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Chapter 12. Extended metaphor in the web of discourse

  • Anita Naciscione
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Mixing Metaphor
This chapter is in the book Mixing Metaphor

Abstract

This chapter explores extended metaphor in the cognitive stylistic framework. Extended metaphor defines as an entrenched stylistic pattern of both thought and language, reflecting extended figurative thought. It is a cognitive inference tool, applicable in new figurative thought instantiations. A metaphor can be extended only by extension of its metaphorical image: by creating a metaphorical subimage or a string of sub-images, which relate metonymically by associations of contiguity. Metonymy is invariably present in each instantiation of metaphorical extension. Thus, extended metaphor is “mixed” by definition.Metaphor is not alone in figurative meaning construction. Apart from metonymy, extended metaphor may incorporate other figurative modes (pun, allusion, personification, euphemism, hyperbole, irony), forming figurative networks and representing a process and a result of human thought and a conceptualisation of experience. Only a detailed semantic and stylistic analysis will reveal the interaction and interrelationships of direct and figurative meanings in the web of discourse, which is not a “mix” but a natural flow of figurative thought in natural discourse.

Abstract

This chapter explores extended metaphor in the cognitive stylistic framework. Extended metaphor defines as an entrenched stylistic pattern of both thought and language, reflecting extended figurative thought. It is a cognitive inference tool, applicable in new figurative thought instantiations. A metaphor can be extended only by extension of its metaphorical image: by creating a metaphorical subimage or a string of sub-images, which relate metonymically by associations of contiguity. Metonymy is invariably present in each instantiation of metaphorical extension. Thus, extended metaphor is “mixed” by definition.Metaphor is not alone in figurative meaning construction. Apart from metonymy, extended metaphor may incorporate other figurative modes (pun, allusion, personification, euphemism, hyperbole, irony), forming figurative networks and representing a process and a result of human thought and a conceptualisation of experience. Only a detailed semantic and stylistic analysis will reveal the interaction and interrelationships of direct and figurative meanings in the web of discourse, which is not a “mix” but a natural flow of figurative thought in natural discourse.

Chapters in this book

  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.6.12nac

Chapters in this book

  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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