Role in Metaphor
Michael J. Reddy (1979) discovered and has demonstrated that much of the language we use to talk about language is conceptualized and structured by what he refers to as the conduit metaphor. This paradigm operates through two distinct, related frameworks.
The major framework views language as a sealed pipeline between people:
1. Language transfers people's thoughts and feelings (mental content) to others
2. Speakers and writers insert their mental content into words
ex: You have to put each concept into words more carefully.3. Words are containers
ex: That sentence was filled with emotion.4. Listeners and writers extract mental content from words
ex: Let me know if you find any new sensations in the poem.The minor framework views language as an open pipe spilling mental content into the void:
1. Speakers and writers eject mental content into an external space
2. Mental content is reified (viewed as concrete) in this space
ex: That concept has been floating around for decades.3. Listeners and writers extract mental content from this space
ex: Let me know if you find any good concepts in the essay.Read more about this topic: Metalanguage
Famous quotes containing the words role in, role and/or metaphor:
“Certainly parents play a crucial role in the lives of individuals who are intellectually gifted or creatively talented. But this role is not one of active instruction, of teaching children skills,... rather, it is support and encouragement parents give children and the intellectual climate that they create in the home which seem to be the critical factors.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“The role of the stepmother is the most difficult of all, because you can’t ever just be. You’re constantly being tested—by the children, the neighbors, your husband, the relatives, old friends who knew the children’s parents in their first marriage, and by yourself.”
—Anonymous Stepparent. Making It as a Stepparent, by Claire Berman, introduction (1980, repr. 1986)
“The metaphor of the king as the shepherd of his people goes back to ancient Egypt. Perhaps the use of this particular convention is due to the fact that, being stupid, affectionate, gregarious, and easily stampeded, the societies formed by sheep are most like human ones.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)