Semantics: a coursebook, second edition
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| increasing every year. (3) The negative aspects of in
flation far outweigh the positive ones. (4) In flation is ruining our economy. (5) We have to fight inflation or it will conquer us. The metaphor allows us to refer to in flation in each sentence as though it were a physical entity. LJ note that we can also use the metaphor to quantify it (2), identify a particular aspect of it (3), see it as a cause (1,4), and act with respect to it (5), etc. Comment LJ observe that the language has an enormous number of these metaphors and that they are so common that they are rarely even recognized as metaphors at all, but rather as simply part of the everyday ordinary language. Practice Try to identify in what particular way the ontological metaphors in each sentence below treat an abstract concept as though it were a physical object. Choose from among the following options: referring, quantifying, identifying aspects, identifying causes, setting goals and/or motivating actions (from LJ 1980: 26–7). U N I T 2 7 Non-literal meaning: idioms, metaphor, and metonymy 337 (1) John set out to seek his fame and fortune (2) His fear of flying is getting better (3) Mary has a lot of hostility toward her brother (4) We thought that her suggestion was a bad idea (5) His lack of moral fibre makes him weak Feedback (1) Setting a goal (2) Referring (3) Quantifying (4) Identifying aspects (5) Identifying a cause Comment The ontological metaphors examined so far have been identi fied by LJ as entity and substance metaphors. Another kind of ontological metaphor treats abstractions as though they were physical containers of various kinds. Such metaphors are called container metaphors. An important way in which they are grounded in our everyday bodily experience is that we typically perceive our own bodies as containers with both an inside and outside aspect bounded o ff from each other, and we can project this knowledge onto abstract entities of various kinds. Example We often treat land areas as though they were physical containers with overt boundaries, as in such expressions as: We live in a field by the lake, They travelled out of their home state, I’m going to drive to Kansas next week. We also typically treat what we see within our visual field as though it were a kind of bounded container, as seen in such expressions as The mountains came into view, The city is now out of sight, etc. Practice LJ claim that all kinds of events, actions, activities, and states are typically conceptualized as though they were physical entities by means of ontological metaphors. Try to identify the relevant aspects of each ontological metaphor in each sentence below. (1) There were many runners in the race (2) Jack got into car racing as a young man (3) John and Mary are in love (4) The girl fell into a deep depression Feedback (1) The race is construed as a container object. (2) The activity of car racing is construed as a substance container. (3) The state of being in love is construed as a container. (4) The depression is construed as a container object. Comment There is another common type of ontological metaphor that allows us to impute various kinds of human qualities to non-human entities. Definition PERSONIFICATION is a particular subtype of ontological metaphor in which an abstract entity is construed as though it were a physical object which is then further speci fied as being a person. |