Lakoff and Johnson argue that metaphors can function with “complex coherences across metaphors” so that entailments of the metaphors overlap (97-105). Lakoff and Johnson examine the “argument is a journey” and explore the concepts of paths and surfaces that arise in discussing an argument’s progress, not its content when discussing content, a container metaphor often prevails (87-96). I may also further consider the “time is a resource” metaphor (Lakoff 65-66).Īs Lakoff and Johnson discuss metaphorical prototypes, direct manipulation and causation, they use examples of concepts of birds, and the process of creating something (Lakoff 69-76). Our language shows a difference between how we move with respect to time in phrases like “'time flies” versus “we’re approaching the end of the year” (Lakoff 41-44).Īdditional examples include “ideas are cutting instruments” (how would that relate to the cloth metaphor?) (Lakoff 48). In Chapter 9, “Challenges to Metaphorical Coherence,” Lakoff and Johnson consider Charles Fillmore’s observation that we have an apparent contradiction with the opposing metaphors to describe time in the English language (41-45). Lakoff and Johnson discuss metonymic metaphors such as “the part of the whole” and “the place for the institution,” and note that these metaphors structure our language and thought, as they become fundamental to our experience, given that we make associations naturally (38-40). They give examples of container and substance metaphors, such as “visual field” and activities as containers (30-31). They give examples of ontological metaphors as “inflation is an entity” and “the mind is a machine” (25-28). They note that metaphors have “cultural coherence” and represent the values of the group experiencing them (22). Lakoff and Johnson discuss the orientational metaphor of time, where “foreseeable future events are up (and ahead)” (16).

Lakoff and Johnson show that our conceptual systems are metaphorical that our metaphors are systematic and that all metaphors veil other truths by speaking in terms of prior experience (3 7 10). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Lakoff and johnson