Metaphor: Its Cognitive Force and Linguistic Structure

By Eva Feder Kittay and Kittay

Book Overview

A detailed revision and refinement of the "semantic theory of metaphor," this book provides a comprehensive philosophical theory explicating metaphor's cognitive contribution. According to the author, metaphor effects a transference of meaning, not between two terms, but between two structured domains of content, or "semantic fields." Semantic fields, construed as necessary to a theory of word-meaning, provide the contrastive and affinitive relations that govern a term's literal use. In a metaphoric use, these relations are projected into a second domain which is thereby reordered with significant cognitive effects. Amply illustrated with sensitive and systematic analyses of metaphors found in literature, philosophy, science, and quotidian language, this book forges a new understanding of the relation between metaphoric and literal meaning.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198242468
• ISBN13: 9780198242468
• Release Date: March 1990
• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 8.5"