Conceptual Metaphors

Definition

Conceptual metaphors are cognitive devices that allow us to understand and reason about abstract concepts by mapping them onto more concrete, familiar domains. They shape our perceptions, thoughts, and actions by structuring our conceptual system and influencing how we make sense of the world around us.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. Conceptual metaphors are pervasive in everyday language, thought, and behavior, often going unnoticed due to their ubiquity and automaticity.
2. They allow us to understand abstract concepts, such as time, emotions, and morality, in terms of more concrete, physical experiences, like space, temperature, and balance.
3. Conceptual metaphors are not just linguistic phenomena but reflect deeper cognitive structures that shape our perceptions, reasoning, and decision-making processes.
4. The study of conceptual metaphors has been a central focus in cognitive linguistics, which aims to uncover the underlying conceptual systems that give rise to linguistic patterns.
5. Embodied cognition theory suggests that our conceptual metaphors are grounded in our bodily experiences and interactions with the physical world, which inform our abstract reasoning.

Review Questions

• Explain how conceptual metaphors structure our understanding of abstract concepts.
  • Conceptual metaphors allow us to comprehend abstract concepts, such as time, emotions, and morality, by mapping them onto more concrete, physical domains that we have direct experience with, like space, temperature, and balance. For example, we often conceptualize time as a spatial entity that can be 'spent', 'saved', or 'lost', which shapes our temporal reasoning and decision-making. This process of metaphorical mapping facilitates our understanding of complex, intangible concepts by grounding them in familiar, embodied experiences.
• Describe the role of embodied cognition in the formation of conceptual metaphors.
  • Embodied cognition theory posits that our conceptual metaphors are rooted in our bodily experiences and interactions with the physical world. For instance, the metaphor 'happy is up, sad is down' is believed to be grounded in our physical experiences of posture and facial expressions associated with positive and negative emotions. Similarly, the conceptual metaphor 'intimacy is closeness' is thought to be derived from our embodied understanding of physical proximity and interpersonal relationships. By tracing the origins of conceptual metaphors to our sensorimotor experiences, embodied cognition highlights how our conceptual system is shaped by the way we physically engage with and perceive our environment.
• Analyze how the study of conceptual metaphors has contributed to our understanding of the relationship between language, mind, and culture.
  • The investigation of conceptual metaphors has been a central focus in cognitive linguistics, which examines the interconnections between language, cognition, and socio-cultural experience. By uncovering the underlying conceptual structures that give rise to linguistic patterns, the study of conceptual metaphors has revealed how our language both reflects and shapes our thought processes, perceptions, and behaviors. Furthermore, the cross-cultural variation in conceptual metaphors highlights how our conceptual system is influenced by cultural beliefs, values, and experiences. This insight has important implications for our understanding of the complex relationship between language, mind, and the sociocultural context in which they are situated.

Related terms

Metaphorical Mapping: The cognitive process of transferring the structure and logic of a concrete, source domain onto an abstract, target domain to facilitate understanding and reasoning.

Embodied Cognition: The theory that our conceptual understanding is grounded in and shaped by our bodily experiences and interactions with the physical world.

Cognitive Linguistics: The interdisciplinary field that studies the relationship between language, mind, and socio-cultural experience, with a focus on how conceptual metaphors structure our conceptual system.