Conceptual metaphor

In cognitive linguistics, Conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another. An example of this is the understanding of quantity in terms of directionality (e.g. “the price of peace is rising”) or the understanding of time in terms of money (e.g. “I spent time at work today”).

A conceptual domain can be any mental organization of human experience. The regularity with which different languages employ the same metaphors, often perceptually based, has led to the hypothesis that the mapping between conceptual domains corresponds to neural mappings in the brain. This theory gained wide attention in the 1990s and early 2000s, although some researchers question its empirical accuracy.

The conceptual metaphor theory proposed by George Lakoff and his colleagues arose from linguistics, but became of interest to cognitive scientists due to its claims about the mind, the brain and their connections to the body. There is empirical evidence that supports the claim that at least some metaphors are conceptual. However, the empirical evidence for some aspects of the theory has been mixed. It is generally agreed that metaphors form an important part of human verbal conceptualization, but there is disagreement about the more specific claims conceptual metaphor theory makes about metaphor comprehension. For instance, metaphoric expressions of the form X is a Y (e.g. My job is a jail) may not activate conceptual mappings in the same way that other metaphoric expressions do. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the links between the body and conceptual metaphor, while present, may not be as extreme as some conceptual metaphor theorists have suggested.

Furthermore, certain claims from early conceptual metaphor theory have not been borne out. For instance, Lakoff asserted that human metaphorical thinking seems to work effortlessly,

but psychological research on comprehension (as opposed, for example, to invention) has found that metaphors are actually more difficult to process than non-metaphoric expressions. Furthermore, when metaphors lose their novelty and become conventionalized, they eventually lose their status as metaphors and become processed like ordinary words (an instance of grammaticalization). Therefore, the role of the conceptual metaphor in processing human thinking is more limited than what was claimed by some linguistic theories.

wikipedia/en/Conceptual%20metaphor

Conceptual metaphors are cognitive tools that allow people to understand abstract or complex ideas by mapping them onto more concrete, familiar concepts, as described in George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). These metaphors are not just linguistic devices but deeply embedded patterns of thought and action that shape our language, reasoning, and understanding of the world, influencing cultural values and individual decision-making. Examples include “Time is money” or “Life is a journey,” where abstract concepts like time and life are understood through concrete domains like finance and travel.

How Conceptual Metaphors Work

Source and Target Domains: A conceptual metaphor involves mapping a source domain (a more concrete and familiar concept) onto a target domain (a more abstract concept we want to understand).
Systematic Mappings: The understanding of the target domain inherits systematic properties and relationships from the source domain. For example, in “Time is money,” aspects of money (spending, saving, wasting) are mapped onto time.
Ubiquitous in Thought: CMT suggests these are not just figurative language but fundamental cognitive processes used in everyday thinking, communication, and cultural understanding.

Types of Conceptual Metaphors

Orientational Metaphors: These involve spatial relationships like “up/down” or “in/out,” such as feeling “up” (happy) or “down” (sad).
Ontological Metaphors: These project something concrete onto an abstract concept, like viewing emotions as forces that can be controlled or expressed.
Structural Metaphors: These present one concept in terms of another, more concrete one, like an argument being a war, which allows us to understand the argument’s structure through the framework of warfare.

Examples in Everyday Life

Life is a journey: We speak of being “at a crossroads,” having “gone through a lot,” or getting a “head start in life”.
Arguments are war: We “attack” a position, “defend” our claims, or “retreat” from a point.
Communication is a conduit: We can “put ideas into words” or “send” messages, understanding communication as a physical transfer.

Cultural and Cognitive Impact

Shaping Worldviews: Conceptual metaphors are not arbitrary but reflect and shape cultural values, beliefs, and worldviews.
Influencing Decisions: By framing issues through specific metaphors, they can influence how people make decisions and solve problems.
Part of Cognitive Structure: These metaphors are learned through experience and become part of our long-term memory, influencing our reasoning and judgments.

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://fiveable.me/language-cognition/unit-12/conceptual-metaphor-theory/study-guide/ZsHXUfRSlo6DNvXC

[2] https://arxiv.org/html/2502.01901v1 arXiv