A cognitive study of metaphor and metonymy. Plan: I. Introduction II. Main part

Source domain
: the conceptual domain from which we draw 
metaphorical expressions (e.g., love is a 
journey
). 

Target domain
: the conceptual domain that we try to understand 
(e.g., 
love
is a journey). 
A 
mapping
is the way in which a source domain tracks onto and 
describes aspects of the target domain. Mappings describe the mental 
organization of information in domains, the underlying phenomenon that 
drives metaphorical usage in language. This conceptualization relates closely 

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to image schemas, mental representations used in reasoning, through the 
extension of spatial and physical laws to more complex situations.
[16]
 
A primary tenet of this theory is that metaphors are matter of thought 
and not merely of language: hence, the term 
conceptual metaphor
. The 
metaphor may seem to consist of words or other linguistic expressions that 
come from the terminology of the more concrete conceptual domain, but 
conceptual metaphors underlie a system of related metaphorical expressions 
that appear on the linguistic surface. Similarly, the mappings of a conceptual 
metaphor are themselves motivated by image schemas which are pre-
linguistic schemas concerning space, time, moving, controlling, and other 
core elements of embodied human experience. 
Conceptual metaphors typically employ a more abstract concept as 
target and a more concrete or physical concept as their source. For instance, 
metaphors such as 'the days [the more abstract or target concept] ahead' or 
'giving my time' rely on more concrete concepts, thus expressing time as a 
path into physical space, or as a substance that can be handled and offered as 
a gift. Different conceptual metaphors tend to be invoked when the speaker is 
trying to make a case for a certain point of view or course of action. For 
instance, one might associate "the days ahead" with leadership, whereas the 
phrase "giving my time" carries stronger connotations of bargaining. 
Selection of such metaphors tends to be directed by a subconscious or 
implicit habit in the mind of the person employing them. 
The principle of unidirectionality states that the metaphorical process 
typically goes from the more concrete to the more abstract, and not the other 
way around. Accordingly, abstract concepts are understood in terms of 
prototype concrete processes. The term "concrete," in this theory, has been 
further specified by Lakoff and Johnson as more closely related to the 
developmental, physical neural, and interactive body (see embodied 

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philosophy). One manifestation of this view is found in the cognitive science 
of mathematics, where it is proposed that mathematics itself, the most widely 
accepted means of abstraction in the human community, is largely 
metaphorically constructed, and thereby reflects a cognitive bias unique to 
humans that uses embodied prototypical processes (e.g. counting, moving 
along a path) that are understood by all human beings through their 
experiences. 
Conduit metaphor 
The conduit metaphor is a dominant class of figurative expressions 
used when discussing communication itself (metalanguage). It operates 
whenever people speak or write as if they "insert" their mental 
contents (feelings, meanings, thoughts, concepts, etc.) into "containers" 
(words, phrases, sentences, etc.) whose contents are then "extracted" by 
listeners and readers. Thus, language is viewed as a "conduit" conveying 
mental content between people. 
Defined and described by linguist Michael J. Reddy, PhD, his proposal 
of this conceptual metaphor refocused debate within and outside the 
linguistic community on the importance of metaphorical language.
[17]
 
Language and culture as mappings 
In their 1980 work, Lakoff and Johnson closely examined a collection 
of basic conceptual metaphors, including: 

LOVE IS A JOURNEY

LIFE IS A JOURNEY

SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE PLANTS

LOVE IS WAR
The latter half of each of these phrases invokes certain assumptions 
about concrete experience and requires the reader or listener to apply them to 

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the preceding abstract concepts of love or organizing in order to understand 
the sentence in which the conceptual metaphor is used. 
There are numerous ways in which conceptual metaphors shape human 
perception and communication, especially in mass media and in public 
policy. Recent experiments by Thibodeau and Boroditsky substantiate this 
line of thought, termed "framing". In the experiments, conceptual metaphors 
that compared crime to either a beast or a disease had drastic effects on 
public policy opinions.
[18]
 
Conceptual metaphors are commonplace in language. George Lakoff 
and Mark Johnson suggest that metaphors may unconsciously shape the way 
we think and act in their founding work,