CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR IN COGNITIVE-SEMIOTIC INTERPRETATION

The article presents an attempt to view the phenomenon of conceptual metaphor in the cognitive-semiotic aspect. The object of the study is the conceptual metaphor, the subject matter is its cognitive-semantic essence and the forms of its representation. The main thesis that forms the theoretical basis of the article is that the conceptual metaphor understood as the ability of our consciousness to think of one, more abstract entity in terms of another, more concrete, entity, presents a mental phenomenon that may have not only verbal, but other forms of its representation. The main objective of the article is to carry out the analysis of visual, artefact and ontological metaphors in the cognitive-semiotic aspect and the ways of their representation in the text. The main methods of analysis conditioned by the theoretical aspect chosen for analysis are introspection, or metacognition aimed at reconstructing the work of consciousness in the process of metaphorical thinking, and the inferential method aimed at reconstructing implicit metaphorical meanings. The analysis of visual (artistic), artifact and ontological metaphors reveals that they are characterized by the same qualities as verbal metaphors: dynamism, contextual variability and existence of two their varieties: trite metaphors which reflect ordinary thinking and original ones which are the product of artistic thinking. When ontological and artefact metaphors are presented in the text, their metaphorical meanings can be presented both explicitly and implicitly and, in the latter case, their metaphorical meanings must be inferred by the reader or the linguist. The participation of nonverbal codes in the expression of metaphorical meanings does not diminish the significance of the verbal code which is another proof of the leading role of language in conceptualization and interpretation of the world. The analysis undertaken enables to confirm the main thesis as well as to reveal the explanatory potential of the cognitive-semiotic approach to the study of metaphor and, most probably, other language phenomena.