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Chapter 3. Why mixed metaphors make sense

  • Cornelia Müller
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Mixing Metaphor
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Mixing Metaphor

Abstract

This paper explores why speakers and addressees seem to have no problem in making sense of mixed metaphors. We will argue that the mixing of metaphors reveals something about the nature of conventionalized metaphoric meaning that is as interesting for cognitive linguists as speech errors are for psycholinguists. First, it shows that so-called dead metaphors are alive for speakers, second it reveals that people deal creatively with all the meaning facets of metaphoric meaning – including the uncommon ones, and third we will argue that the mixing of metaphors can be explained by assuming a dynamic view on metaphoric meaning making. This view suggests that rather than being static and fixed, metaphoric meaning is the product of a process of cognitively activating selected facets of source and target, or vehicle and tenor. As a consequence the mixing of metaphors is considered a result of a shifting focus of attention, or of dynamically foregrounding facets of meaning that are backgrounded in the common reading.

Abstract

This paper explores why speakers and addressees seem to have no problem in making sense of mixed metaphors. We will argue that the mixing of metaphors reveals something about the nature of conventionalized metaphoric meaning that is as interesting for cognitive linguists as speech errors are for psycholinguists. First, it shows that so-called dead metaphors are alive for speakers, second it reveals that people deal creatively with all the meaning facets of metaphoric meaning – including the uncommon ones, and third we will argue that the mixing of metaphors can be explained by assuming a dynamic view on metaphoric meaning making. This view suggests that rather than being static and fixed, metaphoric meaning is the product of a process of cognitively activating selected facets of source and target, or vehicle and tenor. As a consequence the mixing of metaphors is considered a result of a shifting focus of attention, or of dynamically foregrounding facets of meaning that are backgrounded in the common reading.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction
  4. Introduction vii
  5. Part I. Is Mixed Metaphor a Problem?
  6. Chapter 1. A view of “mixed metaphor” within a conceptual metaphor theory framework 3
  7. Chapter 2. Mixed metaphors from a discourse dynamics perspective 17
  8. Chapter 3. Why mixed metaphors make sense 31
  9. Chapter 4. Tackling mixed metaphors in discourse 57
  10. Part II. Reasons for Mixing Metaphor
  11. Chapter 5. Mixed metaphor 75
  12. Chapter 6. Mixed metaphor is a question of deliberateness 113
  13. Chapter 7. When languages and cultures meet 133
  14. Chapter 8. The ‘dull roar’ and the ‘burning barbed wire pantyhose’ 155
  15. Part III. Effects of Mixing Metaphor
  16. Chapter 9. We drink with our eyes first 179
  17. Chapter 10. A corpus-based study of ‘mixed metaphor’ as a metalinguistic comment 203
  18. Chapter 11. Mixing in pictorial and multimodal metaphors? 223
  19. Chapter 12. Extended metaphor in the web of discourse 241
  20. Index 267
https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.6.03mul

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction
  4. Introduction vii
  5. Part I. Is Mixed Metaphor a Problem?
  6. Chapter 1. A view of “mixed metaphor” within a conceptual metaphor theory framework 3
  7. Chapter 2. Mixed metaphors from a discourse dynamics perspective 17
  8. Chapter 3. Why mixed metaphors make sense 31
  9. Chapter 4. Tackling mixed metaphors in discourse 57
  10. Part II. Reasons for Mixing Metaphor
  11. Chapter 5. Mixed metaphor 75
  12. Chapter 6. Mixed metaphor is a question of deliberateness 113
  13. Chapter 7. When languages and cultures meet 133
  14. Chapter 8. The ‘dull roar’ and the ‘burning barbed wire pantyhose’ 155
  15. Part III. Effects of Mixing Metaphor
  16. Chapter 9. We drink with our eyes first 179
  17. Chapter 10. A corpus-based study of ‘mixed metaphor’ as a metalinguistic comment 203
  18. Chapter 11. Mixing in pictorial and multimodal metaphors? 223
  19. Chapter 12. Extended metaphor in the web of discourse 241
  20. Index 267
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Heruntergeladen am 26.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/milcc.6.03mul/html
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