ۆلە ISSN: 2663-9033 (Online) | ISSN: 2616-6224 (Print) Journal of Language Studies Contents available at: https://jls.tu.edu.iq/index.php/JLS A Modern Perspective on Metaphor: Theories of Blending and Interaction as a Model

Ameen, Azhin Dawood; Muhammed, Prof. Dr. Dara Hamid

doi:10.25130/Lang.10.2.P1.6

ۆلە ISSN: 2663-9033 (Online) | ISSN: 2616-6224 (Print) Journal of Language Studies Contents available at: https://jls.tu.edu.iq/index.php/JLS A Modern Perspective on Metaphor: Theories of Blending and Interaction as a Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Azhin Dawood Ameen

Prof. Dr. Dara Hamid Muhammed

Department of Kurdish Language, College of Basic Education, Garmian University, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

https://doi.org/10.25130/Lang.10.2.P1.6

Abstract

Metaphor is one of the most important and complex topics that, from the time of the Greeks to the present day, has been a subject of debate among philosophers, scholars, linguists, and researchers. For this reason, throughout the various stages of human life—from the fourth century BC, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, modern philosophy, and the twentieth century—new and different perspectives on metaphor have emerged. Interpretations of metaphor are sometimes close to each other, while in other cases they are completely divergent. Therefore, this study attempts to present a new perspective on metaphor, distinct from the traditional view, which considers metaphor merely as a form of imagery, serving primarily as an aesthetic device in literature; or defines metaphor as the conscious use of words; or treats it as a process of analogy, comparison, and identification between two objects or entities that share certain properties and characteristics. The research, drawing on the insights of Paul Ricoeur, Max Black, and George Lakoff, introduces a new dimension of metaphor within the framework of Interactive Theory. In this theory, metaphor is based on the transfer of function from the aesthetic to the conceptual domain, constructed on the interaction between two concepts. Each of these concepts abandons part of its own features and properties while simultaneously adopting some features of the other. Thus, this study approaches metaphor as an intellectual matter rather than merely a literary one.

Keywords

Metaphor

Perspective

Concept

Simile

Interaction theory