the road and I could see the river, grey with
sediment, running swiftly between bare mountains that came down to the
river on the opposite side.
(BoE)
If a translator used the equivalent to literal runfor example, courir rather than couler
flow in French, or rennen rather than flieen flow in Germanit would seem
inappropriately literary, and could even suggest personification of the river, creating an
anthropomorphic image, whereas it is ordinary usage in English.
We can further demonstrate translators choices with examples taken from
multilingual versions of European Union debates (this data was generously provided by
our colleague, Philip King). The English speaker uses an idiom in the following:
Mr President, it is time for Europe to get off the fence and make clear its
support for Taiwan.
The corresponding French and Italian translations are as follows:
Monsieur le President, il est temps pour IEurope de franchir le pas et de
dire nettement son soutien a Tawan.
Signor Presidente, per IEuropa giunta Iora di uscire dal riserbo e
di esprimere con chiarezza il suo sostegno a Taiwan.
The French translation of the idiom, franchir le pas, literally means cross the step and is
parallel to take the plunge; Italian uscire dal riserbo abandon reticence is parallel to
drop ones reserve. Different expressions have been substituted and the tone is
maintained, but the meanings are not quite the same. In the following example, the
original is French:
J aurais tendance a rpondre que ce nest pas en se mettant la main
devant les yeux que, pour autant, on changera la ralit.
here the metaphor literally means putting ones hand over ones eyes. The Italian
translator keeps the same metaphor, but the English one introduces a different one:
Sarei propenso a rispondere che non certo mettendosi la mano davanti
agli occhi che si pu cambiare la realt.
My answer is that people cannot change reality by burying their
heads in the sand.
Most of the preceding has concerned conventional metaphor. Creative metaphors in other
languages are also interesting; however, they are individual cases which reflect cultural
traditions of discourse and text, as well as the metaphorical characteristics and
capabilities of different languages. Translators of non-literary texts have to balance the
importance of maintaining the rhetorical style of the original against the need to avoid
Introducing metaphor 70
distracting lexical devices by translating word for word. Different protocols again apply
to literary texts. Here, translators might well feel that it was important to reproduce the
metaphorical choices of the original writer, in order to maintain the imagery of the text,
rather than substituting near-equivalent or non-metaphorical expressions. We would, for
example, expect a translator of Shakespeare to retain the metaphors of
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them
Similarly, we accept word-for-word translations of poetry into English, however marked
they are or un-English they sound. For example, the Old English poetic metaphor
hronrde, referring to the sea literally translates as whale road, and a translation whale
road seems preferable to simply using sea. This is what Seamus Heaney chose to do in
his translation of Beowulf:
In the end each clan on the outlying coasts
beyond the whale-road had to yield to him
And begin to pay tribute.
(Heaney 1999:3)
Compare the following opening of the poem Romance sonmbulo (Somnambular
Ballad, Sleepwalking Ballad) by the Spanish poet Lorca, who is noted for his striking
imagery, and a parallel translation by Merryn Williams:
Verde que te quiero verde. Green how much I want you green.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas. Green wind. Green branches.
El barco sobre la mar The ship upon the sea
y el caballo en la montaa. and the horse on the mountain.
Con la sombra en la cintura With the shade at her waist
ella suea en su baranda, she dreams on her balcony,
verde carne, pelo verde, green flesh, green hair,
con ojos de fra plata. and eyes of cold silver.
Verde que te quiero verde. Green how much I want you green.
Bajo la luna gitana, Beneath the gypsy moon,
las cosas la estn mirando things are looking at her
y ella no pueda mirarlas. and she cannot see them.
Metaphor across languages 71

(Lorca 1992:7475)
This is not completely literal, but it broadly maintains the images and poetic qualities of
the original.
SUMMARY
We began this chapter by considering how we have different levels of awareness of
figurative language when learning other languages, compared with our first language. We
considered cases of equivalents in other languages to metaphors, idioms, and metonyms.
We saw that some have direct equivalents, some similar, some parallel (with different
metaphorical images), and others no figurative equivalents at all: we also saw that even
apparent equivalents may have slight differences in meaning and usage. We considered
conceptual metaphors, mainly with respect to whether they were universal or specific to a
language/ culture. In relating this to broader issues of language, culture, and thought, we
discussed how metaphors (and metonyms) indicate differences in viewpoint and
understanding, and may constrain it. Lastly, we discussed some practical issues and cases
of actual translations of metaphors.
It is, perhaps, appropriate to end by saying that the selection of a translation is not just
lexical or semantic, but evaluative and ideological too: switching one metaphor for
another may change the reading of the original in significant ways. This means that
translators need to be aware of the discourse function of the original metaphorhow it
evaluates, and whether it is being used to explain something more clearly, or perhaps to
conceal or code the real meaning. These are issues which we will return to in the
following chapters.
FURTHER READING
Baker, M. (1992) In Other Words , London: Routledge. (Chapter 3 considers the translation of
idioms and other figurative expressions.)
Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapters 12 and 13.)
Montgomery, M. (1995) An Introduction to Language and Society , 2nd edn, London: Routledge.
(Chapter 11 introduces the ideas of Sapir and Whorf, and then explores evaluative aspects of
language.)
Newmark, P. (1988) A Textbook of Translation , London: Prentice Hall. (Chapter 7 deals with
literal translation, Chapter 10 with the translation of metaphors, and Chapter 15 with the
translation of literature.)
Whorf, B.L. (1956) Language, Thought, and Reality , Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. (A
collection of Whorfs papers, to be read selectively, for data on how Hopi and other languages
lexicalize and conceptualize the world.)
Introducing metaphor 72
7
METAPHOR, IDEOLOGY, AND SOCIAL
CONTEXT
This chapter, together with Chapters 8 and 9, will shift the focus of this book from
background issues to figurative language in context, and we will make detailed reference
to actual data. As these three chapters are, in a sense, applied or practical, we feel that it
might be useful for you to unpack or interpret some of our examples. We will make
some suggestions for practical work as we proceed.
In Chapter 2, we considered metaphor in relation to the meaning of words and phrases
and saw that the meaning of a word or phrase is not just the surface or literal meaning.
Sometimes, indeed quite often, words can be put together in a text with the intention of
putting forward a particular point of view, of trying to persuade a reader or listener that
this is the point of view. In other words, the text is evaluative in some way or, if you like,
it contains an ideology. In this chapter, we are going to explore the notion of metaphor
and evaluative language in a variety of domains or contexts. As a starting point, we will
look at upward movement as opposed to downward movement in English. Generally
speaking, we see that up tends to positive evaluation while down tends to negative
evaluation. Sometimes, of course, upness can express negative evaluation as in:
Military budgets had continued to spiral.
But spiral can also be used to indicate downward movement in negative contexts:
Industry had entered a spiral of decline.
From our own data, we can illustrate the up/down positive/negative contrast in English
with:
M&S ups sweetener to 2bn
(The Observer (Business), 11 J uly 2004)
This is the headline of an article concerned with negotiations for the take-over of the
British company Marks and Spencer. Marks and Spencer are apparently increasing share
values (ups sweetener) to make the company more attractive financially. Of course, from
another point of view, it could be argued that this particular upping reflects negative
evaluation in that the sweetener might be seen as a kind of bribe. However, it is certainly
positive for the shareholders and contrasts with:
Roof falls in on buy-to-let scam

(The Guardian (Jobs and Money), 6 March 2004)
This refers to an article about alleged losses (roof falls in) by investors in a property
investment scheme.
In general, then, in Western culture, good things are up and bad things are down.
Lakoff and Johnson give a number of different orientational metaphors which clearly
demonstrate the UP/DOWN polar oppositions that exist metaphorically in Western
culture (see Lakoff and J ohnson 1980/2003:1421). In their discussion, they also make
the point that such orientational metaphors may not be exactly the same in other cultures.
In Chapter 9, we will see how, in metaphor associated with religious belief, this UP
versus DOWN contrast was conceived of in terms of Heaven (UP) and Hell (DOWN). In
Victorian England, there was a considerable output of evangelical fiction for both adults
and children and the authors laid great emphasis on good people going up there to
Heaven and bad people going down there to Hell. In fact, poor and hungry people
were being constantly urged that their reward would come in heaven. In one such
narrative, by Charlotte M. Tucker, The Green Velvet Dress (1858), there is a little boy
called Tommy.
Tommy is slowly starving and Tucker presents Tommys future (death) in poem form
using the metaphor of a happy home above:
Neer will I sigh for wealth,
Such wealth as coffers can hold:
Contentment, union and health,
Are not to be bought for gold!
The costly treasures I prize
Are treasures of family love
Of a happier home above
(Tucker 1858/1993:101)
In other words, money cannot buy happiness (though the fact that it can buy food seems
to have been overlooked) and Tommys reward will come up there.
METAPHOR AND POLITICAL NARRATIVE
In a very different, contemporary, context we can again see metaphor being exploited
evaluatively. Evaluation or ideology is, for many, usually associated with political beliefs
and it is quite true that political parties want to persuade us that their way is the right
way. Ideology, however, need not necessarily be thought of in purely political terms.
Ideology can be seen as a set of beliefs which provides justification for what people do
and say. As such, the social dimension is very important, and language plays a key role in
realizing these social and political values. In fact, the notion of social contexts is very
useful in describing how language operates in different situations. We will start with the
following:
Introducing metaphor 74
In Downing Street, it was as if a hand grenade had landed in the front
hall. Through the next few weeks newspaper front pages were
pockmarked with the fallout, a shower of anti-Brown stories
Campbell and Hunter form the circle of intimates who are Blairs
armour. Brown wears a similar protective suit. His most important
adviser is Ed Balls Balls was left as the Chancellors principal political
lieutenant. He is a disarmingly cheery soul, given much more to laughing
than to dark conspiracies, but he has created a fearsome reputation for
himself.
(J ames Naughtie The Rivals, 2001:246)
The writer, J ames Naughtie, is a respected British journalist and presenter on the BBCs
current affairs programme, Today. In his book, Naughtie charts the relationship between
the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon
Brown. The title of the book, The Rivals, is itself metaphorical as it is unlikely to be a
coincidence that it is exactly the same as Richard Brinsley Sheridans famous play, The
Rivals. Furthermore, the subtitle of Naughties work is The Intimate Story of a Political
Marriage.
The context of this extract is that it claims to be the response by Downing Street (the
official residence of the British Prime Minister, and a good example of metonymy) to a
biography of Gordon Brown published in 1998. The biography is the work of a political
commentator critical of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Gordon Brown himself was not
quoted in the biography but it was written, it was asserted on 4the cover, with the
Chancellors full permission (2001:246). So, we have a representation of relationships
within this marriage. Naughtie is not quoting directly either Blair or Brown but
commenting on how the relationship between the two might be viewed given their
political history. Allegedly, the two men have an uneasy relationship. In fact, we can
view this as a type of ARGUMENT IS WAR conceptual metaphor. The metaphor is
extended: it is not just a war metaphor but mainly a nuclear war one.
The nuclear war metaphor is recycled throughout the two paragraphs from which this
extract is taken to provide a cohesive account of one view of the two politicians
relationship at this time. We can unpack it as follows:
context the book plus earlier alleged criticism of Brown by supporters of Blair (this criticism is
not included in the extract but precedes it)
vehicle nuclear war
topic alleged hostility between the two major politicians and their supporters
grounds the idea of extreme aggression between two powerfully armed opponents
Now, given the above, consider how the metaphor is realized by Naughtie as a
metaphorical chain. Lets break it down into its constituent parts:
The book is a hand grenade: the book is an explosive device.
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 75

Newspaper pages were pockmarked with the fallout, a shower of

anti-Brown stories: the result of publication of the book was
considerable negative evaluation of one of the participants in the media.
Campbell and Hunter, the intimates, are Blairs armour: one
participant had powerful friends/allies to protect him.
Brown had a similar protective suit (Ed Balls), Browns principal
political lieutenant: the other participant also had a powerful defender,
who is, in addition, his main professional adviser.
In sum, this is a mini-narrative and exemplifies well Naughties style of writing (not
unlike his oral presentation in the media), which carries more than a small degree of irony
(see Chapter 8). Admittedly, intimates is not overtly a war word, but within the context
of this text, it is not unreasonable to present it as we have done, that is, as allies. Overall,
the relationship between literal and metaphorical meaning contributes to an especially
effective metaphor. Note particularly the change of focus from a hand grenade landing in
the front hall to the concept of a shower of radioactive fallout.
There are two other highlighted phrases, and we can see a connection with the war
metaphor. Both dark conspiracies and a fearsome reputation would not be out of place in
war history or war narrative. The presence of words like dark and fearsome is not
surprising, given the vehicle, nuclear war. A conspiracy is a plot by, usually, a small
group of people to overthrow leadership and replace it. The fact that our conspiracy is a
dark one emphasizes danger and fear. However, even though Ed Balls may not be a
conspirator he has, apparently, a fearsome reputation. In other words, he has caused
himself to be regarded in a most frightening and terrible way. Or is Naughtie being ironic
here?
METAPHOR AND THE REPORTING OF THE NEWS
In Chapter 3, we discussed the systematization of metaphor. We saw how metaphorical
links between concepts may be culture-specific as, for example, Western societys view
of ARGUMENT IS WAR. The following examples illustrate this particularly well. We
will now look at politics again but this time in the context of the reporting of the news.
First, an extract from The Guardian puts forward a point of view, apparently held by
certain top members of the British Government, of the role of the media over the
resignation of British cabinet minister Estelle Morris:
Cabinet attacks media war on Morris
Leading figures in Tony Blairs cabinet suddenly rounded on the
media yesterday accusing it of hounding a wounded Estelle Morris, the
former education secretary, from office.
(Patrick Whelan The Guardian, 25 October 2002)
To round on someone means to attack them swiftly and aggressively. The topic of speed
and aggression which we can unpack from round on is reinforced by the verb accused. In
other words, it is alleged that the media have done something wrong or bad, and if that is
Introducing metaphor 76
not enough, the metaphor is extended with the accusation being spelled out in
uncompromising terms. They have been accused of:
hounding a wounded Estelle Morris.
To hound someone means to criticize them continuously, using strongly worded or
aggressive language as in:
He was hounded by the press.
The grounds between usage and meaning in the Estelle Morris extract lie in the idea of
pursuit by a savage body or group (a pack of hounds?: compare the old-fashioned word
for a reporter, newshound), who are intent on destroying their wounded quarry. The
inference here is that Estelle Morriss feelings have been deeply hurt and her reputation
damaged by the media. Wound is itself, of course, part of the vocabulary of the metaphor,
ARGUMENT IS WAR.
The point of view of the leading figures above, however, may not be the same as that
of others. Equally, The Guardian might not share the point of view of other British
newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph or the Sun. It certainly did not, over the issue of
Estelle Morris, share the point of view of the Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper:
So let us nip one thing in the bud. Contrary to Westminster mythology
outrageously spread by Robin CookMiss Morris was not hounded
out.
(Comment Daily Mail, 25 October 2002)
In this Daily Mail extract, we know that the topic, like The Guardians, is Estelle
Morriss resignation. In assigning responsibility for the resignation, we are given a
different point of view. That is, the media are not to blame for the resignation. When the
Daily Mail uses the metaphor Westminster mythology, it is as good as saying
Westminster lies: a body of myths is, after all, a body of false or legendary but widely
held notions. Thus, according to the newspaper, Miss Morris was not hounded out. It is
also interesting how other attitudinal language supports this metaphor. Outrageously here
means that what Robin Cook has allegedly spread is socially and morally unacceptable,
and spread itself can be seen as metaphorical. Note also the role of those taking part in
the interaction. The silent partner, the reader, has been included in the discourse by the
Daily Mails Comment writer. The use of let us makes the assumption that writer and
readers together will nip one thing in the bud.
In Chapter 2, we introduced the notion of idioms as a kind of metaphorical phrase. For
a native speaker of English, nip something in the bud is straightforward. Nip literally
means give someone a small but possibly painful pinch or squeeze with ones fingers;
bud means early growth as in rosebuds or the apple trees are in bud (closely connected is
the use of budding in contexts such as Hes one of our better-known budding actors or
Shes only eighteen but shes already a budding entrepreneur). The meaning in the
Daily Mail report is, however, interpreted from the metaphor that the idiom contains.
Here the journalist is urging that the myth (lie) that Estelle Morris was hounded out
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 77

(forced out) of office should be quashed now. In other words, put an end to this untruth
immediately, before it flowers.
Bearing in mind how much more difficult it is to decode some idioms in terms of their
literal meanings, we turn again to the discourse of politicians. The incident concerned
was reported by The Guardian and has to do with the politics, and two of the political
figures, of Northern Ireland. The raids referred to were police raids on the offices of the
Irish political party Sinn Fein at Stormont Castle, the seat of the Northern Ireland
Legislative Assembly: Sinn Fein is the main opposition party to British rule in Northern
Ireland. Two Unionist MPs made statements regarding the police action, which put
forward their point of view. The Unionists represent the loyalist or pro-British lobby.
First, J effrey Donaldson, at that time Ulster Unionist MP for Lagan Valley constituency,
stated that the raids were
the final nail in the coffin of Sinn Feins participation in the
government of Northern Ireland.
(Rosie Gowan The Guardian, 5 October 2002)
His colleague, the east Belfast Democratic Unionist MP Peter Robinson, was not to be
outdone:
the fact that such a raid [sic] has taken place must drive a coach and
horses through protestations that Sinn Fein is committed to exclusively
peaceful means.
In these extracts, both politicians use an idiom:
the final nail in the coffin
drive a coach and horses through
We observed in Chapter 2 how corpus evidence shows up clusters of variable wordings
for idioms, and J effrey Donaldsons the final nail in the coffin belongs to one of the
clusters we cited there. Of the two idioms, the first one is probably less opaque in terms
of interpretation. In other words, the raids mean the death (another metaphor) or the end
of Sinn Feins participation in the government of Northern Ireland.
The meaning of the second idiom has to do with size and weight. Peter Robinson is
effectively saying Sinn Feins protestations of commitment to rule by peaceful means
are flimsy. The fact that the raids were on Sinn Fein offices provides the force (the
coach and horses) to destroy these protestations. In effect, Peter Robinson is implying
that Sinn Fein are lying about their declared commitment to peaceful government. He
might as well have used another idiom, theres no smoke without fire.
The imagery conjured up by both idioms is a result of language in use to reinforce a
particular political ideology. It is significant that they are taken from the social context of
political speeches. Both politicians are known for their fundamental but passionate styles
of oratory. We can assume that the dramatic use of two very well-known and figuratively
very strong idioms would appeal to their political followers.
Introducing metaphor 78
Interestingly, in the same account of the debate in which Peter Robinson delivered his
coach and horses image and J effrey Donaldson his nail in the coffin, we have another
evaluation of the same incident. The expression of this point of view carries some of the
language of the ARGUMENT IS WAR conceptual metaphor. The speaker is Barbara de
Bruin, a leading Sinn Fein politician, who wants Dr J ohn Reid, then Secretary of State for
Northern Ireland, to justify the raids:
But Barbara de Bruin, the Sinn Fein Stormont Health minister,
challenged Dr Reid to explain why the raids were carried out.
This is a politically inspired ricochet into the middle of a highly
volatile situation. It is an attack on Sinn Fein and the process of change,
it is damaging to everybody involved in the peace process.
Note, first, the newspapers selection of the verb challenged to introduce what de Bruin
says. A challenge can mean a questioning of the truth or the necessity of something;
however, it can also mean to issue a dare or give cause to or invite someone to fight. A
ricochet literally refers to a bullet which has been fired and which then bounces off
another surface at an angle. The politically inspired ricochet means the raids were,
allegedly, a result of a deliberate Government decision. The raids, then, were a bullet that
missed its intended target and bounced, having a most detrimental effect on the highly
volatile situation that is the emotional and dangerous context of Northern Irish politics.
Barbara de Bruin also uses the metaphor to point out that police (British Government)
action has seriously damaged the democratic structure of the Assembly. In sum, then, the
action, from de Bruins point of view, is:
a ricochet (into a highly volatile situation)
damaging
an attack
Ideologically, de Bruin sees the whole Good Friday Agreement (the agreement reached
by the political parties of Northern Ireland on Good Friday 1998) as under threat. In other
words, the attack is not only on Sinn Fein but on the peace process itself. For J effrey
Donaldson and Peter Robinson, on the other hand, the raids demonstrate the
undemocratic position of Sinn Fein because the police allegedly found it necessary to
search their offices. These are two different points of view, and two different
ideologies.
The WAR metaphor can contribute to the cohesive structure of newspaper items
outside political contexts. Consider the following extract from a report by Mark
Townsend:
Alien Invasion: the plants wrecking rural Britain
Aliens are taking over the British countryside.
Our rivers are being choked to death, our meadows overrun and our
native species smothered to the brink of extinction. And the invasion is
almost complete.
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 79

The first study of its kind into the remarkable spread of non-British
plants reveals that more than 80 per cent of Britain has been infiltrated.
Virulent superweedsare conquering Britain with a speed that has
astonished scientists. Practically all of lowland Britain has been
colonised
(The Guardian, 2 February 2003)
Mark Townsend sees Britains natural flora as being under threat from invasion by aliens.
He looks at Britains flora, the target, in terms of war, using warlike language such as
might also be found within the context of science fiction. This is connoted by the item
aliens, and associated items such as infiltrated, virulent, conquering, colonised. There are
resonances here of J ohn Wyndhams classic science fiction novel Day of the Triffids, in
which the planet Earth is overrun by giant plant-like creatures.
Now, consider this example of metaphor in the reporting of the news. It comes from
The Independent (14 June 2004):
THE SCAPEGOAT
This refers to the resignation of the Central Intelligence Agencys director, George Tenet,
over the issue of weapons of mass destruction and Iraq. In the opening paragraph of this
front-page article, Mr Tenet is referred to as:
the Bush administrations de facto scapegoat
The item is used again in the article, with a quote from a former CIA director who
apparently said of Tenet:
Hes being pushed out: its likely hes the scapegoat
On page 5 of the same edition of The Independent, we have:
Is CIA director the scapegoat for Iraq?
Furthermore, in its leading article for that day (page 30) and on that topic, we read:
This cheap sacrifice offers little solace to those who question the Iraq war
and later:
If the departure of Mr. Tenet is a cheap sacrifice from Mr. Bushs
perspective
The Independent journalist has used the biblical concepts of the scapegoat and a sacrifice.
In contemporary usage, a scapegoat (a whipping boy or fall guy) is someone to take
the collective blame for something that, in the eyes of the community, has gone badly
Introducing metaphor 80
wrong. The origins of the term lie in ancient J udaism where a goat was sent out into the
desert as a sacrifice. The goat was supposed to carry with it the sins of the community.
There is poignancy here, as the J ewish population of Nazi Germany were made
scapegoats by Hitler, with the tragic results that we now call the Holocaust. We will
return to the metaphors of scapegoat and sacrifice later on.
METAPHOR AND SPORT
Consider the following headline:
Must do better, warns badly wounded Tiger
(Robert Kitson The Guardian (Sports Supplement), 5 October 2002)
Animal metaphors are not uncommon in the language of sports reporting or in the naming
of teams in different sports. In the United States, the Chicago Bulls are a well-known
American basketball team. However, the extract above is especially culture-bound.
Guardian readers who follow rugby football would be able to interpret the evaluation
carried by the animal metaphor, since they and the journalist Robert Kitson share a
common sporting environment. The readers would recognize the vehicle, badly wounded
Tiger, and the idea of a large and savage animal that has been badly hurt. The connection
or grounds lie in the fact that Leicester City Rugby Football Clubs nickname is The
Tigers. (You might also want to consider the must in the headline. The evaluation
contained in the metaphor is given added force by this modal verb: in English, meanings
concerned with certainty, possibility, obligation, permission, and volition are traditionally
realized by modality.)
Lets look at the metaphor again. The badly wounded tiger of the headline is Martin
J ohnson, the clubs and Englands captain. He is not physically hurt, as Estelle Morris
was not physically hurt, in our earlier, political metaphor. Rather, the wound is shared
with his colleagues; it is a collective wound. This club had been at the top of the English
rugby premier league for some years, but had not been performing well since the start of
the new season. In this report, both Robert Kitson and Martin J ohnson evaluate the club
metaphorically as a badly wounded tiger. In other words, their reputation as a top
sporting side has been damaged.
The importance of the metaphor wounded in both contexts, the political and the
sporting, lies in the fact that metaphorical language is not necessarily context-bound. It is
a shared item within the wider discourse of journalism. The Guardian reader will take
on board instantaneously and subconsciously the relationship between the different
elements of:
wound (vehicle)
being badly hurt (topic)
notions of fierceness/savagery (grounds)
be it
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 81

Context 1:accusing it of hounding a wounded Estelle Morris

or
Context 2: Must do better, warns badly wounded Tiger.
For readers interested in both politics and rugby, the ability to interpret and adapt their
interpretations to context will not be problematic. The shared knowledge that the readers
possess allows them the ability of interpretation whether it is politics or sport or both. The
recognition and interpretation of the metaphor is part of the shared knowledge that exists
here between the journalists and their readers, what Kvecses (2002:207) calls
conventional knowledge.
Moving on to a different sport, consider the headline below:
Anfield winter of discontent as fans turn on the boss
(J ohn Edwards Daily Mail, 7 February 2003)
Sport is a social context in which commentators can use and mix metaphors to an
unprecedented degree. In the first noun phrase, the source may well be Shakespeares
Richard III, but it is worth noting that for many English people of a certain age it might
recall the winter of 19781979, when Britain was going through a period of major
industrial unrest, and which became known, through the media, as the winter of
discontent. (The Shakespearian context actually reads Now is the winter of our
discontent.)
Anfield is, as every British soccer fan knows, Liverpool Football Clubs home base.
The phrase Anfield winter of discontent has been placed in theme position in the headline:
theme is what the reader sees first in a clause or sentence and so can be of strategic
significance for a writer wishing to put forward a particular point of view. The metaphor
has extra potency because, in addition to targeting the discontent of the Liverpool
supporters, it was literally winter at the time the article appeared. Liverpool had not been
playing well and this provides the second metaphor of the headline with all its
connotation of animal or mob savagery. Think of a dog turning on its owner or a mob
turning on a political leader. The headline is followed by a description of Liverpool
Football Clubs poor performance at a crucial stage of the British soccer season and the
subsequent dissatisfaction of their supporters. The writer describes how the then
Liverpool manager (the boss), Gerard Houllier, was being severely criticized by many
of the clubs supporters (the fans).
In another, longer article from the same paper we have the headline:
OWEN SHOULDNT BE THE SCAPEGOAT
(Compare the use of the same metaphor in The Independents account of the resignation
of CIA director George Tenet. Here, we have further evidence of items being used in
different contexts as part of the discourse of journalism, as in the case of wound earlier.)
In the context in which the metaphor is used here, the writer takes a sympathetic view
of Michael Owen, one of the top players at Liverpool at that time. Owen had been
Introducing metaphor 82
criticized by some fans and journalists for Liverpools relatively poor performances. The
Daily Mail is quite explicit in its alternative view. Towards the end of the article, J ohn
Giles, the writer, sums up his opinions on Owen as a footballer. Giless point is that
Michael Owen has not been allowed to realize his potential as a player, but that this is not
entirely his fault:
The starting point is to turn Owen into a genuine asset rather than a
handy scapegoat. He is a player to be nourished and servednot fed
scraps in the desperate hope that he will turn them [the scraps] into a
banquet.
In the highlighted items in the first sentence, we have a clear indication of Giless stance
as regards Michael Owen. There is the repetition of the headline scapegoat (taking the
blame for the whole team) and the use of asset. An asset is someone or something of
value and in the plural has strong connotations of property and possessions against which
ones liabilities may be offset. Michael Owen is, of course, a person of value in terms of
his sporting skills, but he was also one of Liverpools assets in terms of money. They
bought him, and eventually sold him on to Real Madrid. At one level, then, there is the
concept of the player as a valuable investment and possession.
The concept of food and eating is here used to boost the writers belief that Owens
team mates were not contributing as they should. Giles makes it clear that, from his point
of view, the responsibility is Gerard Houlliers to ensure that other team members support
Owen effectively on the football field. They should not be simply feeding him scraps. In
making his point, in what is quite a long article, Giles also employs the concept of
Houllier as a piano player:
He reminds me of a desperate pianist in pursuit of a lost chord.
And two columns further on:
Recovery of the lost chord seems as remote as ever
One of the most common of metaphorical usages in sport has to do with the concept of
war, where WAR is the source for the target SPORT. Kvecses (2002:75) makes the
point that Many prototypical sports such as soccer, rugby, American football, wrestling,
boxing, evolved from war and fighting. The SPORT IS WAR metaphor can be seen
exemplified in the two headlines below:
Big guns go into battle over Keane
(Richard Tanner and Harry Harris Daily Express, 15 October 2002)
Waynes Waterloo
(Will Buckley The Observer, 2 February 2003)
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 83

The first headline refers to a controversy which involved the Manchester United and Irish
international player Roy Keane. The second concerns the (then) Everton player, Wayne
Rooney.
Similarly, from cricket:
Caddick digs in after the wipe-out of Nasser & Co
The tourists struggled to 221 against a sub-strength Western
Australia side
Husseins teamwere only saved from further embarrassment by a
rearguard action led by Andy Caddick.
(Graham Otway Daily Mail, 25 October 2002)
You might now like to unpack the war metaphors above.
METAPHOR AND ADVERTISING
Kvecses makes the point that:
Part of the selling power of an advertisement depends on how well-chosen
the conceptual metaphor is that the picture and/or the words used in the
advertisement attempt to evoke in people. An appropriately selected
metaphor may work wonders in promoting the sale of an item.
(Kvecses 2002:59)
For example, in an advertisement for Douwe Egberts coffee, there is a picture of two
packets of the coffee and a partially obscured cafetire and coffee cup. There follows a
question with the answer supplied:
Love coffee?
Prepare to be smitten
(The Observer (Food Monthly), J une 2003)
There is an element of personification here and we have seen something of this
phenomenon already in this book. Personification is not new in the language of
advertising. Consider this extract from a 1980s advertisement for a Ford Capri car:
It has a low, wide stance
It has a muscular engine
It is a charismatic coupe
Which has always promised performance
The car is presented in sexual terms; the sexuality, in fact, of the male. This is achieved
by ascribing human, male attributes to the pronoun it. The coffee advertisement is,
perhaps, less overtly sexual but the sexual element is there, nonetheless.
Introducing metaphor 84
Make it a real good time. [Their italics]
Another advertisement, for washing machine detergent, comes from the womens
magazine Red and also involves personification as one of its selling strategies. The
advertisement opens with a question under a picture of a washing machine with a large
duvet spilling out of it:
What do you feed a machine with an appetite this big?
(Red, March 2003)
The body copy reads as follows:
Youve put a bigger load in the washing machine. There was even room
for your duvet. Thats the Indesit WAX 120 for you. But how do you get
it all clean? Easy. Instead of one, just pop a couple of Ariel Liquitabs in
the drum. Simple to use and highly concentrated, Ariel Liquitabs tackle
stains with so much energy they clean even the largest load. No
wonder Indesit recommend them.
The advertisement concludes with a slogan under a small picture of the detergent:
Thats another load off your mind.
The slogan, of course, plays on the pun of load: that is, the literal load, something
heavy, as in a load of washing, and the metaphorical load, indicating worry or anxiety.
The machine is represented as having appetite: it is personified (or animalified!). So are
the two tablets of detergent. The consumer has to put them in the washing machine but
the real work is done by the Ariel Liquitabs:
They can tackle
They have energy
They can clean
In other words, they (the Liquitabs) are seen as having agency. In addition, the use of
punning helps to highlight the personification of the detergent as a friend who can take
another load off your mind. As Kvecses points out:
washing powders are frequently presented as good friends; this is based
on the metaphor ITEMS TO SELL ARE PEOPLE, which is a kind of
personification. A WASHING POWDER is A FRIEND metaphor evokes
in people the same attitudes and feelings that they have in connection with
their good friends.
(Kvecses 2002:59)
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 85

Indesit, of course, is also a good friend, as they recommend Ariel Liquitabs. The young,
professional female reader doesnt have to do the washing herself as the onerous nature
of the task is undertaken by her friends. We have to say, however, we were unable to find
any WASHING POWDER AS FRIENDS metaphors in similar, male magazines. In fact,
we were unable to find any advertisements for washing powders whatsoever: is this
ideology again?
Another example from Red also employs personification. Called The Dream Team, the
advertisement features two Clinique products for
These insomniacs work all night to defuse the aging effects of time,
stress, environment. New Repairwear Intensive Night Cream helps
block and mend the look of lines and wrinkles. If skins in need of more
intensive treatment, add new Repairwear Extra Help Serum to elevate
the potential for repairing skins appearance. Clinique. Allergy Tested.
100% Fragrance Free.
Note how the two versions of the product, Clinique Repairwear Intensive Night Cream
and Clinique Repairwear Extra Help Serum, are given human agency: personification
again! The products are:
insomniacs who can work all night.
Specifically:
Insomniac 1 helps block and mend
while those who require further treatment can rely on:
Insomniac 2 to elevate the potential for repairing skins appearance.
Note also the use of the scientific item serum as a metaphor. Many advertisements
employ pseudo scientific or technical language in the belief that this will help boost sales
because it implies a professional expertise.
METAPHOR AND MONEY
Money involves all of us: the earning of it, the spending of it, how to get more,
insufficient funds, and so on. For example, consider the metaphor below, which is
reworked three times, but in different sections of the British broadsheet Sunday
newspaper, The Observer. First, as a headline:
Hands down
You can always win if you play your cards right
(The Observer (Cash), 2 February 2003)
Introducing metaphor 86
This appeared as a headline on the front cover of the Observer supplement Cash. It was
strongly supported by a non-verbal metaphor, a full-length colour illustration of a card
game with two pairs of hands. One pair was foregrounded so that the Observer reader
could be said to be sitting in the players place. The cards being held were credit cards
and on the centre of the table were some gambling chips.
On page 2 we have an article on credit card use (and abuse) and which is continued
through to page 4. The headline for the article is:
Card sharps beat the system
A further headline on page 3 extends the gambling metaphor to
Tips for card sharps
And it extends even more, from the tabloid format Cash, to the Observers broadsheet
Business and Media supplement of the same day with, in the top right-hand corner of
page 1, a reduced copy of Cashs cover illustration and the caption:
Great deal: Make your cards come up trumps
The article referred to focused on one mans ability to keep on top of credit card debt by
the astute use of the balance transfer deals which many of the credit card companies offer
at low interest rates or, indeed, 0 per cent for a limited period.
A strategy now used by banks is to see their customers as consumers buying actual
merchandise. This occurs to the extent that it can be found in spoken situations as in face-
to-face interaction with bank staff, as well as in the written mode. For example, compare
the following. First, from the Lloyds/TSB Platinum Account Pack, exemplifying the
concept MONEY IS A PRODUCT:
Best rates of interest offered by Lloyds/TSB on this type of product
and second:
We value your custom highlywe know that you have availed
yourselves of a number of our products.
(Personal conversation with Bank Manager, November 2002)
What is interesting here is the fact that the product referred to in the first of these extracts
concerns overdraft facilities, while the second is referring to a discussion about an
application for a bank loan. In neither case is the text referring to something physical,
produced by manufacture.
Another metaphorical expression in financial discourse is based on the concept of
being locked in. This can concern a mortgage, as in this first example from a Cheltenham
and Gloucester Building Society advertisement:
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 87

No lock-in period
or in the BBCs reporting on the Bank of Englands decision to cut interest rates:
these interest rates have been locked in
(BBC Radio 4, PM at 5pm, 6 February 2003)
or in a variation of lock in used by the Abbey National Building Society, also in an
advertisement:
Great rates on Mortgagesno extended tie ins.
Another source exploited in money metaphor involves the concept of FIRE or HEAT.
Heat, of course, signifies intensity. Kvecses (2002:112117) discusses the concepts of
FIRE and HEAT and their association with emotions such as ANGER and LOVE: see
also our discussions in earlier chapters. In the financial world, decisions by governments
and big business can create a situation that affects virtually everyone. The cause of this
situation is the cause of the heat or fire (2002:115). Thus, from the same BBC current
affairs programme cited above we have the following:
Do you think this could re-ignite the housing market? Theres been a
blaze there anyway.
So, the interviewee is being asked, will the cut in interest rates cause a situation which in
turn will cause fire (re-ignition)? But we are told a little later in the interview that the
situation of house prices has already caused fire (a blaze).
On the same topic, Alex Brummer of the Daily Mail also uses, amongst other
metaphors, the concept of HEAT:
if the choice is a temporary reduction in savings rates versus a J apanese
or a German-style meltdown, then a sacrifice on rates must be more
palatable.
(Daily Mail, 7 February 2003)
As well as meltdown, note the contrast between the concept of giving something up
(sacrifice: remember this item in the reporting of the news), that is the lowering of
interest rates which adversely affects savers, and that of something appetizing (palatable)
and therefore more acceptable, from the point of view of maintaining financial stability.
In referring to house prices, Brummer comments that in many parts of Britain house
prices are going up. This is not true of:
overheated London and the South-East.
Also in Brummers article, we can see the GOOD IS UP, BAD IS DOWN contrast, as in
Introducing metaphor 88
It is not often during the past 15 months of interest rates that industrialists
have had the opportunity to throw their hats in the air.
and quoting Digby J ones of the Confederation of British Industry:
This should put some wind under the wings of industry
Finally, just prior to the war with Iraq:
it is too much to expect that a quarter point cut will be enough to lift the
market out of the doldrums.
Now, interpret the following four money metaphors in terms of topic, vehicle, and
grounds:
a German style meltdown
overheated London and the South East
to throw their hats in the air
to lift the market out of the doldrums
GRAMMATICAL METAPHOR
So far in this book, we have concentrated on examples of lexical metaphor. There is,
however, a textual phenomenon, known as grammatical metaphor. In grammatical
metaphor or nominalization (see Halliday 1994:342367) actions, which would usually
be described by a sentence such as we study economics, are presented in a noun phrase
such as the study of economics. At its most simple, activities or processes, which would
naturally be expressed by verbs, become things. The verbs have been changed into nouns:
they have become nominalized. English is a language in which it is possible to use
nominalization to quite a large extent, especially in the written form and the more formal
spoken varieties. We have choices in English as to how we want to present situations and
events to others. There will be a typical or congruent way, as in we study economics, or
there is the metaphorical way. Ideologically, nominalization allows the writer or speaker
to avoid mentioning the agent or doer of the action. In our basic example above, we
avoided mentioning the we when we reformulated we study economics as the study of
economics.
The Australian linguist J im Martin (1985:43) has demonstrated how grammatical
metaphor can be exploited in texts to avoid, or at least to disguise, situations that might
be evaluated as unpleasant in some way. In exemplification, Martin cites two texts that
have a common theme. One argues that the culling of kangaroos is brutal and should be
stopped. The other is a pro culling text. The latter puts forward the point of view that
culling, in this case of baby seals, is a sensible, scientific business. Both texts have
distinctive styles in arguing their cases. The kangaroo text is much more emotive and
draws attention to the active processes involved in the culling and those who are the
agents of those processes. It uses more congruent forms in its argument. The seal text, on
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 89

the other hand, draws attention away from these unpleasant activities. One device used by
the seal killing lobby is nominalization. The use of this grammatical metaphor, as Martin
points out, disguises the highly active and brutal nature of the processes. Thus, instead of
the hunters clubbed the baby seals to death we have:
the seal hunt
or
the sealing operation
or, even more ideologically sited,
the white coat harvest
So, in the three extracts above, the agents (the cullers/killers) are not mentioned and
what they do (club baby seals to death) is hidden by careful language selection.
In the completely different area of Forensic Stylistics, Malcolm Coulthards work
demonstrates how disputed sentences in statements made to the police can show the
feature of nominalization. He cites examples of the representation of processes, which
are typically reported by verbs in spoken English as products, which are encoded as
nominal(ization)s (his italics) (1995:241): in other words, features which are more
typical of written discourse. Coulthard gives, in exemplification, the first sentence of a
statement attributed to a defendant but which the defendant claimed was only partly an
authentic record:
I wish to make a further statement explaining my complete involvement in
the hijacking of the Ford Escort van from J ohn Smith on Tuesday 28
March 1981 on behalf of the A.B.C. which was later used in the murder of
three person [sic] in Avon that night.
(Coulthard 1995:240241)
The defendant claimed that much of his statement had been invented by police officers.
Coulthard takes from the sentence above four grammatical metaphors:
make a statement
complete involvement
the hijacking
the murder
As Coulthard points out, It was possible to argue that this was not as the police claimed a
verbatim record of what the accused had said. In fact, under cross-examination, the
police officer conceded that the statement may not after all have been verbatim. He
continued to maintain, however, that the defendant had spoken all the words but perhaps
not in that order. See Coulthard (1995:241242) for further discussion.
Introducing metaphor 90
In sum, lexical metaphors can provide creativity in language, in the special way in
which they convey meaning. Furthermore, they can help in vigorously putting forward a
point of view. If lexical metaphors can present one kind of truth as opposed to another,
then, equally, grammatical metaphor can be organized to obscure the truth or the facts,
or to present activities in a more favourable light.
SUMMARY
In this chapter, we have looked at the relationship between metaphor and society, and at
how metaphor can be used by writers and speakers to support beliefs or points of view.
We saw how, in political biography, metaphor was used stylistically as part of a non-
fiction narrative describing the relationship between two very senior British politicians.
In the media, we focused on the report of the resignation of a leading British politician
and of some of the participants in that event. We also discussed metaphor in sports
reporting and demonstrated that metaphor is not necessarily contextspecific and that
some lexical items can be categorized as part of the discourse of journalism. In our case,
items like wound, scapegoat, and sacrifice were used in both news and sports reporting.
In advertising, we considered metaphor being employed persuasively to sell things.
We should also bear in mind that the pictures or images of advertisements can be seen
as metaphors or the non-verbal or visual realization of metaphor. Non-verbal metaphor
will be our focus in Chapter 9.
In the context of money, we saw how banks and other institutions view money as a
product to be purchased by consumers. We looked at the concepts of HEAT and FIRE
and their realization in money metaphors, and we also took note of examples of up/down
positive/negative polarity.
Finally, we showed how two linguists have investigated grammatical metaphor, and
how this phenomenon can be used to obscure unpleasantness or to be evasive with the
truth.
These are not the only contexts in which language generally, and metaphor
specifically, evaluates or puts forward a point of view. In religious discourse, for
example, metaphor can play a major role. Think, for instance, of the concept, THE
CHURCH IS A FAMILY, and expressions such as mother church and daughter
church. There is also the concept of RELIGION IS A GROWING THING. In the
Christian religion, there are hymns which use the items, root, branch, and stem, and
such imagery is also to be found in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. Religion
also, as we will see in Chapter 9, effectively employs non-verbal metaphor.
Metaphor, ideology, and social context 91

FURTHER READING
Bolinger, D. (1980) Languagethe Loaded Weapon , London: Longman. (General discussion of
ideological aspects of vocabulary.)
Cameron, L. (2003) Metaphor in Educational Discourse , London and New York: Continuum.
(Investigates metaphorical language in the classroom and educational contexts.)
Charteris-Black, J . (2004) Politicians and Rhetoric: the Persuasive Power of Metaphor ,
Basingstoke: Palgrave. (Investigates the use of metaphor in politics.)
Cook, G. (1992) The Discourse of Advertising, London: Routledge.
Fairclough, N. (1989) Language and Power , London: Longman. (Discussion of ideology in
language.)
Goatly, A. (1997) The Language of Metaphors , London: Routledge. (Chapter 10.)
Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapters 1 and 2.)
Lakoff, G. and J ohnson, M. (1980; new edn 2003) Metaphors we Live by , Chicago: University of
Chicago Press. (Discussion of how metaphor is used ideologically in, for example, Chapters 21
23.)
Martin, J .R. (1985) Factual Writing: Exploring and Challenging Social Reality , Victoria,
Australia: Deakin University Press; republished (1989) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Discussion of grammatical metaphor.)
Montgomery, M. (1995) An Introduction to Language and Society , 2nd edn, London: Routledge.
(Chapters 5 and 6 for useful discussion of language and the context of situation.)
Vestergaard, T. and Schroder, K. (1985) The Language of Advertising , Oxford: Blackwell.
Introducing metaphor 92
8
LITERARY METAPHOR
Most of us probably made our first conscious acquaintance with metaphorical language in
the study of literary texts: novels, drama, poetry, and so on. Language is made strange
in some way or foregrounded, so that it is different from other everyday usages
although, as Kvecses (2002:44) points out, creative writers very often base their work
on the same conceptual metaphors that we all use in day-to-day existence.
Notwithstanding this fact, creative metaphor is an essential literary ingredient. In Chapter
1, we pointed out that the term metaphor applies to several different linguistic
phenomena, and we looked at some of the different types of non-literal language of
which metaphor is the best-known form. We will now consider the most important of
these which constitute the creative devices available to writers of literary text. As we do
so, it is useful to remember that metaphorical language is, to varying degrees, ambiguous,
and we will look at ambiguity itself later in this chapter.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
As we have seen throughout this book, our understanding of metaphorical language
depends not only on our linguistic competence but our cultural sensitivity, and our
knowledge of more than just the surface structure of the words on the page. It is all very
well for Humpty Dumpty to claim that when he uses a word, it means just what I choose
it to meanneither more nor less (see Carroll Through the Looking Glass
1871/1970:269), but meaning must have some form of general agreement among
language users if meaningful communication is to take place. Nowhere is this truer than
in the decoding of literary texts. Consider the short extract below from J ane Austen:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a
good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
This is one of the most famous examples of irony in English literature and is the opening
sentence from Pride and Prejudice (1813). Irony is a device used by many writers, and
presents the reader with a situation where the author intends the meaning of his or her
words to be interpreted differently and usually in a way opposite to their literal meaning.
In other words, the surface meanings are opposed to the meanings that underlie the text.
The irony in the example lies in the fact that this sentence sets the scene for the novel
and its topic of marriage. The truth of the statement is far from universal, but the mothers
of unmarried young daughters take the statement as a fact: that is, the appearance of the
rich young man causes them to behave accordingly in the pursuance of obtaining
husbands for their daughters.

It is in the literary domain that we can see especially how writers exploit symbolism
and imagery, as well as devices such as puns and irony. For example, consider the
following extract from Richard III (Act I scene 1), already mentioned in Chapter 7:
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York.
In another example, from an untitled poem by Auden, the intensity of death or loss is
captured as follows:
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song
(Auden 1966:92)
What Shakespeare and Auden write is literally untrue, but nonetheless both extracts have
validity and reality in terms of metaphorical and emotional meaning. Both examples
illustrate the fact that metaphors are literally untrue, at least at some level. We have
already made this point more than once, but it is worth reiterating in the context of this
chapter.
TROPES AND SCHEMES
We have already given a general definition of metaphorical language and we now offer a
more precise consideration of this term in relation to its use in literary texts. To repeat,
metaphorical language means a departure from what language users perceive as the
standard norm in terms of the meaning of words. As such, it is part of figurative
language, which can also mean a departure from standard word order. In literary theory,
when rhetoricians have talked of figurative language they have often attempted to
distinguish between tropes, or changes or conversions in meaning, and schemes or
figures (figures of speech or rhetorical figures), where word order provides the special
effects. Shakespeare, Auden, and Austen provided us with examples of trope. Irony is a
trope, as are simile, metonymy, symbolism, personification, and allegory. Metaphor itself
is a major trope.
Schemes are not the focus of this chapter but it is important to mention them, albeit
briefly, as, for many scholars, the differentiation between tropes and schemes is not
nowadays considered to be so clearcut. The first stanza from one of Gerard Manley
Hopkinss most famous poems provides an example of a scheme: in this particular
instance, alliteration which is the repetition of initial consonants (many of these sounds
also occur internally in the words):
Gods Grandeur
Introducing metaphor 94
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Other examples of schemes are assonance or the repetition of identical vowel sounds as
in:
Thou still unravished bride of quietness!
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time
from Keatss Ode on a Grecian Urn. This extract also provides an example of
apostrophe. This involves the addressing of someone imaginary or absent or even dead,
or something that cannot actually listen or is an abstraction. For example, consider these
opening lines of Yeatss Reconciliation:
Some may have blamed you that you took away
The verses that could move them on the day
When, the ears being deafened, the sight of the eyes blind
With lightning, you went from me, and I could find
Nothing to make a song about but kings,
Helmets, and swords, and half-forgotten things
That were like memories of you
(Yeats 1950:102)
The addressee is the absent Maud Gonne. She was the love of Yeatss life but did not
return that love. Yeats received the news of Maud Gonnes marriage to John MacBride
just before he was to give a lecture. Yeats claimed to have no recall of what he said in
that lecture. The important point is that there are different types of way in which
figurative language can foreground the language of literary text.
METONYMY IN LITERATURE
Metonymy is, of course, a major trope: as we saw in Chapters 1 and 4, metonymy
involves applying the literal term for one thing to another, where one is part of the other,
or where there is a close association between them, such as the Crown for the monarchy.
The distinguished linguist Roman J akobson (1960) differentiated between metaphor and
metonymy in stating that metaphor is a relationship between two different entities based
on similarity, whereas metonymy is a contiguous relationship. In other words, metonymy
exploits one or more features of the literal meaning, but part of the literal meaning
Literary metaphor 95

remains, as in the Crown/monarchy example. The critic and novelist David Lodge also
takes up this distinction in his book The Modes of Modern Writing (1977). Consider the
use of metonymy in this well-known example from J ames Shirleys The Glories of Our
Blood and State (c. 1633):
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
What are the metonyms here and what do they stand for?
A good example from a literary narrative comes from Dickens. In Little Dorrit, he
made use of body parts to represent one of his characters, Mrs Merdle, when he refers to
her as the bosom:
The bosom moving in Society with the jewels displayed upon it, attracted
general admiration.
(Dickens 1857: Chapter 21)
Mrs Merdles first husband had been a colonel, under whose auspices the
bosom had entered into competition with the snows of North America,
and had come off at little disadvantage in point of whiteness, and at none
in point of coldness.
(Dickens 1857: Chapter 21)
Is there any hint of irony in the above extracts?
For some, these Mrs Merdle examples would be classified as synecdoche. However, as
we pointed out in Chapter 4, distinguishing between metonymy and synecdoche can be
problematic, and so we will continue to refer to both phenomena as metonymy.
PERSONIFICATION AS METAPHOR
With the major tropes of metaphor and metonymy we can also include personification
which, as we noted in Chapter 1, can be seen in terms of metaphorical transfer and
anthropomorphism. Personification is, then, the attribution of human properties to
inanimate objects. Compare the device in myths and fairy stories where people turn into
stones, trees walk, rivers speak, and so on. For example, in Oscar Wildes famous fairy
story, The Happy Prince (1888):
Wherever he went the Sparrows chirruped, and said to each other, what
a distinguished stranger!
Introducing metaphor 96
the sparrows are talking about the Swallow, a major character in the narrative, who can
also talk: I am waited for in Egypt, he says, referring to his fellow swallows who have
migrated for the winter. The other major character is, of course, the Prince himself. He is
a statue, he is inanimate, but, like the Swallow, he can talk:
Dear little Swallow, said the Prince, you tell me of marvellous things,
but more marvellous than anything is the suffering of men and of women.
There is no Mystery so great as Misery. Fly over my city, little Swallow,
and tell me what you see there.
Now consider this extract from Tolkiens The Two Towers and explain the metaphorical
significance of the highlighted elements:
Treebeard strode up the slope, hardly slackening his pace. Suddenly
before them the hobbits saw a wide opening. Two great trees stood
there, one on either side, like living gate posts; but there was no gate
save their crossing and interwoven boughs. As the old Ent approached the
trees lifted up their branches and all their leaves quivered and
rustled.
(Tolkien 1954/1993:85)
Personification has always been widely used as a literary device especially in lyric
poetry. Wordsworths personified daffodils below demonstrate what is probably one of
the best-known, to the point of clich, examples of this type of metaphor:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance
Apostrophe (see above) can also be associated with personification by implication, in that
where an abstract or inanimate entity is addressed by a writer the reader may assume that
it is endowed with human life. Keats does this in his Ode on a Grecian Urn referred to
earlier, as does Wilfred Owen in his poem Elegy in April and September, where he also
addresses daffodils:
Be still, daffodil!
And wave me not so bravely.
Your gay gold lily daunts me and deceives,
Who follow gleams more golden and more slim.
(Owen 1963:142)
METAPHOR, AMBIGUITY, AND LITERATURE
We pointed out earlier that ambiguity is associated with metaphorical language, as when
Mercutio says, after being fatally wounded:
Literary metaphor 97

Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 3 scene 1)
Mercutios utterance is illustrative of one of the many creative devices that constitute
metaphorical language in literary texts. Many of the terms are highly specialist, but some
of the more commonly known would include Mercutios utterance, which we would
recognize as an example of pun. Shakespeare made much use of punning both for comic
and serious effect. In punning, the writer makes a play on words where the sound is
identical or very similar but the meaning is different. Lewis Carroll placed great emphasis
on this type of ambiguity, as the following extracts demonstrate. Note how the ambiguity
exists in the speech of the characters, where one word can stand for something quite
different:
Mine is a long and sad tale! said the Mouse
It is a long tail, certainly, said Alice, looking down with wonder at
the Mouses tail; but why do you call it sad?
(Carroll 1865/1970:50)
Thats the reason theyre called lessons, the Gryphon remarked: because
they lessen from day to day.
(Carroll 1865/1970:130)
These two extracts come from Alices Adventures in Wonderland. The third comes from
Through the Looking Glass:
How is bread made?
I know that! Alice cried eagerly. You take some flour
Where do you pick the flower? the White Queen asked. In a garden
or in the hedges?
Well, it isnt picked at all, Alice explained: its ground
How many acres of ground?
(Carroll 1871/1970:322)
In this extract, the ambiguity between flour/flower and the two meanings of ground
causes a conversation to lose direction.
Carroll had a predilection for punning, which not only reflected his preoccupation with
the nature of language but also served other purposes. Carroll used his Alice narratives
to tilt at some Victorian windmills (note our use of metaphorical language!). For
example, the following is taken from the episode in Chapter 2 of Alices Adventures in
Wonderland, where Alice and the Mouse are immersed in the Pool of Tears. Here,
Carroll plays on the meanings of dry as in not wet and uninterestingly expressed to
reinforce his criticism of Victorian educational practices:
The first question of course was, how to get dry again: they had a
consultation about this
Introducing metaphor 98
At last the Mouse, who seemed to be a person of some authority among
them, called out, Sit down all of you and listen to me! Ill soon make you
dry enough!
Ahem! said the Mouse with an important air. Are you all ready?
This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! William
the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon
submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late
much accustomed to usurpation and protest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls
of Mercia and Northumbria
(Carroll 1871/1970:4546)
And so it goes on and on and on. The Mouse is attempting to dry off the gathered
assembly by reciting a passage from a history book which had actually been used by the
Liddell children (see Gardner 1970:46, note 1): Alice Liddell was the daughter of the
Dean of Oxford, and the model for Alice in both Alices Adventures in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass. However, the dry educational oration does not have the
desired effects in the real world in either of its senses. Alice complains, it doesnt seem
to dry me at all (1865/1970:47), and the sheer monotony of the Mouses oration reflects
Carrolls views on Victorian education.
Lewis Carroll also exploited multiple meaning with his portmanteau words in
Through the Looking Glass:
Twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
(Carroll 1871/1970:191)
It is Humpty Dumpty who tries to interpret the poem for Alice:
Brillig means four oclock in the afternoon-the time when you begin
broiling things for dinner.
Thatll do very well, said Alice: and slithy?
Well, slithy means lithe and slimy You see its like a
portmanteauthere are two meanings packed up into one word.
(Carroll 1871/1970:270271)
J ames J oyce, of course, developed Carrolls technique to perfection in Finnegans Wake,
which, like Alices Adventures in Wonderland, is a dream experience. For example, J oyce
refers to girls who are, yung and easily freudened (1939/1964:115): here young and
Jung are blended, as are frightened and Freud.
SYMBOLISM AND ALLEGORY
Literary metaphor 99

We have already said in this book that metaphor is a form of symbol, and certainly all the
uses of metaphorical language which we have talked about in this chapter can be seen as
symbols. Symbolism itself, of course, may play an important role in literature. We
commented in Chapter 1 on how symbols can be public in our culture, and also on how
they exist in other media. In literature, the symbols employed by writers can sometimes
be private or personal, and this can pose problems for the reader in the interpretation of
what the writer actually means. Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner represents a
major symbolic work, and in the early decades of the twentieth century, the work of
Yeats employed a range of symbols, including the tower and the phases of the moon,
which embody the poets personal philosophy.
Childrens writers have often used symbols in their narratives. One of the most well-
known is the symbol of the kitchen where it stands for safety and comradeship. This can
be seen in the following description of Badgers kitchen in Kenneth Grahames The Wind
in the Willows: objects are here presented as anthropomorphic.
The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling; the oaken settles,
shiny with long wear, exchanged cheerful glances with each other; plates
on the dresser grinned at pots on the shelf, and the merry firelight
flickered and played over everything without distinction.
(Grahame 1908/1951:44)
Interestingly, the kitchen symbol can also be used in the opposite way, as Carpenter
(1985:163) points out, when he shows the kitchen symbolizing moral decay in this extract
from George MacDonalds The Princess and Curdie:
Everywhere was filth and disorder. Mangy turnspit dogs were lying about,
and grey rats were gnawing at refuse in the sinks [Curdie] longed for
one glimpse of his mothers poor little kitchen, so clean and bright and
airy.
(MacDonald 1883/1990:317)
Gardens too can be symbolic, of course, if we think of Frances Hodgson Burnetts The
Secret Garden, or Philippa Pearces Toms Midnight Garden, and many other pieces of
literature, including medieval literature.
Allegory itself represents a metaphorical representation, and we commented in
Chapter 1 on the moral significance of allegorical meaning. For example, J ohn Bunyans
The Pilgrims Progress is a moral and religious allegory. Other writers such as J onathan
Swift use allegory to satirize, as does George Orwell, in whose work the hidden meanings
are political and social rather than moral or religious. C.S. Lewis uses allegory in his re-
telling of the Christian story for children. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for
example, depends very much on the narrative of Christs passion and the Resurrection:
Oh, its too bad sobbed Lucy, they might have left the body alone.
Whos done it? cried Susan. What does it mean? Is it magic?
Yes! said a great voice behind their backs. It is more magic. They
looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him
Introducing metaphor 100
before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Asian
himself.
Oh, Asian! cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much
frightened as they were glad.
Arent you dead then, dear Asian? said Lucy.
Not now, said Asian.
(Lewis 1950/1988:147)
Whole narratives, then, can be seen as structured around metaphors. In fact, as Kvecses
(2002:65) points out, complete sub-genres of literature can be seen in terms of the LIFE
IS A JOURNEY metaphor. He cites Bunyans Pilgrims Progress as a good example
from one such sub-genre: compare also the classical epics the Odyssey and the Aeneid,
which relate the adventures of a returning warrior, or medieval stories of quests and
pilgrimages, such as in Arthurian literature or Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. In
childrens literature, in the classical adventure stories of the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, the narratives usually follow the path of an adolescent British male
hero on an imperial journey to Africa or India. Here, the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor
is not concerned with the complete life of the hero. Rather, it is that part of his life in
which he has to prove himself by being exposed to various dangers and temptations.
These he ultimately overcomes, and he returns home an older and wiser man: his physical
journey is matched by the journey of his developing maturity as he travels into full
manhood.
WRITERS, READERS, AND METAPHOR
Many writers construct propositions through figurative or metaphorical language, and we
readers have to make our minds up as to the meaning being conveyed to us. In so doing,
writers are also establishing their relationship with their readers. The important point
about metaphor in literature is that it can make you, the reader, think. What exactly is the
writer getting at? Remember, all writers have an image of the reader in mind when they
construct their narrative, and we can refer to this image as the implied reader. Equally, we
as readers have an image of the type of person the author is as we deconstruct the text.
The concepts of implied author and of implied reader are useful precisely because they
help us understand the authors relationship with the reader. One of the ways in which we
can come to grips with this relationship is by developing our ability to recognize the
devices of figurative language used in creating a text. In recognizing these devices, we
become aware of their contribution to the construction of meaning in the text.
Lets consider the extracts below which come from the childrens book Carries War
by Nina Bawden:
But Miss Evans looked nice; a little like a red squirrel Carrie had once
seen, peering round a tree in a park.
(Bawden 1973:21)
Literary metaphor 101

But Mr Evans didnt fly into the rage shed expected. He simply looked
startledas if a worm had just lifted its head and answered him back,
Carrie thought.
(Bawden 1973:28)
Her voice was pitched soft and low. Her spell-binding voice, Carrie
thought She was holding a candle and her eyes shone in its light and
her gleaming hair fell like silk on her shoulders. A beautiful witch,
Carrie thought.
(Bawden 1973:65)
She looked at Mrs Gotobeds claw-like, ringed fingers holding her
delicate cup and thought of Auntie Lous little red hands that were always
in water, washing dishes or scrubbing floors or peeling potatoes.
(Bawden 1973:71)
He was like a bear, Carrie thought: A friendly, silly, strong bear.
(Bawden 1973:90)
The book tells the story of Carrie and her brother Nick who have been evacuated to a
Welsh village during the Second World War. They are billeted with a shopkeeper, the
bigoted and embittered Mr Evans and his browbeaten younger sister. Mr Evans is
estranged from his elder sister, Mrs Gotobed, who lives in a nearby farmhouse, Druids
Bottom, with her housekeeper Hepzibah Green. The story revolves around the
relationships that develop between Carrie and the other characters, and the contrast
between the bleakness of the Evans household and the warmth and security of
Hepzibahs kitchen at Druids Bottom.
These extracts provide exemplification of another type of trope, simile, and it is this
sort of use of figurative language that gives reinforcement to the writers voice as she
establishes her relationship with her child reader. Similes, of course, draw upon
comparisons between two very different but explicit entities, and are signalled by items
such as like, as, compare, or resemble, as we have already said.
The extracts demonstrate how Bawden uses figurative language in the development of
her narrative. They come from episodes in the story where Carrie records her reaction to
meeting a number of the adult characters either on first acquaintance or very early on in
their relationship. Each of them is being evaluated and the author invites the reader to see
things from Carries point of view. Nina Bawden, in a sense, gives us Carries eyes.
Carrie is apprehensive and a major strategy of conveying this state is the use of simile
and animal imagery in four of the examples just cited. In each, a particular feature of the
different characters is presented to the reader with either a positive or a negative sense.
Consider the vehicles of the different similes above:
a red squirrel
a worm
claw-like ringed fingers
a friendly, silly, strong bear
Introducing metaphor 102
This is exactly the sort of language a perceptive and sensitive child might use to record
her impressions of the adults, often somewhat dysfunctional, who have replaced her
family and her familiar world. It is through such strategies that Bawden conveys meaning
to her child reader.
By contrast, consider Carries first impressions of Hepzibah as recorded in the third of
the examples. First, we are told that: Hepzibahs voice is soft and low; it is a spell-
binding voice; then her eyes shone in its light; and the simile her gleaming hair fell like
silk on her shoulders; and finally (she is) a beautiful witch. There is no animal imagery
here. Rather, we have the witch metaphor first introduced by her spell-binding voice: this
is a benign (and beautiful) witch. We have further positive evaluation in her eyes shone in
its light. It is almost as if Hepzibahs voice and eyes and hair are agents in their own
right, that they can do things. Note the contrast with Miss Evanss little red hands,
which are also treated as agents, as they were always in water, washing dishes or
scrubbing floors or peeling potatoes. Similarly, Mrs Gotobeds claw-like, ringed fingers
are represented as holding her delicate cup. It does not matter that the human subjects
control the hands. Like Hepzibahs voice, eyes, and hair, Miss Evanss and Mrs
Gotobeds hands have agency. This kind of construction is rather like those where
inanimate or abstract objects behave like people: that is, personification.
POT BOILERS, BODICE RIPPERS, AND WHODUNNITS
It is not just classical literature or serious novels and poems that employ metaphorical
language, but also popular fiction. In some genres this is usually to the extent that much
of it results in clich rather than in creative metaphor. In Chapter 3 we saw how Lakoff
and Johnson identified metaphors for love and emotion and mental phenomena. Hlose
McGuinness (1998) constructed a corpus of such data from romantic popular fiction, and
demonstrated how a part of the body or an emotion takes over as a focus for the action of
the narrative as in
His eyes searched her angry green gaze
or
Her green eyes flared
Note again how parts of the body are ascribed agency. We give a few other examples
from McGuinnesss data below:
Her eyes stabbed him with daggers of pain
She shot him with a chilling, black-eyed blast
Her gaze slid over his shoulder and up
She tore her gaze from him
A suspicion wormed into Sarahs mind
Literary metaphor 103

Suspicion and gaze are both personified, and Carter and Nash (1990:107) make the point
that sentences like those from McGuinnesss data illustrate the myth of agency, as
heroines are acted upon rather than acting for themselves. They also point to the
metaphoric vitality with which popular fiction writers pack their verbs, for example as
in stabbed and wormed above, thus reinforcing the clichs that pervade so much of this
kind of prose. In the second example, note the use of nominalization or grammatical
metaphor (discussed in Chapter 7), where we have human agency and the metaphor
contained in a verb+noun phrase, rather than in a structure such as her black eyes shot
him with a chilling blast.
Detective and mystery novels also use metaphorical devices in the structuring of their
plots. Ian Rankin is one of Britains top crime writers and presents his main character,
Inspector Rebus, in a series of narratives conspicuous for their dry humour and sense of
realism. The following extract from Beggars Banquet is typical of Rankins style:
Not that he would take one (a holiday): the loneliness could be a cage as
well as a release. But he would never, he hoped, be as caged as these
people around him. He looked for a Grebe Tours badge on any passing
lapel or chest, but saw none. The Edinburgh Castle gatekeepers had been
eagle-eyed alright, or one of them had
(Rankin 2003:195)
So, we have conceptual metaphors LONELINESS is A CAGE, LONELINESS IS A
RELEASE, and SOME PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPRISONED THAN OTHERS, and the
metaphorical item eagle-eyed, referring to the ability to notice very small details. There
are also metonymic uses in this extract: what are they, how and why are they metonyms?
Ruth Rendell is one of Britains best-known mystery writers, and is regarded as an
author who rises above the mundane or stereotypical detective narrative. Writing as
Barbara Vine, she has produced a number of works renowned for depth of
characterization and particular psychological shifts. These works are very different from
the romantic novels discussed above. Rendell/Vine uses metaphorical language in
deceptively simple ways and thus manages to create powerful atmospheric backdrops of
scene to complement the flawed characters who inhabit her novels. Now, consider the
following from Vines The Chimney Sweepers Boy, and unpack the metaphorical devices
she uses:
The Hampstead house was sold and they moved in December, the day
after Sarahs fourth birthday. It was raining and the grey steely sea looked
as if punctured all over by a million shining needles Next day the fog
came. The house, the gardens, the dunes were swathed in it, muffled by it,
and the sea was invisible. He reacted violently, saying he would never
have bought the house if hed known.
(Vine 1998:209)
A newer crime genre writer is Paul Bryers. Bryers, in fact, cannot be classified as simply
a detective story writer. His narrative style has strong overtones of black comedy, and
one of the more interesting aspects of that style is the intertextual. Figurative language
Introducing metaphor 104
plays a key role in this, as the following extract from The Used Womens Book Club
illustrates:
J os marriage, like the title of the Used Womens Book Club, was a
mistake. In her more confident, light-hearted moments she would describe
it as a whim a foolish but ultimately harmless fancy At other times
she compared it to a disease, one of those childhood afflictions that
recur more virulently in later life, like shingles.
I caught it from a book, she would say, mysteriously, and change the
subject.
When Jo was a child her mother had warned her about the germs she
would catch from reading other peoples books. Jos mother imagined
the unwashed and contaminated fingers turning the pages, the germs
mingling with the sweat and grime in some toxic fermenta dormant
virus waiting for the next unwary reader.
J o conceded that there were some things you could catch from
books and one of them was Love There was nothing wrong with this, of
course, in its place, but it could sometimes cause complications. It could
sometimes recur in later lifelike any childhood diseasein the more
virulent form of Infatuation accompanied by its terrible sisters, Blind
Folly and Delusion.
J o had first caught the disease at the age of ten from a novel by
Georgette Heyer called The Convenient Marriage.
(Bryers 2004:3031)
You might like to differentiate between the literal and the metaphorical in the above
extract. Is it always possible to establish such a differentiation between metaphorical
language and what appears to be literal language?
SUMMARY
In Chapter 1, we talked about the functions of metaphor and in this chapter we have
looked at its role and purpose in literary texts. It has not been possible for us here to
review the entire stock of creative devices that constitute figurative language in literature.
We have, however, attempted to look at some of the principal ways in which writers have
used, and use, this sort of language in their work. We have emphasized the importance of
metaphor and of other tropes in the transmission of meaning from author to reader and
the individuality of style that this involves.
To round off, read these extracts from Wilfred Owen and Seamus Heaney. First, from
Owen, the first stanza of his 1918 poem, The Last Laugh:
O J esus Christ! Im hit, he said; and died.
Whether he vainly cursed, or prayed indeed,
TheBulletschirpedInvain! vain! vain!
Literary metaphor 105

Machine-guns chuckled,Tut-tut! Tut-tut!

And the Big Gun guffawed.
(Owen 1963:59)
And second, from Seamus Heaneys 1966 poem, Digging:
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
(Heaney 1998:3)
What tropes do Owen and Heaney make use of in these examples?
Remember, the importance of metaphorical language in literature is the scope it allows
authors to exploit the possibilities of the language at their disposal and the questions that
such exploitation creates in the minds of their readers.
FURTHER READING
Carter, R. (1998) Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives , 2nd edn, London: Routledge.
(Chapter 5, especially section 5.7.)
Gavins, J . and Steen, G. (eds) (2003) Cognitive Poetics in Practice . London: Routledge. (A
collection of papers dealing with different aspects of figurative language in literary texts.)
Gibbs, R.W. (1994) The Poetics of Mind: Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding ,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (A cognitive approach.)
Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapter 4.)
Lakoff, G. and Turner, M. (1989) More than Cool Reason: a Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor ,
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Discussion of conceptual metaphors in literary texts.)
Lodge, D. (1977) The Modes of Modern Writing: Metaphor, Metonymy, and the Typology of
Modern Literature , London: Edward Arnold.
Stockwell, P. (2002) Cognitive Poetics: an Introduction , London: Routledge. (Chapter 8 looks at
conceptual metaphor.)
Introducing metaphor 106
9
NON-VERBAL METAPHOR
We may read or hear a stretch of language, and we may pause because whoever is doing
the writing or speaking may have used a particularly colourful turn of phrase. They may
have used words that realize a particularly creative metaphor. However, do metaphors
have to be always expressed in language? Kvecses makes the point that if metaphors
are primarily conceptual, then they must realize themselves in other than linguistic ways
(2002:52). More attention has of late been given to non-linguistic or non-verbal metaphor
in areas such as acting, advertising, architecture, art, cartoons, colour symbolism, film,
and theatre: sometimes there is overlap between two or more of these categories.
Kvecses devotes a chapter to this phenomenon, which includes the list above and other
contexts which rely on means of interpretation that are not solely linguistic. Structurally,
non-verbal metaphors may have verbal elements or co-occur with language; however,
they may be entirely expressed through non-verbal means. We will be discussing
examples of both types in this chapter, as we explore non-verbal metaphor in different
media.
CINEMA
The world of cinema depends very much upon the verbal but films are also realized, very
obviously, by the visual. Indeed, a complete film or different genres of films can be
regarded as metaphors themselves. Over the last fifty years or so, the road movie has
become a distinctly recognizable genre. Such films often share features such as long
highways going through the American West and disappearing into the distance: the
impression, perhaps, is that they stretch into infinity. So we can again identify the LIFE
IS A JOURNEY metaphor, with the road symbolizing life itself. Ridley Scotts 1991
film, Thelma and Louise is one such road movie where the two central female characters,
initially escaping for a weekend away from domestic monotony, are forced into crime
after Louise shoots a would-be rapist. They become the pursued, and the chase takes
place across the American Southwest which, in one sense, symbolizes freedom for the
women as they flee into the desert, to the final symbol of ultimate freedom, when they
drive over the edge of the Grand Canyon rather than face capture. There are many
symbols of the American West here, and these include images of the genre of the
western: for example, in the clothes worn by the men, jeans, hats, and boots, and the
scene where cowboys drive cattle across the highway. The physical background to the
narrative is filmed with an intensity of colour that heightens the viewers perception of
the metaphor. The American West has traditionally been considered a male, indeed
macho-male, environment. As a result, the fact that the two protagonists of Thelma and
Louise are women was seen by some as a symbol of female power in a male domain.

Certainly, the majority of the male characters are amongst the least attractive of the entire
cast.
The traditional western was for a long time a well-established genre in Hollywood (by
traditional western, we mean those which precede the films of directors such as
Peckinpah, Leone, and Eastwood). In traditional westerns, metaphor and metonymy are
used to draw clear distinctions between good and bad. For example, symbols such as
white hats and black hats realize who is good and who is bad. The fact that the
majority of these films were shot in black and white adds a further dimension. Other
symbols of the genre are horses and guns. The former symbolize freedom of movement
in the American West, and the latter justice and the American citizens right to self-
defence. Furthermore, if the horses or guns were used by a white hat, justice would
prevail, as opposed to evil if used by a black hat.
The Lord of the Rings films provide further manifestations of non-verbal metaphor on
the big screen. We have several recurring elements or symbols: for example, the hero,
whom we observe setting out on a journey or quest and whom we accompany on that
quest, along with his faithful companion or companions; they must endure grave perils
before overcoming the forces of evil. Colour is important here, as darkness in a number
of ways realizes evil, and white or other lighter colours realize good. The Orcs, for
example, are depicted as being dark and swarthy as well as slant-eyed. Frodo and his
friends have to travel from the Shire, which is symbolic of innocence and stability, to the
Land of Mordor and the Dark Lord Sauron, who represents evil. One of the most
important symbols is, of course, the Ring. It is a metaphor for evil and corrupt power.
Indeed, so strong is the influence of the Ring on whoever carries it that it is almost as if it
has agency, that it is another character in the narrative. Overall, the whole sequence of
the Lord of the Rings narratives and films can be seen as a metaphor for Good versus
Evil.
MUSIC
In the world of cinema, music has an important role, and it too can realize non-verbal
metaphor. In Thelma and Louise, for example, the music as the credits roll is of a
country-and-western type that we would associate with the western United States. The
background music matches vision in further underpinning metaphorical and symbolic
meanings.
Many composers think, or thought, of pieces of music in terms of colour: Liszt
frequently used colour vocabulary when describing his music, and the linkage between
language, music, and colour is effectively a triangular metaphor (we will look further at
colour and music later). Other composers see music as symbolizing personal
characteristics. Elton J ohns Candle in the Wind, originally written as a tribute to
Marilyn Monroe and then rewritten in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, is one such.
Both the verbal title and lyrics and the non-verbal musical accompaniment can be said to
complement each other as metaphorical elements in realizing the fragility of life. Staying
with the image of the wind, Christopher Guests film A Mighty Wind satirizes the folk-
music scene deriving from the early 1960s. The title song of the film is The Mighty
Wind, but the wind featured in several 1960s songs was the wind of change, socially,
Introducing metaphor 108
politically, and sexually, that was blowing through the United States. Bob Dylans song
Blowing in the Wind probably encapsulates the symbolism of those changes more than
most.
Sound itself, of course, has a role as non-verbal metaphor. In the field of electro-
acoustic music, sounds are the material composers use to create images, to realize
concepts. J onty Harrison is to the fore as a major composer in this genre. Harrison, who
has a chair in music at the University of Birmingham, has described one of the principal
source sounds for his piece Hot Air. This source was balloons from a childrens party
which he says gives rise to a train of thought which, after linking toy balloons to hot
air balloons, went on to draw in other concepts of air (breath, utterance, and natural
phenomena) and heat (energy, action, danger) (Harrison 2002). These concepts are
realized by a shift of focus away from instrumental generalizations to compositions
where the musical forms are no longer abstract, but abstracted from recognisable
sounds. The sounds of our every day experience (Harrison 1996:16). The result of the
synthesized sonic composition Hot Air was, Harrison says, to reveal another, altogether
more worrying image: that of the inflated balloon as a metaphor of the very environment
of the Earth itself (Harrison 2002).
PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION
Pictorial metaphor is one non-verbal form which has received a lot of attention over the
last few years. In a recent Turner exhibition (Turner in Britain), the earlier landscapes
and later seascapes provide interesting examples. In both, the viewers perspective is to
be always looking towards the horizon. In later life, of course, this is symbolic of looking
towards death. Thus, the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor is realized in a particular visual
or non-verbal way.
We discussed verbal metaphor and literature in Chapter 8. Peter Crisp (2003:100)
points out how non-verbal metaphor can be realized in literary texts. He cites the
illustrations in Dickenss novels and the poems of William Blake as two examples. In
childrens literature, Quentin Blakes illustrations for Roald Dahls work fulfil a similar
non-verbal function. Blakes caricatures can be seen as non-linguistic metaphorical
complements to Dahls characterizations, a necessary component of his fantasy of the
grotesque. Blakes drawing of Miss Trunchbull in Matilda is an excellent example of
this, as are his illustrations of Matildas father and mother.
Photography, while it captures reality, can also present images for interpretation.
Diane Arbus, the well-known American photographer who died in 1971, was of the view
that people do not necessarily see the same thing or experience the same reality. Some
of Arbuss best-known work is to be found in her photographs of anonymous people in
New Yorks Central Park. The faces of her subjects present a whole range of emotions:
anger, fear, admiration, and so on, as only peoples expressions can. In fact, as Lakoff
and J ohnson (1980/2003:37) point out, faces as metonyms are very much a part of our
culture in both photography and painting. According to Liz J obey (The Guardian, 10
J anuary 2004), Arbus and her contemporary Robert Frank were seeing symbols, finding
metaphors for the state of the world around them. J obey refers to one particularly
famous photograph of Robert Franks. This is the image of the white line stretching down
Non-verbal metaphor 109

the highway to infinity. This can suggest, on the one hand, hope, ambition, expectation;
on the other, disillusion, stasis, failure. The image is also central to the road movies we
looked at earlier, or Turners paintings: LIFE IS A J OURNEY once again.
In Chapter 7, we saw how advertising depends very much not only on the slogan and
the body copy but also on pictorial images. Indeed, some advertisements have little
linguistic content at all, but rely almost solely on the image. The majority, however, have
both elements. In the Observer Magazine (23 November 2003), there was an
advertisement for a Nokia mobile phone. There is quite a lot of text here, but the visual
element dominates. It is a full-page glossy photograph of a highly confident young
businessman. He is foregrounded and has a determined expression and appears to be
striding purposefully forward. Next to him is a picture of the Nokia 6600. The verbal
element (the sales pitch) is contained in ten noun phrases, which are superimposed in a
circle on the mans breast pocket surrounding the sub-heading Vision. The indication is
that the phone, with all its many functions, can be easily carried in that pocket. All this in
such a tiny space! A multifaceted tool for a multi-talented and upwardly mobile young
businessman. A man with vision. Another sub-heading, Reality, is located above the
image of the phone and close to the picture of the man. The verbal element is obviously
important but the advertisement requires the visual to achieve impact. This advertisement
contains an interesting example of what Forceville (1998:126127) refers to as MP2s or
metaphors with two pictorially present terms. One of these is primary and the other
secondary. The Nokia 6600 is the primary subject of our metaphor. It is the reality.
Interestingly, in The Observers sister paper, The Guardian, of the day before we have
exactly the same advertisement. However, the character foregrounded pictorially is a
young woman (Guardian (Weekend), 22 November 2003). Again, the subject appears to
be striding forward with great self-assurance. Again, we see the same noun phrases or
bullet points surrounding Vision but in this case superimposed on the womans handbag.
Like her male colleague, she may have the vision but must rely on the Nokia 6600 for
Reality, the reality that will ensure her success. One of the slogans in the two versions of
this advertisement summarizes the metaphor, VISION BECOMES/IS REALITY: that
metaphor which underpins the equation of seeing and knowledge/truth in Western
cultures.
There is another, highly significant dimension to the Nokia metaphor. The non-verbal
element of the advertisement relies on colour to help achieve full impact. The man is
dressed in a very well tailored two-piece suit in pale blue with a blue tie and the
background is also a hazy shade of light blue. The same highly significant degree of
blueness is very evident in The Guardian advertisement. Blue is also the predominant
colour at three important stages of the verbal element, where the product, Nokia, is
named three times using blue typeface. The choice of colour is interesting here, as
colours can be seen as crossovers between verbal and non-verbal metaphors. There is a
long history of colours being associated with emotions and blue is associated with
calmness and peace: it can also be associated with truth. Presumably, the acquisition of
this mobile phone will complement the young executives working lifestyles. In other
words, although busy and determined, they will also be calm and truthful in decision-
making with their partner the Nokia 6600. So, if it can do it for them, it can do it for
you. The visual element communicates with the reader just as effectively as the verbal. It
Introducing metaphor 110
is a good example of what Kress and van Leeuwen refer to as the overwhelming
evidence of the importance of visual communication (1996:16).
Another point of interest is that an internet advertisement for the same product, the
Nokia 6600, has a predominance of blue highlighting the background. We will return to
colours later in this chapter.
NOTICES AND SIGNS
One of the most common, day-to-day manifestations of non-verbal metaphor is realized
in notices and signs in the world around us. We are helped to navigate unfamiliarand
familiarplaces through our knowledge that certain symbols have certain meanings. A
sign with a cup represents a snack bar; arrows on signs indicate which direction we are to
follow. While they appear to be a very ordinary part of everyday life, they are,
nevertheless, of interest, and important (think of symbols for emergency exits).
Related to these are signals to road-users by other drivers and in traffic signs. There
are, of course, some very obvious ones. Direction Indicator Signals, for example, are
exactly what they say: the use of mechanical devices such as flashing amber lights to
indicate turning left or right, or red brake lights to indicate that a driver is slowing down.
Arm signals can also be used as indicators of direction, and are mainly used by cyclists
and horse-riders to communicate that they are turning right or left.
The British Governments Highway Code lists various categories of road sign, and
colours are important here too. Signs giving orders are presented within a red circle: as
the Highway Code says, Signs with red circles are mostly prohibitive. In zones where
there are restrictions on speed, signs will have the miles per hour numerically presented
on a white background within a red circle. Give way signs are red triangles with the
instruction GIVE WAY contained within the triangle on a white background. STOP
AND GIVE WAY signs are red octagonals with the command in white with a red
background. The no overtaking sign has no verbal component, but is completely
realized as a symbol: a red-bordered circle with a black car on the left and a red car on
the right. Manually-operated signs at roadworks have STOP signs very similar to the
STOP AND GIVE WAY sign, while the GO sign, on the other hand, is white lettering
imposed on a green circle.
Other colours are also employed prohibitively. White lines across British roads at
junctions are used to reinforce the message that motorists must stop at a stop sign. White
lines of different types running the lengths of roads indicate the boundaries of traffic lines
and whether it is permissible or not to overtake. Yellow or red lines along the edges of
roads help reinforce the meanings conveyed by signs which indicate whether and when it
is possible to park.
While red is prohibitive, British road signs with blue circles and no red border nearly
always convey positive information for certain categories of road-user. So, a white
bicycle on a blue circle means pedal cycles only. A blue circle with a white bicycle
above a white bus and the word ONLY suspended from the circle means buses and
cycles only.
Road signs with images of cars and other vehicles can be considered metonymic.
Many other road signs also represent metonyms. For example, on brown tourist
Non-verbal metaphor 111

information signs, a carousel represents a theme or amusement park: similarly, a football

represents a football ground, an elephant a zoo, a duck a nature reserve, and a stylized
flower a garden. Compare the symbols used on maps: a tankard to represent a pub, a
receiver for a public phone, and a triangular flag on a stick for a golf course.
There are other public signs in our culture which convey non-verbal meaning. In
Britain, pub signs are a very visual example and often are realizations of life in the past.
Thus, a pub called The Coach and Horses will have a sign with a coach and horses and
could well have been an old coaching inn. Pubs or inns were often local landmarks, and
an illiterate local peasantry could give directions to strangers by using the visual
dimension: a pub sign or a building such as a church. In rural England, pubs were often
sited close to churches, which is one reason why many pubs are called The Bell.
(Church bells themselves were symbolic realizations of the passing of time for a country
community.) There are other rural pub signs, such as Fox and Hounds referring to
hunting, or George and Dragon based on the legend of Englands patron saint and his
killing of the dragon. One relic of a mythical past is the pub sign The Green Man. The
Green Man is actually a symbol from pre-Christian times: a forest-dwelling spirit whose
face was supposedly sometimes seen when looking closely at the foliage of trees and
bushes deep in woodland, and who, although a pagan figure, was sometimes carved on
the outside of medieval churches. City pub signs too can realize famous buildings such as
The Edinburgh Castle, or other historical symbols such as ships, hence The Cutty Sark
in Greenwich, London. Imperialism is also catered for with pub signs with the figure of
Britannia representing The Britannia Inn, or a picture of Queen Victoria for a pub of the
same name.
COLOUR AND COLOUR SYMBOLISM
It is probably apparent by now that colour can be an important dimension in the
conveying of non-verbal meaning. We said earlier that colours might be considered as
examples of crossovers between verbal and non-verbal metaphor. The symbolism
inherent in so many colours is, therefore, a very significant factor for a great many
people.
National flags are probably one of the most common realizations of non-verbal colour
metaphor. The national flag of England is the St Georges cross; a red cross on a white
background. The flag is an icon for English sports fans though it has also been associated
with those on the political right in English politics. Indeed, a British educational journal,
the Times Educational Supplement (7 May 2004), carried an article concerning a teacher
who was allegedly a member of a political party of the far right, the British National
Party (BNP). Accompanying the article was a picture of a BNP rally with numerous flags
of St George. The shaven heads of the marchers might also be interpreted as a metonym
for supporters of their political beliefs. Compare the use of colours in military uniforms
for example, the blue of Union soldiers and the grey of the Confederates in the American
Civil War (as in We answer to no grey South/Nor blue North in the poem by Paul
Muldoon, cited in Chapter 2).
Numbers and shapes can complement colours. The national flag of the United States,
the Stars and Stripes, has fifty stars representing all the states in the Union. The thirteen
Introducing metaphor 112
stripes symbolize the thirteen original states, formerly British colonies. The French
tricolours red, white, and blue were associated with the Revolutionaries of 1789.
However, Pierre Gay (1998), contributing to a French web site, has pointed out that the
meanings of the colours are now associated with different, invented origins. The red
signifies St Denis, the patron saint of Paris; the white, the Virgin Mary and also J oan of
Arc, who drove the English out of France; and the blue is for St Martin, who cut his blue
cloak in half so that he could give one half to a freezing beggar.
Colours, of course, have other, more subtle connotations. Consider, for example, the
relationship between colour and emotion. Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare
Morrall was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003. In her novel, Morrall addresses
the concept of seeing emotions as colours. The people outside the school gates are
yellow because of their optimism (2003:9), says the narrator, who also dreams in
colours:
I dream in colours, astonishing, shimmering, clashing colours. So many
shades. Not just red, but crimson, vermilion, scarlet, rose. There are not
enough names for the colours in my dreams. I wake up longing for visual
silence, looking for a small dark place where there is no light.
(Morrall 2003:35)
The reader is not told here what the reds symbolize but context suggests disturbing
rather than peaceful emotions. Red itself can have negative connotations, as in the
following expressions:
To be in the red
To see red
To be red with rage
Compare too the conceptual metaphors relating to heat, fire, and redness: EMOTION IS
HEAT or EMOTION IS FIRE, as in
Susan was extremely angry, she was absolutely burning with resentment
after Johns behaviour at the party.
Bill and Tom really are red-hot Socialists.
We have already commented on blue and its positive significance in advertising and
British road signs. In an article entitled And in the blue corner Sean Coughlan (The
Guardian, 17 J anuary 2004) comments on the association between British banks and
colour. Again, we see the red/blue contrast. After all, the expression in the red signifies
debt. One British bank, the Abbey National (now Abbey), redecorated some of its
branches in blue and using pink lettering for its name, rather than its traditional red and
white. About a dozen banks and building societies use blue in their branches: the British
bank Lloyds/TSB use blue and green. Coughlan quotes a psychologist who points out that
blue is associated with calm (as we mentioned earlier), and blue and green together assist
in putting people at their ease. Red, he says, is associated with aggression and risk.
Another psychologist, quoted in the same article, supports this view and he points out
Non-verbal metaphor 113

that the power of the visual memory is much stronger than anything from any spoken or
written message.
Red, of course, is associated with anger and rage, as expressed in the ANGER IS
HEAT/FIRE metaphors. It can also signify extreme sexual desire, and this is realized
non-verbally through the SEXUAL DESIRE IS FIRE metaphor. Kvecses (2002:5758)
cites the Disney production The Hunchback of Notre Dame in exemplification. In one
scene, the judge is overwhelmed by sexual desire for Esmeralda and the whole palace
becomes covered in flames. Another example can be found in Ken Russells 1969 film
version of D.H.Lawrences Women in Love: the famousfor many at the time,
infamousscene in which Oliver Reed and Alan Bates wrestle naked in front of a
roaring fire.
We have already mentioned colour in relation to symbols and cinema. Many films are
noted for an important use of colour in their cinematography as well as in the design of
sets and costume. Even in the days of black and white films, patterns of light and shadow
created meaning, not just visual effect: a good example of this is film noir. Amongst
recent cinematographers who are associated with a strong use of colour is Christopher
Doyle, who has worked with Asian directors such as Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-wai.
In the 2002 film Hero, for example, different phases of the film are themed by different
colours: a sword fight between two female warriors takes place against a backdrop of
golden leaves and light, which turns red as the fight climaxes; the attempted assassination
at the end happens in a hall hung with billowing green banners, which seem to be
choreographed along with the ensuing fight.
Earlier in this chapter, we commented on composers who think of pieces of music as
colours. Sir Isaac Newton was probably the first to associate sound and colour. He
correlated musical notes with colours so that the seven notes of the musical scale matched
or corresponded with the spectrum of colours that constitute sunlight as reflected by a
prism: these are the colours used to describe the rainbow. Newton represented this
correlation in diagrammatic form with his Colour Musical Wheel in his Opticks, first
published in 1704. This wheel was actually a circle divided into segments. Each
segment represented one colour of the spectrum in orderRed, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Indigo, Violet. On the outer rim or circumference of the circle are the seven notes
of the musical scale with the segments coming between them. Thus, the Red segment
occurs between D and E. Newton used D as the starting point for the white note scale on
a keyboard.
STATUES, MONUMENTS, AND CULTURAL SYMBOLS
Public art such as statues typically has symbolic value: this is also true of monuments and
other memorial structures. Kvecses (2002:59) comments on how the symbols may often
be based on metaphors, which are culturally significant, and cites as an example the
Statue of Liberty in New York. This, he says, was created to evoke the idea that liberty
was achieved in the United States (together with its accompanimentsknowledge and
justice). He identifies several metaphors in the statue as symbol, and he sums up his
analysis by saying the statue may be regarded as an embodiment of the metaphorical
Introducing metaphor 114
source domains: UNINHIBITED MOVEMENT, MOVEMENT FROM DARK TO
LIGHT, and SEEING.
Statues, of course, may be symbols based on a culture, which many find to be alien in
terms of history. For many years, in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, there stood a statue
known as Nelsons Pillar. This statue, in memory of the hero of the Battle of Trafalgar,
had Nelson standing sword in hand at the top of his pillar, evoking a metaphor for the
triumph of Nelson and the Royal Navy in particular and the might of the British Empire
in general. Over a century later, the statue was destroyed by a militant political
organization, who presumably interpreted this symbol rather differently. In fact, their
action in itself can be seen as the metaphor HISTORICAL CHANGE IS MOVEMENT
FROM A STATE OF IGNORANCE TO A STATE OF KNOWLEDGE (see Kvecses
2002:59). Close to where Nelsons Pillar used to stand is a building, which realizes a very
important historical symbolism for many Irish people: this is Dublins General Post
Office. The Post Office was occupied by armed men on Easter Monday 1916, and marks
the beginning of the rebellion which led to the independence of twenty-six of Irelands
thirty-two counties a few years later.
Kvecses (2002:63) points out that in one metaphorical system of morality, BEING
GOOD IS UPRIGHT and BEING BAD IS BEING LOW. In the war against Iraq,
Saddam Hussein had to be toppled and this was symbolically realized in the pulling
down of his many statues throughout the country. Ironically, during President Bushs
state visit to London in November 2003, demonstrators toppled a plastic statue of the
President. This symbol could be observed by television viewers as a non-verbal action,
and delivered verbally by a newsreader actually using the lexical item toppled.
Other countries have other objects as metaphors. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is one
example: a monument in which there are sculptures and other symbols. These symbols
include the grave of the Unknown Soldier, a permanently burning flame of remembrance
and, on national days, a flag which is draped through the arch. Buildings themselves can
be seen as a type of non-verbal metaphor: we will not discuss metaphor in architecture
here, but we give suggestions for further reading at the end of this chapter.
Flags, as we have seen, are symbols that can evoke certain feelings. To return to
Ireland: in Northern Ireland, it is not unusual to travel through a part of the Province
where the tricolour (national flag of the Irish Republic) can be seen flying from telegraph
poles with, very often, the kerb stones painted in the colours of that flag; green, white,
and orange (the colours themselves are potently symbolic). A little later, the traveller
might well see the Union Flag (the national flag of the United Kingdom) accompanied by
red, white, and blue kerb stones. The former symbolizes the feelings of many Nationalist
citizens and the latter of many Unionists or Loyalists. The gable walls at the end of
working-class terraced streets in Belfast often have quite elaborate murals depicting
scenes from Irish history or the recent Troubles. These symbols will indicate to the
passer-by the political affiliations of the local residents. (There is a certain irony here in
that these are now fast becoming a tourist attraction.) Finally, rather different symbols
from Ireland are to be found within the Police Service for Northern Ireland. This police
force was set up to replace the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) which for many in one
of the two main communities was a symbol of oppression. The new force not only has a
new name but a new cap badge and a new motto. Furthermore, police cars are now
painted in colours similar to those to be found in the rest of Great Britain. Again, these
Non-verbal metaphor 115

are examples of the way in which non-verbal metaphor can be utilized for the purposes of
propaganda. In the case of the police symbols they were created in the attempt to win
hearts and minds (a linguistic metonym, of course).
RELIGION
Religious institutions have long been seen as the guardians of a countrys morals. As
such, religion plays a major part in the day-to-day life of many people, and notably at
times of great danger. The military funerals of British servicemen killed in the Second
Gulf War and afterwards provide an evocative symbol of this: the uniforms, the flag-
draped coffins, the slow march, and sometimes regimental music of a suitably sombre
type. Interestingly enough, the televising of military funerals is not permitted in some
countries. Is this a fear on behalf of the authorities that such scenes might persuade
people to question the activities of their countrys troops? Why are soldiers being killed?
What is the morality of this? The very absence of such televised reports can itself be seen
as a non-verbal metaphor, capable of interpretation in several ways.
As we have already seen, concepts of HIGH/UP and LOW/DOWN are used
metaphorically in relation to good and evil, morality and immorality. We have, in the
Christian religion at least, the concept of the fallen angel, and throughout history Hell has
been conceived of as being down there and Heaven up there: compare our discussion
in Chapter 7. Britain is often regarded as not being a church-attending nation. However,
while this may be so in terms of the established Christian Church, religion is still
regarded as enshrining morality, and reinforcing the metaphors EVIL IS A FORCE and
MORALITY IS A STRENGTH (see Kvecses 2002:63). This reinforcement is executed
both verbally and non-verbally. Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that Britain is
now a multi-faith society, with all the major world religions and guardians of morality
represented. The United States, of course, is also a strongly religious country.
In Christianity, two of the most well-known symbols are the bread and wine used in
the service of Holy Communion: the body and blood of Christ. Perhaps the best-known
Christian symbol of all is the cross itself upon which Christ was crucified. Variations of
this have become symbols of something a lot more sinister, such as the fiery cross of the
Ku Klux Klan which persecuted and often murdered black Americans in the southern
United States: compare the swastika, a form of cross, which was originally a symbol of
good luck, but is now associated with Nazi Germany and fascism.
One metaphorical, non-verbal realization which Christianity shares with other world
religions is that of the significance of water. Here, both history and myth combine. For
the Christian, water which is blessed and therefore pure symbolizes baptism and
acceptance into the faith when the priest makes the sign of the cross upon the forehead of
the candidate. It thus represents the beginning of LIFE IS A J OURNEY both spiritually
and physically for the infant, and spiritually for the adult. Some Christians see so much
significance in the symbol of water that baptism means total immersion.
In Islam, regular bathing symbolizes the unity of body and soul, belief in which is a
basic tenet of that faith and is a religious requirement for the very notion of worship.
According to Islam, all natural, unpolluted water is clean and is a gift from God. Unlike
Christianity, it requires no special blessing.
Introducing metaphor 116
For members of the J ewish faith, water represents purity, and the mikveh is a ritual
bath of natural water for cleansing after menstruation or in the initiation rites for converts
or after contact with a dead body. Priests too had to wash their hands and feet before
taking part in services in the Temple. The washing of hands before and after meals is also
an important ritual washing.
In Hinduism, where a system of beliefs is based on an intimate relationship with
nature, rivers are sacred. The River Ganges is probably the most sacred and Benares,
sited on the banks of that river, is a place of pilgrimage.
Buddhism, too, values water. Water symbolizes clarity and calmness. For Buddhists
water is a reminder to cleanse the mind and acquire a state of purity.
SUMMARY
Non-verbal metaphor, as we have seen, can take a variety of forms and ranges across a
spectrum of representation: film, music, painting, photography, religion, public art, and
even road signs. We could have written a book on non-verbal metaphor alone, and there
are areas and contexts which space has not permitted us to investigate. Gesture is one,
and this includes sign language. Consider, too, the work of the British actor and satirist
J ohn Cleese in his representation of Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers or, more recently,
J ennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley in Absolutely Fabulous. All three performers
achieved much of their success not only because of what they said but also because of
their ability to exaggerate their body language. In other words, parts of their body, their
facial expressions, and so on can become non-verbal realizations of happiness, anger, or
embarrassment. In the context of comedy, exaggerated movements speak, and if we
think of circus clowns or Charlie Chaplins silent movies, we have two excellent
examples where communication relies on the manipulation of the non-verbal metaphor.
The clowns and Chaplin use mime, and that mime, after all, is farce based on real life
using mimicry. Think also of pantomimes like Mother Goose and Cinderella. Equally, in
ballet, we have the conveyance of meaning by both movement and music working
together to present a story that may involve one or more themes. The point is both music
and dance can convey metaphor, and they are well worth exploring further because of
this.
FURTHER READING
Caballero, R. (2003) Metaphor and genre: the presence and role of metaphor in the building
review, Applied Linguistics 24/2:145167. (Investigates the use of metaphorical language in
writing about architecture.)
Forceville, C. (1998) Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising , London: Routledge.
Forty, A. (2000; paperback edn 2004) Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture
, London: Thames and Hudson. (Discusses the relationship between architecture and language:
Chapters 4 and 5 deal specifically with metaphor.)
Kvecses, Z. (2002) Metaphor: a Practical Introduction , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Chapter 5.)
Non-verbal metaphor 117

Vestergaard, T. and Schroder, K. (1985) The Language of Advertising . Oxford: Blackwell.

(Chapter 2 on the visual image.)
Introducing metaphor 118
10
CODA
At the beginning of Chapter 1, we said that the intention of this book was to introduce the
study of metaphor, and to show how and why it is important. We could not hope to cover
the topic exhaustively, but we hoped to bridge the gapanother metaphorbetween
brief discussions in general linguistics books and the detailed discussions of specialist
texts: to outline sufficiently the principal aspects of the topic and then to describe how
figurative language is used in a variety of linguistic and non-verbal contexts. We have
given some suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, after summarizing
our main points, and we give suggestions for small-scale student investigations of
figurative language in our appendix Researching metaphor.
We could have called this short final chapter a conclusion. But the word conclusion
suggests a completion, or perhaps a final rational judgement based on an assessment of
the available evidence: conclude and conclusion themselves derive from the Latin verb
claudere shut. It seemed important to us to emphasize that the study of metaphor,
whether theoretical or practical, is open-ended, and that this book is just a beginning for
that process.
So instead we have chosen the word coda as title: a musical term for a passage at the
end of a piece, derived via Italian from Latin cauda tail, and so itself metaphorical. In
linguistics, Labovs model of the structure of oral narratives uses coda to refer-to a
section at the end of a narrative, containing general observations or linking the narrative
to the time of narration (see Labov 1972:363ff.). In dance, the coda of a ballet is a finale
in which the principal dancers reappear. For our coda, we simply offer some further
examples of metaphor for consideration.
Contestants in TV shows in which they undergo an extended period of intensive
training, competing for a recording contract or other such prize, commonly use the
metaphor journey to refer to their experiences. It has been such a journey, they say;
commentators talk of obstacles on a contestants journey. Does the use of this metaphor
shift attention from the material goals of fame and money to personal development? Does
it make participation in what might be considered just shallow entertainment seem
serious and worthwhile?
The following is the opening of a poem, The Second Voyage, by the Irish poet,
Eilan N Chuilleanin:
Odysseus rested on his oar and saw
The ruffled foreheads of the waves
Crocodiling and mincing past: he rammed
Theoar betweentheir jawsandlookeddown

In the simmering sea where scribbles of weed defined
Uncertain depth, and the slim fishes progressed
In fatal formation
(N Chuilleanin 1986:26)
What kinds of image do these forceful and startling metaphors generate? How do they
convey the writers meanings? What are those meanings?
The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebes novel Things Fall Apart deals with the effect of
colonization on the Ibo in the nineteenth century. A new, European, minister arrives at a
newly-established missionary church, with a particular world view:
He saw things as black and white. And black was evil. He saw the world
as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal
combat with the sons of darkness. He spoke in his sermons about sheep
and goats and about wheat and tares. He believed in slaying the prophets
of Baal.
(Achebe 1958/2001:134)
Here and later on in this chapter, Achebe uses biblical metaphors to refer ironically to the
minister and his work. But what particular effect is created by the use in this context of
the traditional conceptual metaphors LIGHT/WHITE IS GOOD, DARK/BLACK IS
EVIL?
The metaphor road map is used in various political and economic contexts: in
particular, the phrase road map to peace has been used by Tony Blair and other world
leaders to refer to the strategies suggested by Western governments for resolving conflict
in the Middle East, particularly in relation to that between Palestinians and Israelis. Why
has this metaphor been used instead of a word such as strategy, plan, or suggestion, or
even a technology-grounded metaphor such as blueprint? In this particular situation, does
it imply not just that peace can be achieved but that it is possible to see how to achieve it,
because the best route has already been set down? Who set it down?
At the time of writing, it seems that over 250,000 people died in the Indian Ocean
earthquake and subsequent tsunami of December 2004. Commentators have drawn
parallels with the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883: one contrast made is that
people widely realize that geological processes caused the tsunami, whereas in 1883 the
disaster was attributed by many to supernatural agencies, or seen as divine punishment.
While Western television reporters were quite properly muted in their descriptions of the
immediate post-tsunami situation, it was noticeable that many personified the tsunami:
the vicious surge of water; [people] will never be able to forget the day the ocean turned
on them; the ocean is calm now, after its fit of raging temper, but it has already done its
worst. Was this just journalistic rhetoric? Or does it suggest that, in spite of twenty-first-
century scientific rationalism, there was a deep-seated feeling that blame, not just
explanation, was required?
Lastly, the 1930 American film All Quiet on the Western Front, based on a book by
Erich Maria Remarque, deals with the 19141918 war from the perspective of a young
German recruit. He is initially idealistic, later disillusioned. In the famous closing
Introducing metaphor 120
sequence, he is in a battlefield trench. Reaching up out of it towards a butterfly, he is shot
and killed. The butterfly is real, but also symbolic. Is it a metaphor for life? Hope?
Transience? Futility? Or all of these things and more?
These final examples, we hope, will underline the importance of the study of
metaphor, its richness, and its interest.
Coda 121

APPENDIX
Researching metaphor
This appendix suggests some ways for students to explore metaphor practically: you may,
of course, have already had ideas about what to do next. For our own part, we believe that
it is important to work from data, whether that data is drawn from informant testing, is
derived from a corpus, consists of a text or group of texts, or is based on other sources of
data such as scholarly dictionaries.
A starting-point might be the kind of text from which we quoted in Chapter 1: travel
writing or restaurant criticism. Such texts typically make extensive use of figurative
language in order to describe what the writer has experienced, to create or re-create
atmosphere, and to communicate evaluations, whether positive or negative. Identify the
figurative language in the text, and analyse what its effects are. How overt and how clear
are the overall description and evaluation? To what extent are you, as reader, encouraged
to agree with the writer through his or her choice of metaphor?
One of the simplest ways to examine metaphor and metonymy in relation to word
meaning is to select a highly polysemous wordfind along entry in a dictionary,
perhaps a noun. Which of its different senses reflect metaphorical processes and how
would you explain the metaphors? Which reflect metonymic ones? Now look at a verb or
adjective, or a grammatical item such as under, and consider its metaphors. The Oxford
English Dictionary provides information about the historical development of senses:
check to see how your analysis fits with this, and whether there are other, obsolete senses
which also fit in. Etymological dictionaries give information about the roots of words (as
does the Oxford English Dictionary), from which it is possible to detect metaphor further.
If you are interested in metaphorical idioms and proverbs, there are a number of reference
books which include explanations of their origins: reliable sources include the specialist
dictionaries published by Oxford University Press, and Brewers Dictionary of Phrase
and Fable.
Most investigations of conceptual metaphor use linguistic realizations to exemplify
mappings, although they may start with concepts. We have discussed a number of
conceptual metaphors in this book, and you could choose one of these to explore and map
out fully. Alternatively, you could choose to focus on a particular domain, either target or
source. For ideas, there is a web site for conceptual metaphor at
<http://cogsci.berkeley.edu/lakoff/>, which lists a large number of metaphors and indexes
both target and source domains. Many of the metaphors have relatively few linguistic
realizations: see whether you can find more. However, there is no straightforward source
from which to draw further examples. If you want to investigate a target domain, one
technique is to use a thesaurusperhaps an alphabeticallyorganized thesaurus, rather
than a traditional thematically-organized thesaurus such as Rogets. Then look up entries
for central terms within that domain: for example, if you are investigating ANGER or
PURPOSE, look up angry, anger, furious, rage, or purpose, aim, intend, intention.

Which of the listed synonyms express particular concepts, or relate to particular source
domains? Some, such as idioms, will be obvious; others less so. If the listed synonyms
include more formal Latinate words, check their etymologies to see whether, historically,
they represent the same conceptual metaphor. To investigate a source domain, a similar
technique is to consider the polysemy of common, central terms, what metaphorical
senses they have, and to what target domains they relate. For example, to investigate
WAR/STRUGGLE, look at words such as attack and fight: use an idioms dictionary to
find metaphorical expressions which fit in. (Another useful resource is Alice Deignans
thematic dictionary of metaphors (1995): each chapter covers a source domain such as
animals, cooking and food, or light, darkness, and colour, explaining metaphorical
usages of items within the domain.) As you are doing this, ask yourself whether your
work makes you more, or less, convinced of the validity of claims about conceptual
metaphor. Is it just random coincidence that a semantic set of words maps similarly onto
a domain, or is it systematic?
Scientific psycholinguistic investigations of metaphor and the brain are beyond the
scope of most general researchers. On a much smaller scale, however, it is possible to
acquire useful data through more informal informant testing. The mental images which
people have of idiom metaphors, when introspecting, is one possible topic: what image
do your friends, co-students, or family have for spill the beans (see Chapter 5), or for
idioms such as fight fire with fire, a wet blanket, pull the plug on something, or toe the
line? Are there any observable differences between age groups or genders? Similarly, to
what extent do informants agree about the meanings and implication of metaphors in a
short text, such as a poem, newspaper editorial, or review?
If you have access to a corpus, such as the British National Corpus, then you already
have access to a vast amount of primary data. It is possible to learn a lot simply by
looking to see how a particular metaphorical word or phrase is used (compare our
comments in Chapter 5). What kinds of text does the word or phrase appear in, what are
the relative proportions of literal and metaphorical uses, and are there any differences
between them in terms of collocates? You could investigate a thematic set of items, ones
which realize a conceptual metaphor. For example, we conceptualize malice and
resentment in terms of poison and destruction (poisonous, venomous, toxic, gnaw/eat
away at), and difficulties as if they are knots or tangles (knotty, tied up in knots, unravel,
disentangle, tease out). Compare how they are used: are some items used metaphorically
more often than others?
If you are bilingual, you may want to compare metaphor in your two languages. How
far do they share a conceptual metaphor, such as ANGER IS HEAT or ARGUMENT IS
WAR/STRUGGLE? Does your Other language conceptualize anger in that way or in
another? And does it provide support for the contention by Lakoff and Johnson that UP/
DOWN metaphors seem to be universal? You could perhaps compare a translation of a
literary text with the original, or even try translating a metaphor-rich text from your
second language into your first: how many metaphors cross over, how many do not? If
you are not bilingual, but you have friends or co-students whose first language is not
English, you could ask them about how they interpret the metaphors in a text, and what
their mental images are. Are there distinctions between what they say, and your own
intuitions as a native speaker?
Appendix 124

Chapter 7 dealt with metaphor in relation to evaluation and ideology. It is easy to

collect data to explore this, and newspapers are one obvious source. Compare the
differences between the metaphors used by more conservative and more liberal papers, or
between broadsheets and tabloids: limit the variables by restricting yourself to one kind
of text (editorials, human interest stories, arts reviews) or to a days top story. Election
leaflets and other political materials are another useful source. Parties typically construct
a we good/they bad contrast in their output, as propaganda: can you find evidence that
metaphor is used to convey, perhaps subliminally, this contrast? Similarly, it is easy to
collect data to explore how metaphor is used in relation to social activities. For sports,
fanzines and newspaper reports provide written data: again, it is worth factoring in
differences between broadsheets and tabloids. You could also tape radio or television
commentaries: what metaphors are used? Are there any differences, say, between British
commentary on soccer matches, and American commentary on baseball or ice hockey
games? If you want to look at advertising, then limit the variables by considering a
particular type of product (cars, cosmetics, food) and taking into account its target
demographic. Analyse the linguistic metaphors and other figurative language; but also
analyse the non-verbal metaphors in the images in the advertisements, and consider how
linguistic and non-verbal metaphors interact.
Chapter 8 looked at literary metaphor and other kinds of figurative language. Most of
our examples were drawn from childrens literature and popular fiction, and texts such as
these are useful places to start. You could, perhaps, consider the balance between simile
and metaphor in a text or part of a text; or how metaphor is used to construct character,
either by the narrator, through description, or by characters themselves and their
dialogue. Rock and pop song lyrics are another good source of data. Their metaphors may
be one-off creative metaphors, or clichd; they may exploit and develop conventional
metaphors or idioms; or whole songs may represent a single, extended metaphor, or
realize conceptual metaphors such as LIFE is A J OURNEY, LOVE is HEAT, and so on.
Consider, for example, classic songs such as The Beatles Yesterday, Bob Dylans
Like a Rolling Stone, and the Doors Light my Fire, as well as more recent songs or
rap lyrics. We did not really cover serious literature in Chapter 8, although we have
quoted from poetry: you could, of course, choose a poem or classic literary text to
explore.
Finally, we looked in Chapter 9 at non-verbal metaphor, and commented that we only
had space to consider a few contexts such as film, music, art, signs, and statues. To keep
investigations simple, start by looking at a single painting (perhaps representational rather
than abstract), and see how its meaning is constructed through symbol and metaphor; or
look at a photograph in relation to metonymy and metaphor. We have already mentioned
non-verbal metaphor in advertising. Another possibility is to explore how newspaper
cartoons use metaphor to satirize, or how editors use photographs to comment on as well
as illustrate the news. Compare the kinds of image which accompany news reports on
television: are they simply informative, or do they have other functions? How far, in fact,
do the metaphors explain or evaluate, or do they simply entertain?
See Cameron and Low (1999) for a collection of papers which discuss methodologies
in metaphor research in a variety of fields, along with results of investigations.
Appendix 125

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Searle, J .R. (1993) Metaphor, in A.Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and Thought , 2nd edn, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press: 83111.
Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. (1986) Loose talk, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 86 (1985
1986), 153171.
(1995) Relevance: Communication and Cognition , 2nd edn, Oxford: Blackwell.
Stockwell, P. (2002) Cognitive Poetics: an Introduction , London: Routledge.
Vestergaard, T. and Schroder, K. (1985) The Language of Advertising , Oxford: Blackwell.
Bibliography 128

Whorf, B.L. (1956) Language, Thought, and Reality , Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Winner, E. (1988) The Point of Words: Childrens Understanding of Metaphor and Irony , London
and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
SOURCES FOR TEXTS
CORPUS DATA
The Bank of English (BoE) , The University of Birmingham.
NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS
Daily Express , 15 October 2002.
Daily Mail , 25 October 2002, 7 February 2003.
The Guardian , 17 March 2001, 5 October 2002, 25 October 2002, 2 February 2003, 22 November
2003, 10 J anuary 2004, 17 J anuary 2004, 6 March 2004.
The Independent , 14 J une 2004.
The Observer , 2 February 2003, J une 2003, 23 November 2003, 11 J uly 2004.
Red , March 2003.
NOVELS AND POETRY
Achebe, Chinua (1958) Things Fall Apart ; republished (2001), Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Atwood, Margaret (2000) The Blind Assassin , London: Bloomsbury.
Auden, W.H. (1966) Collected Shorter Poems 19271957 , London: Faber and Faber.
Bawden, Nina (1973) Carries War , Harmondsworth: Puffin/Penguin.
Bryers, Paul (2004) The Used Womens Book Club , London: Bloomsbury.
Carroll, Lewis (1865) Alices Adventures in Wonderland ; republished in M.Gardner (ed.) (1970)
The.Annotated Alice , Harmondsworth: Penguin.
(1871) Through the Looking Glass ; republished in M. Gardner (ed.) (1970) The Annotated Alice ,
Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Grahame, Kenneth (1908) The Wind in the Willows ; republished (1951), London: Methuen.
Haddon, Mark (2003) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time , London: Random House.
Heaney, Seamus (1998) Opened Ground: Poems 19661996 , London: Faber and Faber.
(trans.) (1999) Beowulf , London: Faber and Faber.
J oyce, James (1939; 3rd edn 1964) Finnegans Wake , London: Faber and Faber.
Lewis, C.S. (1950) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ; republished (1988), London: Lions,
HarperCollins.
Lorca, Federico Garcia (1992) Selected Poems , trans. M.Williams, Newcastle upon Tyne:
Bloodaxe Books.
MacDonald, George (1883) The Princess and Curdie ; republished in R.McGillis (ed.) (1990)
George MacDonald: The Princess and the Goblin and The Princess and Curdie , Oxford and
New York: Oxford University Press.
Morrall, Clare (2003) Astonishing Splashes of Colour , Birmingham: Tindal Street Press.
Muldoon, Paul (1996) New Selected Poems 19681994 , London: Faber and Faber.
N Chuilleanin, Eilan (1986) The Second Voyage , Dublin: Gallery Books, and Newcastle upon
Tyne: Bloodaxe Books.
Owen, Wilfred (1963) The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen , ed. C.Day Lewis; London: Chatto
and Windus.
Rankin, Ian (2003) Beggars Banquet , London: Orion.
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1954) The Two Towers ; republished in (1993) The Lord of the Kings , London:
HarperCollins.
Bibliography 129

Tucker, Charlotte M. (1858) The Green Velvet Dress ; republished in J .Mark (ed.) (1993) The
Oxford Book of Childrens Stories , Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vine, Barbara (1998) The Chimney Sweepers Boy , London: Viking.
Yeats, W.B. (1950, 2nd edn) Collected Poems , London: Macmillan.
OTHER TEXTS
Fantoni, B. (ed.) (2004) Colemanballs 12, London: Private Eye.
Greenwood, M., Connolly, M. and Wallis, G. (1999) The Rough Guide to Ireland , London: The
Rough Guides.
Naughtie, J . (2001) The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage , London: Fourth Estate.
Bibliography 130

INDEX
Capitalized words in the index indicate metaphorical concepts; italics are used to indicate
words and phrases discussed, and titles.

abstractness 56, 32, 401, 88
Achebe, C. 1567
adventure fiction 131
adverbs 17, 35
advertising 10912, 139, 1434, 162;
colour in 144
Aeneid 131
AFFECTION 38, 72
agency 11112, 1335, 141
All Quiet on the Western Front 157
allegory 11, 123, 12931
alliteration 123
ambiguity 245, 745, 121;
in literature 1279
ANGER 389, 42, 44, 578, 71, 85, 114, 149, 1601
ANIMALS 1057, 133
anthropomorphism 7, 125, 130
apostrophe (poetic device) 124, 1267
Arbus, D. 1423
ARGUMENT 312, 414, 88
ARGUMENT IS WAR 313, 404, 88, 98100, 1034, 161
Aristotle 66, 78
art 1011, 142, 163
Arthurian literature 131
assonance 1234
Atwood, M. 767
Auden, W.H. 1223
Austen, J . 122
autism 64

backbone 70, 734
Bank of English corpus (BoE) 3
Bawden, N. 1323
Beowulf 93
Black, M. 67, 77
Blake, Q. 142
Blake, W. 142
blending theory 734, 78

body language 15 34
BoE 3
borrowing (of words) 14, 18, 82
branch 15, 21
Bryers, P. 136
Buddhism, symbolism in 153
BUILDINGS 44, 49, 556, 83, 889
buildings as symbols 1501
Bunyan, J. 1301
buy the hatchet 19, 82

Cameron, L. 163
Carpenter, H. 130
Carroll, L. 122, 1279
Carter, R. 134
cattle 51
CAUSE FOR EFFECT 57
Chaucer, G. 131
children and metaphor 624
childrens literature 11, 12533, 162
Christianity: allegory and 1301;
symbolism in 1523
cinema see film
CLOTHING 49, 512
cognitive approaches to understanding of metaphor 6974;
see also conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy
cold blood 18, 256
Colemanballs 24
Coleridge, S.T. 129
collocation 26, 75, 81, 161
colour and colour symbolism 13941, 144, 1469;
in advertising 144;
in film 1401, 149;
in music 141, 149;
in signage 1456
COMMUNICATION 358, 40
comparison theory of metaphorical meaning 678
components (of meaning) 213, 43, 53
compound words 4, 1314;
in other languages 7980
comprehension of metaphor 6174
computer terms 4, 18
conceptual metaphor 3046, 524, 578, 69, 713, 1567, 1601;
in other languages and cultures 849
conceptual metonymy 548
conceptualization 2, 5, 2946, 72, 849, 161
CONDUIT metaphor 367, 43
conventional metaphor 46, 1012, 1326, 378, 412, 62, 678, 701, 75, 7982, 8992, 15962;
see also idioms
conversational maxims (Grice) 689
core meaning 1517, 22, 4850
Index 133

corpus linguistics 3, 745, 161

correspondences 334, 434, 52, 6970
Coulthard, M. 11718
cream 16, 224, 68
creative metaphor 56, 1012, 23, 26, 30, 412, 62, 678, 745, 923, 121, 1623;
see also literature and literary metaphor
cricket 109
crime fiction 1356
Crisp, P. 142
crosslinguistic aspects of metaphor 35, 7994, 1612
crown 3, 4750, 54, 56, 84
culture:
crosscultural aspects 323, 40, 8492, 96, 99;
and metaphor 12, 323, 357, 40, 56, 96, 99, 143;
in relation to thought 869;
and symbolism 1501

Dahl, R. 142
DARKNESS 39, 150, 1567
dead metaphor 6;
see also conventional metaphor
Deignan, A. 77, 160
detective fiction 1356
Dickens, C. 125, 142
dictionaries 1415, 67, 801, 83, 15960
discourse: of finance 11215, 148;
of journalism 99109, 11215, 150, 157, 162;
of politics 97105, 157, 162;
of sport 1059
Disney, W. 149
domains (in metaphor) 335, 404, 523, 55, 58, 714, 85, 150, 1601
Doyle, C. 149
Dublin 150
Dylan, B. 141, 162

EFFECT FOR CAUSE 578
electroacoustic music 142
EMOTION 389, 445, 1479, 161;
see also AFFECTION, ANGER, HAPPINESS, LOVE
entity (metonym component) 547
etymology 1314, 18, 20, 38, 42, 501, 86, 160;
see also historical aspects of meaning
euphemism 18, 11618
evaluation 22, 578, 64, 76, 95119, 162
evangelical fiction 967
exaggeration 201
experiential basis for metaphor 445, 713;
for metonymy 578
exploitation of figurative language 236;
see also ambiguity, punning

Index 134

Fauconnier, G. 734
fiction:
metaphor in 64, 76, 967, 122, 12536, 1567, 162;
metonymy in 1245, 135;
non-verbal metaphor in 142;
personification in 1237, 133;
simile in 767, 123, 1323, 162
figurative awareness 246, 7980, 89
figurative competence 624, 7980
figurative language 69;
see also metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile
figures (literary device) 123
film 1011, 13941, 149, 157
financial discourse 11215, 148
FIRE 38, 114, 1489
flags 147, 151
FOOD 108, 110;
in names 50, 80
football:
(rugby) 1067;
(soccer) 1079
Forceville, C. 143
foregrounding 121, 124
foreign language learning 7980
forensic stylistics 11718
fox 78, 10, 802, 90
Frank, R. 143
French: metaphor in 35, 803, 856, 88, 902;
metonymy in 834
functions of metaphor 45, 1112
fuzzy meaning 12, 223, 767

GAMBLING 113
German:
metaphor in 803, 856, 88, 901;
metonymy in 80, 834
gesture 153
Gibbs, R.W. 53, 701, 77
Goatly, A. 12
GOOD/EVIL 40, 115, 141, 150, 152, 1567
Grahame, K. 12930
grammatical metaphor 11618, 1345
grammatical words 17, 35, 15960
Grice, H.P. 68
grounds (metaphor component) 910, 98100, 106, 115
Guest, C. 141

Haddon, M. 64
Halliday, M.A.K. 116
hand 8, 4752, 546, 84
HAPPINESS 39, 41, 445, 85
Index 135

Harrison, J . 142
head 4951, 53, 84
Heaney, S. 93, 137
HEAT 38, 11415, 1489, 162
Hero 149
hiding 434
highlighting 434
Hinduism, symbolism in 153
historical aspects of meaning 7, 1320, 82;
see also etymology
Hodgson Burnett, F. 130
hollow 16, 22, 802
Hopi 867, 89
Hopkins, G.M. 123
hound 1001
humour 20, 24, 136;
see also exploitation, punning
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The 149
hyperbole 201

ideology 12, 578, 76, 95119, 157, 162
idioms 4, 1921, 512, 71, 75, 1013, 160;
in other languages 823, 912
ILLNESS 5, 2930, 41, 88
illustrations in books 142
impossibility 3, 8, 201;
see also truth and metaphor impress 17, 38
interaction theory of metaphorical meaning 67, 77
Ireland, Northern 1014-, 151
Ireland, Republic of 150
irony 645, 70, 99, 1223, 125, 1567
Islam, symbolism in 153
Italian, metaphor in 803, 86, 88, 912

J akobson, R. 124
J apanese, metaphor in 82, 86, 90
jewel 3 , 78, 75, 802, 90
J ohn, E. 141
J ohnson, C. 72
J ohnson, M. 30;
see also Lakoff and
J ohnson
journalism 99109, 11215, 150, 157, 1623
J OURNEY 72, 1401, 156;
see also LIFE IS A J OURNEY
J oyce, J. 129
J udaism, symbolism in 153

Keats, J. 124, 126
kick the bucket 1920, 83, 91
kill two birds with one stone 823, 91
Index 136

kitchen as symbol 12930

KNOWLEDGE 45, 71, 150
Kvecses, Z. 12, 30, 39, 445, 534, 567, 78, 89, 94, 107, 109, 111, 114, 121, 131, 139, 14950,
152;
on metonymy 548
Kress, G. 144

Lakoff, G. 30, 39, 456, 71, 73, 87, 160
Lakoff, G. and J ohnson, M. 3046, 713, 846, 88, 96, 143;
on metonymy 548;
on processing of metaphor 69, 713
language acquisition 624;
of foreign languages 7980
Lewis, C.S. 1301
lexicalization 4, 88
LIFE 40, 141
LIFE IS A J OURNEY 42, 131, 1403, 162
LIGHT 39, 41, 150, 1567
Liszt, F. 141
literal, literally 245
literal meaning 34, 612, 1426, 35, 43, 489, 6271, 75, 7980, 913, 99, 161
literature and literary metaphor 12, 5, 1112, 25, 64, 68, 76, 967, 12138, 142, 1567, 1623;
and metonymy 1235, 135;
and personification 767, 1237, 133;
and simile 767, 123, 1323, 162;
translation of 923, 161
loan words see borrowing
Lodge, D. 124
loose talk 23, 27
Lorca, F.G. 93
Lord of the Rings, The 11, 42, 126, 1401
LOVE 38, 134, 162
Low, G. 163

MacDonald, G. 130
McGuinness, H. 134
machinery 88, 90
map 50, 157
mapping (in metaphor) 335, 414, 534, 74, 86, 1601;
multiple 41, 434
Martin, J . 116
meaning (of words) 34, 1326, 15960;
meaning components 213, 43, 53;
sentence meaning 66;
subtextual meaning 76, 95, 1213;
utterance meaning 66;
see also literal meaning, metaphor, metonymy
mental images 1415, 1920, 62, 71, 156, 1612
metaphor (definitions of) 37;
analysis of 910;
functions of 45, 1112;
Index 137

and metonymy 9, 524, 124;

non-verbal 1011, 13954, 157, 163;
in other languages 7994, 1612;
and simile 8, 34, 67;
systematicity 2946;
textbased approaches 747;
understanding of 6174;
see also conceptual metaphor, conventional metaphor, creative metaphor, culture and metaphor,
grammatical metaphor, literature and literary metaphor, ontological metaphor, orientational
metaphor, structural metaphor, truth and metaphor
metaphoric competence see figurative competence
Metaphors we Live by 305, 3846
metonymy 6, 89, 4758, 70, 76, 98, 123, 135;
as basis for metaphor 578;
conceptual 548;
in literature 1235, 135;
and metaphor 9, 524, 124;
non-verbal 1011, 1467, 163;
in other languages 834;
in signage 1011, 146;
and symbolism 48, 54, 56, 147;
and synecdoche 48, 125;
systematicity 547
military funerals 1512
military uniforms 147
mime 154
MIND 37
MONEY 345, 11314
monuments 1501
MORE IS UP, LESS IS DOWN 401, 43, 45, 57, 712, 85
Morrall, C. 1478
mountain 7, 910, 212, 802
Muldoon, P. 25, 147
multiple mapping 434
multiple meaning see ambiguity,
polysemy, punning
music 49, 1412, 149
mystery fiction 135

nail in the coffin 20, 1023
Nash, W. 134
Naughtie, J . 979
neologism 4, 1314, 18, 22
neural mapping 713
news reports, metaphor in 99105, 150, 157, 1623
Newton, I. 149
N Chuilleanin, E. 156
nominalization 11618, 1345
non-verbal metaphor 1011, 13954, 157, 163
non-verbal metonymy 1011, 1467, 163
Northern Ireland 1014, 151
Index 138

notices and signs 1011, 1446

novel metaphor 5;
see also creative metaphor

Odyssey 131
OED 14
onomatopoeia 50
ontological metaphor 3941, 88
orientational metaphor 3941, 435, 856, 96;
see also UP/DOWN
Orwell, G. 130
Owen, W. 1267, 137
Oxford English Dictionary 14, 160

painting see art
Paris 151
PART FOR THE WHOLE 557
Pearce, P. 130
personification 7, 76, 11012, 123, 157;
in literature 767, 1237, 133
philosophy of language and
metaphor 659
photography 1423, 163
phrasal verbs 17
pictorial representation 1011, 1424, 163
pigeonhole 1314, 212
plastic 478, 54, 56
poetry:
metaphor in 1, 25, 923, 1221-, 1267, 129, 137, 156;
metonymy in 1245
police 151
political discourse 97105, 157, 162
polysemy 4, 1417, 30, 41, 4850, 668, 745, 812, 86, 1289, 15960
popular fiction 1346, 162
portmanteau words 1289
pragmatics and metaphor 656, 689
prepositions 17, 35
prototypical features 10, 213
proverbs 4, 25, 160
psycholinguistic aspects of metaphor 614, 713, 75;
experimentation 6971
pub signs 146
punning 245, 111, 122, 1279
PURPOSES 72, 160
rain cats and dogs 1920
Rankin, I. 134
readerwriter relationship 1112, 223, 1313

Reddy, M. 30, 357, 46
RELATIONSHIPS 38, 58
relevance theory 69
Index 139

religion 11, 967, 119, 1513;

and allegory 1301
reliteralization 256
Rendell, R. 135
researching metaphor 15963
restaurant criticism 56, 10
road movies 140, 143
road signs and signals 1011, 1456
romantic fiction 1345
rugby football 1067
run 82, 91
Russell, K. 149

sacrifice 105, 115
SADNESS 3940, 435, 85
Sapir, E. 87
SapirWhorf hypothesis 879
scapegoat 1045, 108
schemes (poetic device) 12 34
science fiction 104
Scott, R. 140
Searle, J . 78
seed 90
SEEING 37, 45, 86, 144, 150;
see also UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING
sentence meaning 66
SEXUAL DESIRE 149
Shakespeare, W. 1, 5, 92, 107, 1223, 127
Shirley, J . 1245
signage 1011, 1446
simile 6, 8, 63, 67, 123, 1323;
in literature 767, 123, 1323, 162;
and metaphor 8, 34, 67
soccer 1079
social context 95119
SOUNDS 4950
source domain 334, 734, 160
source language 33, 8990
Spanish:
metaphor in 803, 86, 93;
metonymy in 80
spend 345
Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. 23, 27, 69, 78
spill the beans 71, 75
spoken language, metaphor in 23, 656, 689, 70, 75, 113, 11617
sport, discourse of 1059
SPORT IS WAR 109
statues 150
structural metaphor 3941
substitution theory of metaphorical meaning 668
subtextual meaning 76, 95, 1213
Index 140

Swift, J . 130
symbols and symbolism 1, 1011, 42, 48, 54, 56, 1223, 12930, 1403, 1456, 1501, 157, 163;
and colours 13941, 144, 1469;
in fiction 12931;
and metonymy 48, 54, 56, 147;
in poetry 1, 129;
in politics 147;
in religion 1523
synecdoche 48, 125;
see also metonymy
synesthesia 10;
see also colour and colour symbolism
systematicity:
in metaphor 2946;
in metonymy 547

target domain 334, 734, 160
target entity 547
target language 33, 90
tenor (metaphor component) 910;
see also topic
text analysis 2, 10, 767, 95119, 12137, 1567, 159, 162
Thelma and Louise 1401
thought and culture 869
thrash 3, 667
TIME 345, 402, 53, 76
TIME IS MONEY 345
TIME IS SPACE 17, 35, 412, 53
Tolkien, J.R.R. 11,42, 126, 1401
topic (metaphor component) 910, 67, 69, 74, 98100, 106, 115
traffic signs and signals 1011, 1456
train 50
translation 33, 8093;
of literature 923, 161
travel writing 56, 76
tropes 70, 1234
truth and metaphor 89, 201, 24, 646, 689, 118, 123
Tucker, C.M. 967
Turner, J .M.W. 1423
Turner, M. 30, 734

UNDERSTANDING 358, 401, 45, 86, 88, 90
UNDERSTANDING IS HOLDING 378, 86
UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING 378, 45, 712, 86
understanding of metaphor 6174
universality 33, 35, 40, 85, 161
UP/DOWN 3941, 435, 856, 957, 115, 150, 152, 161;
see also MORE IS UP, LESS IS DOWN
utterance meaning 66

van Leeuwen, T. 144
Index 141

vehicle (metaphor component) 910, 67, 69, 74, 98100, 106, 115, 133
vehicle entity (in metonymy) 547
VERBAL IS PHYSICAL 43
Vine, B. 135

WAR 5, 2933, 41, 989, 1034, 109, 160;
see also ARGUMENT IS WAR
warfare, language of 18, 22
water, symbolism of 1534
westerns 140
WHOLE FOR THE PART 557
Whorf, B.L. 87, 89, 94
Wilde, O. 1256
Winner, E. 634, 78
Women in Love 149
words:
formation of 4, 1314, 18, 22;
and frequency 1517, 745;
and meaning 34, 1326, 15960
Wordsworth, W. 126
wound 100, 1057
writerreader relationship 1112, 223, 1313
Wyndham, J . 104

Yeats, W.B. 1, 5, 12, 124, 129

Zhang Yimou 149

Index 142