Cognitive theory of metaphor and idiom analysis
Cognitive theory of metaphor and idiom analysis
Author(s): Dmitrij Dobrovol'skij, Elisabeth PiirainenSubject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Filozofski fakultet, Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera, Osijek
Keywords: idiom analysis; Conventional Figurative Language Theory; Cognitive Theory of Metaphor; conceptual metaphor; cultural semiotics; cultural knowledge; image component; symbolic meaning
Summary/Abstract: We wish to establish to what extent the methods of analysis developed within the framework of the Cognitive Theory of Metaphor (CTM) can be applied to idiom analysis. Conventionalised figurative metaphors, and hence idioms, have a different function and a different cognitive and communicative value, as compared to novel metaphors. Idioms contribute much less to the structuring of unstructured situations, but they rather convey different kinds of knowledge that they have accumulated in the course of their functioning in the language. What is needed in addition to CTM is a theory specially designed to describe the irregularities of idioms. To develop such a theory is the main aim of modern idiom research. This paper should be viewed as a contribution to developing such a theory.
Journal: Jezikoslovlje
- Issue Year: VI/2005
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 7-35
- Page Count: 29
- Language: English