Metaphoric Conceptual Pathways

Abstract

When we are engaged in metaphorical conceptualization online, we create and comprehend a metaphorical contextual meaning through an expression with a more basic, literal meaning. How does this process happen? I cannot answer this question as a psychologist or psycholinguist would; I attempt to answer it from the perspective of a cognitive linguist, and ask: What are the specific figurative devices (metaphors and metonymies) that the process requires in an act of metaphorical conceptualization? I propose that there is not a single device on a single level of conceptualization but several such devices on several levels participating in every act of metaphor use. Furthermore, I suggest that the participating devices constitute conceptual hierarchies that are different for correlation-based and resemblance-based metaphors. I call such hierarchies of figurative devices “metaphoric conceptual pathways.” Finally, I contend that these conceptual pathways emerge in and are shaped by several different context types.