Productivity and Schematicity in Metaphors

Abstract

The theory of metaphor proposed by Johnson (1980a, 1980b) and Lakoff (1993) involves a mapping of conceptual structure from one semantic domain to another. We investigate properties of these conceptual domain mappings by comparing them to morphological derivational relations. Schematicity and productivity are properties that Bybee (1985) and Langacker (1987) propose for characterizing morphological derivational relations, which we apply to our analysis of metaphor. Metaphors are argued to vary in their degree of semantic schematicity: Domain relations function as generalizations over specific metaphorical expressions. We also demonstrate three points on a continuum of productivity: Conventional metaphors are highly productive, metaphorically motivated transparent idioms are semiproductive, and opaque idioms are unproductive. Each point is compared with an example of morphological productivity having a corresponding conceptual organization. The results demonstrate that semantic productivity can be characterized in the same way as morphological productivity, suggesting that form and meaning are organized by the same principles.

15. From perception of spatial artefacts to metaphorical meaning

“…Deignan's explanation is plausible, and lexicalisation patterns do play a role in how people's bodily experiences are used (cf. Clausner and Croft 1997;Johansson Falck, in press b) or how events are remembered (Filipović and Geva, this volume).…”

Constructions at the crossroads

“…Firstly, problems of source and target domain identification and delimitation have lead to important criticisms of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Attempts at dealing with such issues have been offered by Clausner & Croft (1997), Glynn (1997Glynn ( , 2002, and Grady (1997) who focus on better means for delimiting and defining the domains in question. The solutions provided by these investigations could also inform our results, but must be left aside.…”

Event Schemas and Thematic Roles in Ilami Dialect of Kurdish

“…Their review suggests possible ways of integrating this research with the findings on linguistic structure and meaning in cognitive semantics. Clausner & Croft (1997) examine a fifth theoretical construct, that of "image schemas" (recurring basic conceptual structures), and argue that image schemas are a subtype of domain. They argue that it is concepts in domains that are locational or International Journal of Linguistics ISSN 1948-5425 2012 configurational, not the domains themselves.…”