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Bats out of the belfry : The nature of metaphor, with special attention to pictorial metaphors

Sonesson, Göran LU orcid (2015) In Signs and media 11. p.74-104
Abstract
The study of metaphor currently being made in the wake of Lakoff may contribute important knowledge of the traits most relevant to iconicity, but it fails to account for the nature of metaphors, which suppose a wilful misclassification of phenomena, which leads to a state of semantic tension. Taking our point of departure in an interpretation of the Peircean categories that we have proposed in a recent paper, we suggest that what Lakoff is studying are diagrams, rather than true metaphors. We then go on to show that the metaphor is a functional category, and that is can thus be realised also in pictures, though its manifestation in different in several ways from the verbal equivalent. Pictorial metaphors are doubly iconic, and thus suppose... (More)
The study of metaphor currently being made in the wake of Lakoff may contribute important knowledge of the traits most relevant to iconicity, but it fails to account for the nature of metaphors, which suppose a wilful misclassification of phenomena, which leads to a state of semantic tension. Taking our point of departure in an interpretation of the Peircean categories that we have proposed in a recent paper, we suggest that what Lakoff is studying are diagrams, rather than true metaphors. We then go on to show that the metaphor is a functional category, and that is can thus be realised also in pictures, though its manifestation in different in several ways from the verbal equivalent. Pictorial metaphors are doubly iconic, and thus suppose a double discovery procedure to pin down the similarity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
metaphors, diagrams, pictorial signs, rhetoric, iconicity
in
Signs and media
volume
11
pages
74 - 104
publisher
Brill
ISSN
2590-0315
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6514e9fe-7b25-4df3-a45c-13c09a05c072
alternative location
http://www.semiotics.net.cn/index.php/view/index/isms/4726
date added to LUP
2018-02-27 23:30:22
date last changed
2020-04-24 09:25:26
@article{6514e9fe-7b25-4df3-a45c-13c09a05c072,
  abstract     = {{The study of metaphor currently being made in the wake of Lakoff may contribute important knowledge of the traits most relevant to iconicity, but it fails to account for the nature of metaphors, which suppose a wilful misclassification of phenomena, which leads to a state of semantic tension. Taking our point of departure in an interpretation of the Peircean categories that we have proposed in a recent paper, we suggest that what Lakoff is studying are diagrams, rather than true metaphors. We then go on to show that the metaphor is a functional category, and that is can thus be realised also in pictures, though its manifestation in different in several ways from the verbal equivalent. Pictorial metaphors are doubly iconic, and thus suppose a double discovery procedure to pin down the similarity.}},
  author       = {{Sonesson, Göran}},
  issn         = {{2590-0315}},
  keywords     = {{metaphors; diagrams; pictorial signs; rhetoric; iconicity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{74--104}},
  publisher    = {{Brill}},
  series       = {{Signs and media}},
  title        = {{Bats out of the belfry : The nature of metaphor, with special attention to pictorial metaphors}},
  url          = {{http://www.semiotics.net.cn/index.php/view/index/isms/4726}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}