Research project

Constructionist description of conceptual and linguistic metaphor.

Director(s)

De Knop Sabine, Baicchi Annalisa.

Description

Since the publication of the seminal book « Metaphors We Live By? by Lakoff & Johnson in 1980, the centrality of conceptual metaphor is well-established. Since then, several scholars have been describing metaphor starting from the conceptual domains of source and target and the way these two domains are realized at the linguistic level. Only few researchers have dealt with the question of the role of the construction in which metaphor appears. The project takes a constructionist perspective to describe linguistic metaphors. Conceptual Metaphor Theory as advocated by Lakoff & Johnson is being enriched by the concepts of predicating vs. non-predicating construction, but also by the concepts of autonomy vs. dependence.

Keywords

metaphor and figurative language / conceptual metaphor / constructionist approach / predicating vs. non-predicating / autonomy vs. dependence / construction.

Collaboration(s)

Prof.Annalisa Baicchi, University of Pavia
Prof. Günter Radden, University of Hamburg
Prof. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez, University of Logrono, La Rioja.