Après une tentative de récapitulation et de mise au point des études rhétoriques faites sur la métaphore, nous procédons à une comparaison de l'analogie poétique et de l'analogie mathématique, en considérant que le passage métaphorique du plan propre au plan figuré opère selon des règles analogues à celles de la géométrie projective. Trois chapitres examinent en détail la métaphore littéraire, l'énigme et le proverbe. Le premier prête une attention particulière aux équivalences et oppositions sémantiques et syntaxiques à l'intérieur de la métaphore développée de Proust; le second considère la nature, la fonction et la structure des énigmes, et applique deux méthodes d'analyse structurale à deux corpora différents; le troisième reprend cette étude pour les proverbes, étu-diant non plus la structure des proverbes mêmes, mais celle du procédé métaphorique apparent dans l'application d'un énoncé proverbial à une situation concrète. Le dernier chapitre de ce mémoire reprend les différentes structures du procédé métaphorique illustrées par la métaphore littéraire, l'énigme et le proverbe, et montre les différentes relations entre les termes du plan propre et ceux du plan figuré et les différentes manières de projection de l'un à l'autre. Il précise de plus que cette étude du "procédé métaphorique" a été conçue comme l'analyse stylistique d'un moyen mécanique et non comme un essai philosophique sur le langage abstrait. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

In this study it is assumed that we can, roughly speaking, distinguish metaphors from non-metaphors. A representative list of metaphors is examined. It is found that syntactic parsing reveals no marks of metaphor, and that semantic parsing, though more illuminating, cannot help us in the analysis of all cases, due largely to the importance of contexts as well as semantic content. To re-focus our attention on the relationship between metaphors in general, their contexts, and discursive language, the question of whether metaphors are discursively paraphrasable is discussed. It is argued that a simile can always be constructed out of the key terms in a metaphor, and that such constructed similes are paraphrases, though not 'unique' paraphrases of the metaphor. A transformational system is offered in which metaphors are generated from similes. It is suggested that the difficulty of paraphrasing metaphors is due to the difficulties of reversing the direction of the transformation, from simile ⇢ metaphor, to metaphor ⇢ simile. In order to make the transformational system workable, a distinction is made out between similes and other comparisons in terms of the kind of features shared by the terms in the comparison. This distinction not only makes the transformational system workable, but also provides the necessary grounding for specifying the sufficient as well as necessary-conditions of metaphor. It further allows for the introduction of the concept of the "scope" of a metaphor, a concept which is instrumental in accounting for the special function and utility of the device of metaphor. / Arts, Faculty of / Philosophy, Department of / Graduate

This thesis reviews the current stylistic literature to gain support for a claim that figurative meaning in general and analogical metaphor in particular are integral processes of language and, as such, are of overriding concern to linguists. The first three chapters are devoted to defining the term 'metaphor' in "both broad and narrow senses and to locating figurative language (the broad sense of the term) within the rule-governed scheme that is language. The fourth chapter adds the notion that metaphor is the linguistic sphere's analogue to the dream as viewed by Freud. The fifth chapter, "Metaphoric Tension," seeks to explain how a metaphor operates. Most of the writers surveyed believe that a kind of tension is operative—a sort of turgor pressure which keeps the figure alive. This tension in turn is best analysed in terms of paired forces, whose impact is centripetal/centrifugal. While the two forces have been described in various ways and under different names, one can be characterized, broadly as generalizing and the other as particularizing. That is, every metaphor focusses sharply on the comparison it is making and at the same time suggests "wider and wider contexts" through "semantic plenitude of implication." Chapter Six discusses the extent to which the individual metaphor is a work of art. Art-object status can be accorded to metaphors partly because of the quasi-visual imagery and the symbolism that goes into their construction, and so imagery1s role in figurative speech is examined. In addition, since new metaphors are consciously created by writers (as opposed to frozen or inert metaphors, which are used unwittingly in speech), they are subject to the standards that judge any private artistic enterprise. Chapter Seven examines logic in metaphor, and finds that it is not a step-by-step quotidian logic at all. In keeping with the fact that greater creativity is permissible in metaphor, the matter of logic is relegated to a subordinate position. Thus, the words which best describe metaphor's logic, words like 'counterlogical,' 'infra-logical,' 'extra-logical,' and, of course, 'analogical,' all contain the element of 'logic,' but in bound form. The material presented in Chapters Five, Six and Seven has to do with the paired forces underlying metaphors, metaphors' imagery content and their elliptical logic. These peculiarities and others conspire to make metaphors most difficult to paraphrase in discursive language. Chapter Eight is devoted to the question of paraphrase. Chapter Nine documents a divergent strain of reasoning, which claims that metaphor is a heightened form of ordinary speech. This philosophy holds that metaphor exploits properties latent and untapped in the literal tongue. The tenth chapter concerns metaphor's cognitive abilities, which, it is generally agreed, are prodigious. It is shown that the analogy/(metaphor's prime constituent) is man's cognizing tool par excellence, indispensable in both science and art. The final chapter summarizes the foregoing and adds a cautionary rider indicating the possible misuses of metaphor. These drawbacks, it is concluded, are almost inconsiderable in light of the richness that figurative speech admits into language. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate

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Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1990. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-180).

本研究旨在以模態語義論之角度分析隱喻的語言特性，並探討其在語言演化中的作用。作者認為，隱喻言語的發生通常預含有命名行為，即以現有之舊詞指命新的事物範疇，且這類以喻名事乃是自然類詞彙的基本命名方式。為探討自然類詞彙的語義特性，本研究首先藉回顧Kripke 及Putnam 有關經典論述，論述自然類詞彙的外延在其命名之初具有不可確定性，因而其本身就便於以譬喻的方式改變外延。其次作者批評兩家以語用角度研究隱喻的經典理論即Grice 即Davidson，指出其理論未能解決隱喻命題的真值問題。關於認知角度方面的理論，本研究亦批評Black 及Lakoff 等人的成果。作者論述，這類理論誇大隱喻的超語言功能，混淆了語義與一般認知的界限。最後，作者以模態語義理論中的二維語義框架界定隱喻的語義特性。 / This study approaches metaphor from the perspective of modal semantics, and aims at defending, clarifying, and constraining an intuitive idea of this linguistic phenomenon based on its instrumental function in language evolution. The central claim is that a metaphorical utterance characteristically presumes a naming ceremony under a conventional word for a new category. To understand the potential of metaphorical re-dubbing of conventional terms, I will firstly appeal to Kripke’s classic modal argument, and examine the semantic plasticity of natural kind terms, which are typically used as vehicles for metaphorical expressions. The work will proceed to defend the naming function of metaphor by criticizing the classic stance against semantic understanding of metaphor, namely the Pragmatist approach. Restricting the possibility of semantic discussion only to conventionalized vocabulary, the Pragmatists treat the extra message in metaphor either as a sort of conversational implicature (Grice) or speaker meaning (Searle), which is still expressible in conventional vocabulary, or as some kind of extra-linguistic force (Davidson). I will argue that the treatment of Grice and Searle fails to appreciate the categorical incompatibility lying behind metaphors, and thus fails to see that the meaning of metaphorical expressions is irreducible to conventional vocabulary. Moreover, all of the Pragmatists fail also to account for an apparent semantic behavior of metaphors, namely, their possible truth assumed by participants in conversations. I will then try to constrain the proper semantic understanding of metaphor by distinguishing it from the Cognitivist view represented by Black and Lakoff, which identifies the meaning of metaphors with the content resulted from various sorts of analogical cognition. I will argue that, theoretically speaking, analogical cognition is neither necessary nor sufficient in order for a metaphorical expression to be uttered. The final portion of this work will be devoted to developing a two-dimensional framework to capture the modal relation between the meanings of an expression token under metaphorical and conventional interpretations, respectively. In doing so, this work will also criticize a current view represented by Stern, which, by treating metaphors as a special sort of indexical expressions, also fails to explain the evolutional function of metaphor. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Deng, Yangzhou. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-98). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Deng, Yangzhou.

This research explores the process of reformulating multiple data sets into metaphorical representations. The representations must coherently intertwine into a multi-level metaphor that constrains their forms. A working installation has been created, using the natural environment as a metaphor for the built environment. Numerical measurements of weather conditions inside of Texas A&M’s Langford architectural building are translated into visual metaphors that map to the weather conditions of a landscape. The state of the building is visually described in real time, where rainfall, wind strength, grass color, and lightning represent humidity, airflow through the ventilation system, temperature, and electricity consumption.

Univ., Diss.--Göteborg, 2006. / Zusfassung in engl. Sprache.

published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy