Multiple Constraints in Theories of Metaphor

Bibliographic Data

ID11274191
AuthorsRaymond W Gibbs (0000-0003-2038-223X, University of California, Santa Cruz, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume48
Issue8
Pages575-584
Publication date2011-10-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Processes (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-853X • E-ISSN: 1532-6950
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0163853x.2011.606105
OpenAlexW2113784273
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited13

Critics of conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) argue that metaphors are produced and understood as novel meaning creations, and often note that other factors may account for some of the ways people use and understand metaphors apart from entrenched metaphorical concepts, or conceptual metaphors. This article situates CMT within the multidisciplinary study of discourse processes, noting the long tradition in psychology of exploring how people's background knowledge and experience constrain discourse understanding and how psychologists have long sought links between patterns of talk and schemas in mind. This work suggests that alternative proposals on why people speak metaphorically and behave as they do in psycholinguistic experiments are, perhaps, complementary to CMT, but do not replace the theory in any significant way. Multiple, interacting constraints shape people's ongoing metaphoric thought and language, with conceptual metaphors remaining a major force in any comprehensive theory of metaphor

Cognitive science · Conceptual metaphor · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literal and figurative language · Meaning (existential · Metaphor · Sociology · Action Observation and Synchronization · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology