Metaphor and Metonymy A Diachronic Approach

by Allan, Kathryn

• ISBN13: 9781405190855
• ISBN10: 140519085X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-16
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The way in which we understand the concept of intelligence is rooted in metaphor and metonymy; for example, it is common to describe people as 'bright' or 'thick'. This book explores the motivation for some of the lexemes in this semantic field across the history of the English language, considering the range of cognitive mechanisms and cultural factors that can inform metaphorical and metonymical mappings.Provides a much-needed diachronic approach to theories of metaphor and metonymy within cognitive semantics, building on the work of scholars such as Geeraerts and Sweetser Argues that a diachronic approach offers a fresh perspective which can both complement and challenge current theories of metaphor and metonymy Explores both cognitive and cultural issues relating to motivation, and takes account of established theories of semantic change alongside recent work in cognitive linguistics Considers three of the concepts that have been important in the way intelligence is conceptualized diachronically: the senses, density, and animals Includes a detailed case study of these source concepts which provides a starting point for a wider discussion about the nature of mapping processes

Author Biography

Kathryn Allan is lecturer in the History of the English Language at University College London. She trained at Glasgow University, during which time she was a research assistant on the Historical Thesaurus of English, and has previously held a lectureship in English Language at Salford University. Her research interests are in cognitive and historical semantics and lexicology.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Motivation	p. 2
Brief outline of the study of metaphor and metonymy	p. 4
Early work on metaphor	p. 4
Metaphors We Live By, and the work of Lakoff et al.	p. 8
Metonymy	p. 10
Use of corpora in the study of metaphor and metonymy	p. 13
Methodology	p. 14
The Historical Thesaurus of English and the Oxford English Dictionary	p. 14
The Intelligence corpus	p. 17
Guide to the data	p. 18
Discrepancies between HTE and the Intelligence corpus	p. 19
Dating of entries	p. 20
Data analysis	p. 21
The data: some preliminary comments	p. 24
Stupid Vs. Clever	p. 24
The core concept groups	p. 26
The 'hierarchy' of core concepts	p. 29
Associations between core concepts	p. 30
Mind, Head and Brain	p. 31
Focus of the study	p. 35
Senses	p. 37
Introduction	p. 37
Data	p. 38
Vision	p. 39
Light	p. 41
Touch	p. 41
Taste	p. 42
Hearing	p. 43
Motivation	p. 44
Vision	p. 44
Light	p. 45
Touch	p. 47
Taste	p. 49
Hearing	p. 50
Proto-Indo-European	p. 51
Primary metaphor and conflation theory	p. 54
Evidence in non-Indo-European languages	p. 58
Ontogeny and phylogeny	p. 61
Conclusion	p. 63
Evidence from Afroasiatic and Austronesian	p. 67
Vision	p. 67
Touch	p. 71
Taste	p. 72
Hearing	p. 73
Data tables	p. 76
Sense-Vision	p. 76
Sense-Vision-Light	p. 82
Sense-Grasp (Touch)	p. 84
Sense-Taste	p. 86
Sense-Hearing	p. 87
Density	p. 88
Introduction	p. 88
Data	p. 89
General terms	p. 90
Wood	p. 91
Earth	p. 92
Food	p. 92
Miscellaneous	p. 92
Dates	p. 92
Motivation	p. 93
Blending theory	p. 97
General terms vs. specific substances	p. 100
Wood	p. 101
Earth	p. 104
Food	p. 106
Miscellaneous	p. 108
Semantic 'pathways'	p. 109
Specificity and lack of other substances	p. 110
Conceptual links and limits on reference	p. 111
Conclusion	p. 117
Data tables	p. 119
Density-General	p. 119
Density-Wood	p. 120
Density-Earth	p. 121
Density-Food	p. 122
Density-Miscellaneous	p. 123
Animals	p. 125
Introduction	p. 125
Data	p. 125
Mammals	p. 125
Birds	p. 126
Insects	p. 126
Fish	p. 127
Motivation	p. 127
Nature and nurture, the brain, and cognitive fluidity	p. 127
Cultural influences: the medieval tradition and beyond	p. 129
Dating issues: a problem?	p. 133
Derogatory terms and the Great Chain metaphor	p. 138
An analysis of Animal metaphorisation	p. 140
Similarity theory	p. 142
Particular animals found	p. 145
Mammals	p. 146
Donkeys/Mules	p. 149
Sheep	p. 152
Bovines	p. 155
Other Animals	p. 156
Birds	p. 160
Insects	p. 164
Fish	p. 168
Conclusion	p. 170
Data tables	p. 172
Animal-Mammal	p. 172
Animal-Mammal-Donkey/Mule	p. 172
Animal-Mammal-Sheep	p. 173
Animal-Mammal-Bovine	p. 174
Animal-Mammal-Other Animals	p. 175
Animal-Mammal-Bird	p. 176
Animal-Insect	p. 178
Animal-Fish	p. 179
Animal-General	p. 179
Conclusion	p. 180
Summary	p. 180
The metaphor-metonymy continuum	p. 182
A corpus-based approach	p. 183
Incongruity in conceptualisations of Intelligence	p. 184
A diachronic approach	p. 185
An interdisciplinary approach	p. 187
Issues for future research: Sapir-Whorf, PC language and the influence of metaphor	p. 188
Appendix: Additional data tables	p. 191
Age	p. 192
Alive/Animate	p. 192
Beauty	p. 193
Birth/Creation	p. 194
Body Part-Sexual	p. 195
Brain	p. 195
Colour	p. 197
Completion	p. 197
Container	p. 198
Container-Empty/Full of Nothing	p. 200
Fat	p. 201
Fruit/Veg	p. 201
Good/Happy	p. 202
Hard/Soft	p. 203
Head	p. 204
Health-Physical/Mental	p. 210
Hit/Stunned	p. 211
Human	p. 212
Humble/Ordinary	p. 212
Intelligence	p. 213
Liquid/Semi-Liquid	p. 217
Loose Texture	p. 217
Lump	p. 218
Mind	p. 218
Object	p. 221
Pure/Clean	p. 224
Sense/Feeling	p. 225
Shape	p. 226
Sharp/Piercing	p. 226
Size	p. 229
Sound	p. 230
Speech	p. 231
Speed	p. 233
Strength/Weakness	p. 234
Value	p. 234
Wealth/Prosperity	p. 235
Weight	p. 235
Bibliography	p. 237
Acknowledgements	p. 244
General index	p. 245
Index of word forms and core concepts	p. 248
Index of references	p. 254
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