Cognitive Motivations of Metaphor

[Vito Evola]

Call Deadline: 01-Nov-2011

Meeting Description:

Themed Panel at RaAM 2012 (Lancaster University, U.K.):
Cognitive Motivations of Metaphor: Primary Metaphors and Beyond
Organizer: Beate Hampe
Session Date: 6th Jul 2012 (to be confirmed)

Continuing previous work on the embodied foundations of cognition and language collected in Hampe (2005a), this workshop seeks to bring together current ideas on the cognitive/embodied foundations of metaphor and their interaction with other factors. A crucial starting/reference point of the discussion will be provided by Primary Metaphor Theory (PMT, Grady 1997), which claims that basic, highly local and directly motivated cross-domain correlations between single concepts (primary metaphors) simultaneously motivate and constrain (some aspects of) large-scale metaphorical thought and language.

Call for Papers:

Each contribution will be given half an hour, such that presentations of 20 minutes will be followed up by 10 minutes of discussion. Issues to pursue may include, but are not restricted to:

i. Primary metaphors and other kinds of basic correlations determining metaphorical thought and language, including the experiential scenes from which they arise (Grady 1997; Grady & Johnson 2002; Hampe 2005b, Heywood & Semino, ms; Yu 2003) as well as the criteria for their identification (Steen 2007);

ii. The relations between the notion of primary metaphor and other relevant notions, most notably image schema (Hampe 2005a), including their respective roles in processes of conceptual integration (Fauconnier & Turner 2008), analogical thinking (Bowdle and Gentner 2008) and/or mental simulation (Grady 2005a, b; Gibbs 2006; Gibbs et al. 2006; Wilson & Gibbs 2010);

iii. The influence of cultural factors on the occurrence and function of basic correlations such as primary metaphors (Evans and Wilkins 2000; Kövesces 2005; Yu 2009);

iv. The typology of (conceptual and/or linguistic) metaphor (Grady 1999; Steen 2010; Urena & Faber 2010), with a view to the diverse roles played by stable, tightly constrained basic cross-domain correspondences on the one hand and by more open processes of analogical thinking/conceptual integration (Fauconnier & Turner 2008; Gentner & Bowdle 2008) on the other;

v. The role played by discourse, discourse context and communicative interaction in the (deliberate) creation of large-scale metaphorical discourse (Steen 2010; Kövesces 2010), with PMT presenting a potential (missing) link between cognitive and relevance/discourse-based approaches to metaphor (Wilson & Carston 2008);

vi. The conventionality, i.e. lexicalization and routinization of metaphorical language, including the linguistic realisation of primary metaphors (Müller 2008; Hanks 2006);

vii. The empirical evidence available from experimental research and/or the (corpus-based) investigation of real discourse, including gesturing (Cienki & Müller 2008; Gibbs and Matlock 2008; Semino 2006).

Abstract Submission:

Abstracts of 300 words should be submitted via an e-mail titled 'RaAM panel PM' to beate...@uni-erfurt.de.

Abstract Reviewing: Ray Gibbs, Joe Grady, Beate Hampe, Gerard Steen