The Elements Concerning the Interpretation of Metaphor

【Abstract】Metaphor has become a major topic in cognitive linguistics. In the study of metaphor， cognitive linguists have proposed many theories. This paper will interpret metaphor from a different view， and point out that in interpreting a metaphor， one has to take context， experiment and culture into consideration.

【Key words】the Interpretation of Metaphor; Elements

【作者簡介】崔寧寧（1982.03-），女，山東東營人，中國石油大學勝利學院，中級，碩士研究生，研究方向：英語語言文學。

1. Introduction

Metaphor is a pervasive phenomenon in language. Once it was the topic of rhetoric， however， with the growth of linguistics， it has become one of the major topics of cognitive linguistics. In the study of metaphor， cognitive linguistics has proposed many theories， such as Lakoff ﹠ Johnsons “invariance principle”. The study of metaphor has become more and more adequate. This paper will illustrate metaphor from a different view， that is， to point out that in the interpretation of a metaphor， one has to consider the contextual， experimental and cultural elements.

According to traditional rhetoric，it is a linguistic phenomenon， which is used to decorate a sentence to make it innovative and attractive. Cognitive linguistics refers to the linguistic school， born in 70s of 20th century. The Linguistic Agency University of Linguistics Association was founded， and it was also the first conference of the cognitive linguistics. From then on， there appeared a lot of magazines to introduce the cognitive study of linguistics. With the development of cognitive linguistics， metaphor has become one of the major topics of linguists. Many scholars and linguists have spent a lot of time and effort on the study of metaphor. For them， metaphor not only is a linguistic phenomenon but it is cognitive， connected with mans cognition.

2. The Interpretation of Metaphor

Metaphor can be found everywhere in our daily life， Shelly has said， “Language is vitally metaphorical.” Thus， as we speak， we will use metaphors to make ourselves easily understood. It is important for us to interpret others utterance to make sure that the communication goes smoothly.

2.1 Context

Metaphor is related to context， for different circumstances， one sentence or word refers to different concept. For example， “She is a cat.” This sentence can be interpreted differently in different situations. If Mother is talking to her little son， she may point to the cat and tell the boy “she is a cat.” It means that the animal is a cat and the cat is a female. In this situation， the sentence has no connotation. However， if two adults are talking， the sentence can be interpreted in another way. “Cat” means a vicious woman in western culture and it is always associated with witches. So if one person says to another that “She is a cat”， he or she prefers to choosing the latter meaning rather than the former one. In this case， it is a metaphor.

Black once proposed two concepts——focus ﹠ frame. The former refers to the words or phrases that are metaphorical， while the latter is the part that can be interpreted in its literal meaning. Therefore， in the former example， “cat” is the focus while “vicious woman” is the frame.

From the example， we can see that it is impossible to interpret a sentence without referring to pragmatics. Only in real situation can we tell the addressers real purpose to utter the sentence.

2.2 Experience

For the addresser of a metaphor， he adds his own experiences， thoughts and understanding into his metaphor. Therefore， “in order to interpret a metaphor and its meaning， addressee need interpret the addressers experiences lying in it.”

Some people say “Life is like a river.” In the addressers mind， life is like the water， which flows away and never comes back. However， for those who believe in the next life， they may think that the expression “life is like a river” is absurd. For them， “life is like a relay baton.” Though it has to stop at a certain point， it will go on with its journey in another persons hand. Those who believe in the next life believe that when they die someday， their spirits will live in another form. If we do not have the same belief with them， it is difficult for us to understand the metaphor—“Life is like a relay baton.” In interpreting it， one first links life and relay baton， and then compare the similarities between them. In the process of comparison， the addressees own experience or belief is important， if he believes in the next life， he will be convinced that even though life will stop at a certain point， it will go on in another form， and then his knowledge of life and relay baton will go together， eventually， he will understand the meaning of the metaphor. However， if he does not believe in the next life， he cannot see the similarities between “life” and “relay baton”. In this case， the interpretation of the metaphor fails.

2.3 Culture

In the interpretation of a metaphor， one has to take the “cross-culture elements” into consideration. A metaphor， that is easy to be understood in one country， may cause misunderstanding in another. If an American says that “your friend is like a magpie” in the front of a Chinese， the Chinese may think that the American is praising the friend， referred in the utterance， because in the mind of the Chinese， magpie is a symbol of jubilance. Actually， magpie means those who chatter a lot in America. In the utterance， the American does not praise somebody but derogate him or her. However， after hearing the utterance， the Chinese might feel happy. And then the American might feel puzzled—why does he feel happy on hearing my derogation？

This misunderstanding comes from the differences between cultures. From here we can see that in interpreting a metaphor， especially in interpreting the metaphor in foreign culture， one has to make sure that he or she knows the implication of the expression in the foreign culture.

Dai Weidong has said： “Linguistic competence is one variety of culture competence and speech behavior is one variety of social behavior.” So without the knowledge of the foreign culture ones linguistic competence is not satisfying. He or she may come across many problems in his or her linguistic study or in translating foreign literary works. Therefore， it is important to take cultural elements into consideration when we learn linguistics， or specifically， metaphor.

2.4 The death of metaphor

When a metaphor has been used for several times， it becomes a fixed expression， that is， what we call a dead metaphor. A “dead metaphor refers to a metaphor， in which the metaphorical novelty or freshness has faded. It is also referred to as ‘Faded metaphor， which is just opposite to ‘live metaphor.” “Any word whose origin lies in metaphor but has come to be used literally with no awareness of the metaphor is a dead metaphor.”

In literature， people used to use the parts of humans body to refer to natural objects， such as， the foot of the mountain， the mouth of the river and the hand of the clock. These expressions had freshness when they were firstly used， while nowadays， they lose the freshness， and become dead metaphors.

Goatly has divided metaphors into four types： active metaphor， inactive metaphor， dead buried metaphor and dead metaphor. This is also the growth of a metaphor. At the first sight of a metaphor， we have to make sure that we understand the implication of it， and in this stage the interpretation of metaphor， discussed in the previous part is required. Then when the metaphor has been used several times， it becomes inactive metaphor or dead buried metaphor， and eventually， when we regard it as a fixed expression， it becomes a dead metaphor.

3. Conclusion

Metaphor is a phenomenon in both rhetoric and cognitive linguistics. In the development of cognitive linguistics， linguists proposed many theories of metaphor.

This paper interprets metaphor from a different view， that is， metaphor is related to context， the addressers own experiences and culture; it is a cognitive process. As a result， in interpreting a metaphor， one has to take these elements into consideration.

References：

[1]Dai Weidong.新編簡明英語語言學教程[M]. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2002.

[2]Richards， I.A. The Philosophy of Rhetoric[M]. London： Oxford University Press，1936.