underlying reasons for source - target domain pairings in conceptual metaphor theory kathleen ahrens...

Underlying Reasons for Source - Target Domain Pairings in

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Kathleen AhrensHong Kong Baptist University

Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: Conceptual metaphors are embedded in our language

More abstract concepts are understood in terms of more concrete concepts



Source domain – concrete concepts

Source



Source domain – concrete concepts Target domain – abstract concepts

Target Source



Source domain – concrete concepts Target domain – abstract concepts Systematic correspondences between

source and target domain

SourceTarget

Question

Is there psycholinguistic evidence for this model?

Conceptual Mapping Model Analyze the conventional

metaphorical expressions in terms of entities, qualities and functions that are mapped.

Postulate an underlying reason for this mapping - a Mapping Principle (MP)

Can be incorporated within the CTM Allows for testable predictions

Method

Step 1: Generate on the basis of native speaker intuition all examples within a proposed target domain

Step 2: Group the examples according to the similarity of their source domains.

Method

Step 3: Ask three questions concerning what we know about each source domain in terms of our real world knowledge1. What entities does the SD have?2. What qualities does the SD or the

entity in the SD have?3a. What does the SD do?3b. What can S/O do to or in the SD?

MethodStep 4: Look at the linguistic

expressions generated and determine if they are conventional or novel

Step 5: Analyze the examples for linguistic expressions that are the image-schematic correspondences between the source and target domains

Method Step 5

1. What entities does the SD have that are mapped to the TD?

2. What qualities does the SD or the entity in the SD have that are mapped

to the TD?3a. What does the SD do that is mapped to

the TD?3b. What can S/O do to (or in) the SD that is

mapped to the TD?

Method Step 6: Look for what

correspondences have been mapped in the case of the conceptual metaphor as compared with what could have been mapped (i.e. in the case of real world knowledge).

Formulate a mapping principle

IDEA IS A FOOD

Example of entity:

這場演說沒什麼料zhe chang yianshuo mei sheme liaothis CL talk no what

ingredient‘There is no substance to this talk.’

IDEA IS A FOOD

Example of quality:

他是個飽讀詩書的人ta shi ge baodushishu de renhe is a fully read books de

person‘He is a learned person.’

IDEA IS A FOOD

Example of function:讀一本書要消化裡面的想法，不要 du yi ben shu yao xiaohua limian de xiangfa, buyao read one CL book need digest inside MOD thought do

n't 囫圇吞棗huluntunzaoswallow dates whole‘When you read a book, you have to digest the tho

ught in it. Don't read without comprehension.'

IDEA IS FOOD

反芻 ‘ ruminate’ 消化 ‘ digest’ 吸收 ‘ to absorb’ 飽讀詩書 ‘ fully

read’ 咬文嚼字 ‘ bite

and chew’ 咀嚼 ‘ chew’

倒胃口 ‘ Spoil appetite’品嚐 ‘ taste’餿主意 ‘ rotten idea’回味無窮 ‘ aftertaste’津津有味 ‘ with appetite and relish’索然無味 ‘ no flavor’

IDEA IS FOOD

Mapping principle:Idea is understood as food because food involves being eaten and digested (by the body) and ideas involve being taken in and processed (by the mind).

LOVE IS FOODExample of entity

他嚐到愛情的苦果ta changdao aiqing de ku guo

he taste love MOD bitter fruit

‘He has tasted the bitter fruit of love.’

LOVE IS FOOD

Example of quality: 我正享受我倆甜美的愛情。Wo zheng xiangsho woliang tianmeide

aiqing I now enjoy our sweet love“I am enjoying the sweet fruit of our love.”

LOVE IS FOOD

Example of function: 他嚐過愛情的滋味。ta changkuo aiqing de ziwei he taste love MOD taste “He has tasted the flavor of love.”

LOVE IS FOODMore examples:

甜蜜 ‘ sweet’

甜美的 ‘ sweet’

嚐過 ‘ taste’

膩‘ fed up with’

滋味 ‘ taste’

味道 ‘ taste’

苦頭 ‘ bitter fruit’

苦果 ‘ bitter fruit’

酸甜苦辣‘ sour, sweet, bitter and spicy’

LOVE IS FOOD Mapping Principle:

Love is understood as Food because food has different tastes and love involves different feelings.

Source Domain of FOOD SDs can contribute different aspects to

the TDIDEA IS FOOD

LOVE IS FOODSEX IS FOOD

Or similar aspects: LOVE IS FOOD Note: Narrow

SDs MARRIAGE IS FOOD

Target Domains

Mapping principle constraint: A single target domain must select different source domains for different underlying reasons LOVE IS FOOD LOVE IS A PLANT

LOVE IS A Plant

Example of entity:

兩人的愛苗最近才剛萌芽liang ren de aimiao zuijin cai gang mengya

two people MOD love seedling lately just recently sprout

‘Their love just begins to sprout lately.’

LOVE IS A Plant

Example of quality:

他倆的愛情已經開花結果ta liang de aiqing yijin kaihuajieguo he two MOD love already blossom and bear

fruit

‘Their love have yielded positive results’

LOVE IS A PlantExample of function:

我對他的愛意漸漸滋長

wo dui tade aiyi jianjian zizhang

I for his love gradually grow

‘My love for him has grown gradually.’

LOVE IS A Plant

More examples:愛苗 ‘ love seedling’苦果 ‘ bitter fruit’ 開花結果 ‘ have blossom and bear

fruit’ 萌芽 ‘ sprout’滋長 ‘ grow’ 灌溉 ‘ watering’

LOVE IS A Plant Mapping Principle

Love is understood as plant because plants involve physical growth and love involves positive emotional expansion.

Prediction: Processing Conventional conceptual metaphors will

be treated on par with literal language Novel metaphors that follow the mapping

principle will involve lower acceptability and interpretability ratings and slightly higher processing times

Novel metaphors that do not follow the mapping principle will involve even lower acceptability and interpretability ratings and even higher processing times

Design (Lit (CM )) Literal match to conventional

metaphor (CM) Conventional metaphor

(Lit (NM)) Literal match to novel metaphor following the mapping principle

(NM) Novel metaphor following the mapping principle

(Lit (NM (~MP))) Literal match to novel metaphor not following the mapping principle

(NM (~MP)) Novel metaphor not following the mapping principle

Material Pretest: Category test

All the metaphorical terms (such as mengya ‘sprout’, zhagen ‘root’ and luoye ‘fall (leaves)’) had to be considered as being in the source domain (in this case PLANT) by a group of native speakers

Items were only included in the interpretability experiment (132 subjects) that both 1) had a mean over all subjects of 4.9 or above on the ratings test and 2) a mean of .7 or above for the yes/no test

Mapping Principles

Mapping principle is determined by five linguists trained in the CM Model and checked by a group of linguists from the Chinese Knowledge Information Processing Group

Conventional Conceptual Metaphors

(Lit (CM)) 她的植物開始萌芽 tade zhiwu kaishi mengya

she Mod plant start sprout Her plant is starting to sprout

(CM) 她的愛情開始萌芽 tade aiqing kaishi mengya

she Mod love start sprout Her love is starting to sprout

Novel Metaphor following MPs

(Lit (NM)) 她的植物開始扎根 ta de zhiwu kaishi zhagen she Mod plant start

rooting Her plant is starting to root (NM) 她的愛情開始扎根 ta de aiqing kaishi zhagen she Mod love start rooting Her love is starting to root

Novel Metaphors NOT following MPs

(Lit-(NM (~MP))) 她的植物開始落葉 tade zhiwu kaish luoye she Mod plant start fall leaves Her plant is starting to fall leaves. (NM (~MP)) 她的愛情開始落葉 ta de aiqing kaishi luoye she Mod love start fall leaves Her love is starting to fall leaves

Materials: Frequency Control

Groups (Lit (CM), CM) (i.e. mengya ‘sprout’), (Lit (NM), NM) (i.e. zhagen ‘root’), and (Lit (NM (~MP), NM (~MP)) (i.e luoye ‘fall (leaves)’) did not differ in terms of frequency of lexical items

The means of the groups 11767 are 11667, and 9996 with an SD of 9354, 8936, 6276 respectively; F(2,47)=.231, p = .795) (Based on CKIP 1993)

Predictions – CM Model

Literal sentences should be equally good Conventional conceptual metaphor (CM)

should be ranked equally with the literal sentences

Novel metaphors should both be ranked lower than their literal counterparts

Gradation in the ranking of the metaphorical sentences such that (CM) > (NM) >(NM (~MP))

Procedure 18 metaphors with 6 types of

sentences each were divided into six booklets with 18 examples each using a counter-balanced design

Subjects only see one booklet and were instructed to rate the sentences according their level of interpretability

Interpretability Procedure 每個句子下面有一個 1-7 的尺規。第七級表示一看

立刻就懂他的意義，第一級表示對於這個句子想了很久，還是不懂他的意義，而介於中間者，則視程度高低在第二級到第六級之間做選擇

‘…[rate a seven] if you immediately understand its meaning, and rate a one if you think about the sentence for a long time and can still not understand it…’

Subjects are asked to interpret those sentences that were given a rating of four and above

Interpretability results

interpretability6.5 6.6

6.26.5

5.6

4.6

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

S-type

ratin

g

Literal

Metaphor

Conventional Novel

Novel (~MP)

Prediction Novel metaphors that follow the MP

are more likely to invoke the conceptual mapping correspondences than conventional metaphors or NM(~MP)

Novel metaphors that follow the MP will be paraphrased more often with reference to the same TD

Results

"0" : Literal paraphrase "1" : Paraphrase with other SD "2" : Paraphrase with the exact tested SD

17%12%71%NM (~MP)

32%6%62%NM

20%7%73%CM

210Type

Results

Type 0 1 2

CM 73% 7% 20%

NM 62% 6% 32%

NM (~MP) 71% 12% 17%

McGlone (1996)

76% 14% 10%

Discussion

The three groups differed significantly in their distributions with NM showing the highest number of paraphrases from same SD

Implication: Novel metaphors following MPs tap into system of correspondences

Implications System of correspondences might be

measurably activated for novel metaphors that follow MPs

Conventional conceptual metaphors might be lexicalized to such an extent they no longer activate conceptual mappings on-line

Novel metaphors (~MP) cannot activate systematic correspondences – other processes might be used to comprehend these types of metaphors

Acceptability and Interpretability Results Should the results for acceptability

and interpretability differ? Yes, under a view that treats

grammaticality and interpretation as distinct modules.

No, under a view that the critical issue is the MPs. Both acceptability and interpretability judgments will rely on the MPs.

Conceptual Mapping Model:Conventional metaphors

LOVE

Plantlove seed

Love

sprout

lovewatering

love Blossom & fruit

她的愛情開始萌芽Her love is starting to sprout

grow

love

Mapping principles

Underlying set of systematic mappings

Conceptual Mapping Model:novel metaphors

LOVE

Plantlove seed

Love

sprout

loveroot


她的愛情開始扎根Her love is starting to root

grow

love

Mapping Principles

novel metaphors (~MP)

LOVE

Plant

loveseed

Love

sprout

love

Falling leaves


她的愛情開始落葉Her love is starting to fall leaves

grow

love

novel metaphors (~MP)

LOVE

Plantlove seedLov

esprout

love

Falling leaves


她的愛情開始落葉Her love is starting to fall leaves

growlove

LOVE

Plantlove seedLov

esprout

lovelove Blossom & fruit

growlove

Falling leaves

???

Advantages of the CM Model

It explains why a target domain selects different source domains at a linguistic level

It determines what different conceptual aspects of a particular source domain contributes to different target domains

Distinction between conventional and different types of novel metaphors

Supported by psycholinguistic experiments

Questions?

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