COGNITIVE NATURE OF CONVENTIONAL AND LITERARY METAPHOR: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article is concerned with the cognitive analysis of conventional and literary metaphors, their similar and distinctive features, linguistic and extralinguistic factors determining the specificity of each type. The new findings of the research are: 1. Both types of metaphors have similar cognitive mechanisms including the processes of a) structuring one conceptual domain within the other; b) conceptual integration of the two interconnected conceptual domains; c) modelling the cognitive structure of metaphor on the basis of image representations and propositional schemas; d) activation of associative mechanism of metaphor; e) emerging new conceptual elements; 2. Literary metaphor is different from conventional one in many respects a) it shares many features of the literary discourse such as anthropocentrism, subjectivity, imagery, emotiveness, implicitness, associativity, both textual and non-textual, conceptuality, interpretedness; b) it is consistent with the author’s aesthetic and communicative intentions; c) it is dependent on all types of contexts (linguistic, pragmatic, cognitive, sociocultural); d) represents macro- and megaconcepts of the literary text; f) becomes a significant component of the author’s individual world view; g) assumes the function of conceptual dominant in the literary discourse; i) forms an extensive network of textual and non-textual associations.