The Coserian theory of metaphor and Conceptual Metaphor Theory: affinities and divergences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55245/energeia.2025.004Keywords:
lingüística integral, teoría de la metáfora conceptual, creatividad lingüística, creación metáforica, imagen (mental)Abstract
The Coserian conception of metaphor and that of cognitive linguistics have been the subject of attempts at rapprochement, founded on points of convergence that, when considered from their theoretical frameworks, begin to appear less akin. This study aims to re-examine the topics of this comparison and take the analysis a step further, considering the items of concept, integral linguistics, semantics, corporality, and mental images, all of which can be identified, in one way or another, in the two perspectives addressed here. The paper presents, first, a succinct overview of the principal ideas of Coseriu’s linguistic theory regarding his conception of metaphor. Second, it provides a panoramic account of cognitive linguistics, emphasising those aspects most directly related to creativity and metaphor (particularly the Conceptual Metaphor Theory). Third, within the general framework of Coserian philosophy of language and the psycho-gnoseological commitments of cognitive linguistics, it contrasts the notion of image schema, the cognitive basis of the conceptual metaphor proposal, and Coseriu’s notion of metaphoric creation, in order to demonstrate that all the apparent points of convergence between these two theoretical approaches, apart from certain focal similarities, cease to coincide once their respective theoretical frameworks and objectives are fully taken into account.
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