Metaphor Identification Procedure Theoretical Description
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Table 2.1 The Ontological and Epistemic Correspondences
i Ontological correspondences
Source: HEAT OF FLUID Container
Heat of fluid Heat scale
Pressure in container Agitation of boiling fluid
Limit of container’s resistance
Explosion
Target: ANGER Body
Anger Anger scale
Experienced pressure Experienced agitation
Limit of person’s ability to suppress anger
Loss of control ii
Epistemic correspondences Source: HEAT OF FLUID
When fluid in a container is heated beyond a certain
limit, pressure increases to the point at which container
explodes. Controlled release of
pressure may occur, which reduces danger of explosion.
Target: ANGER When anger increases
beyond a certain limit, “pressure” increases to point
at which person loses control.
The research notices that the mapping from source to target domain is partial.In the ANGER IS HEAT OF FLUID IN CONTAINER metaphor concept,
there is possibility that some aspects of HEAT OF FLUID IN CONTAINER do not have correspondence with the aspects of ANGER. As an example, HEAT OF
FLUID IN CONTAINER may have “cooking” aspect of boiling and simmering
inwhich “cooking” aspect has no correspondence in the ANGER domain.The
difference in intensity between boil and simmer in a heated liquid carries over to indicate corresponding differences in degree of anger in to boil with anger and to
simmer with anger. From the explanation, the researcher concludes that a conceptual metaphor cannot be reduced to a finite set of expressions.
18 The existence of a conceptual metaphor explains why new and imaginative
extensions of the mapping can be understood instantly. Lakoff and Johnson 1980 illustrate the case using a line from a song.
We are driving in the fast lane on the freeway of love. According to Lakoffand Johnson 1980, the expression contains LOVE IS
JOURNEY metaphor concept. In the expression, loversterm is parallel with travelers. The relationship is the vehicle to carry on their love. The shared
experience as lovers is the journey that they go through together. When lovers drive in the fast lane, they go a long way and have a lot of shared experiences in a
short time. The moment can be exciting and dangerous, as the relationship may not last or the lovers may be hurt emotionally.
There are a lot of metaphors discussed by Lakoff which are fully naturalized in the language or at least established. Lakoff and Johnson 1980
argue that the success of such a metaphor is a function of the richness of the image-schematic correspondences between the two domains. The researcher
assumes that interpreting the naturalized metaphor seems to be a matter of selection of existing readings rather than generation using metaphorical strategies.