Metaphor as a Cognitive Process

Abstract

Metaphor is a mechanism which makes it possible to conceptualize & reconceptualize the world by transferring features from a source domain to a target domain. Thus, metaphor does not need to invent new terms to refer to reality. On the contrary, based on previously existing terms, it provides a different view of reality to the extent that it is enriched by the cognizant subject's affectivity & emotions. Therefore metaphoric understanding & production requires more communicative than linguistic competence, for the metaphor's sense depends on the communicative context & not on the utterance's lexical, morphological, & syntactic structures. Adapted from the source document