The Prominence of ANIMAL for HUMAN Metaphor
$2.95
linguistics
school essay
date published 17/12/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 0 times
The role metaphor plays in language is viewed differently by scholars in different fields. The extremes are the classical view based on Aristotles writings about metaphor and the Romantic view. Those that follow the classical view see metaphor as a purely literary device used to decorate language and those that follow the Romantic view believe absolutely all language is metaphorical (Saeed 1997). While Cognitivists lean toward the Romantic view, they dont go as far as to say that all language is metaphorical; however, they do claim that metaphor is found in everyday life, not only in language but in thought and actions as well (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). Needless to say, the various theories of metaphor and its function are abundant and a complete review of metaphor is beyond the scope of this paper. I will therefore give some general background information about metaphor and then focus on ANIMAL for HUMAN metaphor.

