M.A. / Old age is a universal experience. Poets in general and Afrikaans poets in particular use imagination and metaphor to understand and make sense of the experience of old age and nearing death. To understand one domain of experience in terms of another we need metaphor that unites reason and imagination. Language is based on cognition. According to cognitive semantics we mentally group together similar, but disparate, entities and transformations of image schemas. A conceptual domain consists basically of interrelated entities emanating from universal experiences. The purpose of this study is to give an account of various (mainly cognitive) theories on metaphor and to use the cognitive approach to disclose the main conceptual domains which act as source domains and are projected onto the target domain. The resulting metaphors describe the experience of old age and its physical and psychological infirmities and decay. By analysing various examples of metaphor it is argued that image schemas are different patterns of recurring bodily experiences that emerge from our perceptual understanding of actions and events in the world. The examples illustrate that image schemas/domains do not exist as single entities, but are often linked together to form relationships through different image schemata transformations. The poet as abstract author, but also the reader, creatively and imaginatively recognize a schema in a new situation and contrive metaphorical connections between various conceptual structures. Thus a metaphorical expression links two or more domains of experience. Metaphor is the means by which we project structure across categories to establish new connections. Structure from two or more input mental spaces is projected onto a separate "blended" space, which inherits partial structure from the inputs, and has emergent structure of its own. It is argued that creativity shows rationality and structure. In metaphorical projection, blending from different conceptual domains plays an important role in the process of creating meaning. The examples in this study reveal that metaphors are a reflection of the ecological, cultural and ideological background of the language community. Metaphors based on image schemata for path, time, cycle, container, balance and verticality are discussed by means of examples from the poetry of selected Afrikaans poets. Special attention is given to the works of poets who are themselves experiencing old age. This study arrives at the conclusion that language is inextricably entrenched in our cognitive make-up, as illustrated by the various metaphors conveying the experience of old age. The examples reveal that the path-, cycle- and time domains are the more important source domains for the old age metaphors. The metaphors not only describe the authors' emotions on experiencing old age, but also create emotions in the reader.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8950 |
| Date | 08 August 2012 |
| Creators | Pauw, Marianne Alet |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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