Risch Andreas.pdf - Osteopathic Research

„The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of things in
terms of another“ (Lakoff/Johnson, 1980).
After Lakoff and Johnson metaphors penetrate our entire daily living. They are
showing up not only in our language, but they are also effective in our thinking and
acting (s. Lakoff/Johnson, 1980).
4.1 Conceptual metaphors and metaphoric concepts
According to Schmitt (2009) metaphors are defined as:
a. words or phrases which have more than only literal meaning
b. the literal meaning points to a source domain
c. which is transfered onto a second, often more abstract target domain.
A conceptual metaphor is consequently the experience and understanding of one
aspect of reality through another (Schmitt, 1995). As a rule, we normally use a
familiar, concrete and culturally embedded treasure of experience in order to grasp
an abstract content which is difficult to comprehend. (Schiefer, 2005).
Conceptual metaphors / metaphoric concepts are combinations of several
metaphoric phrases which are transfered from a common area of experience onto an
abstract area of understanding:
Example: HEALTH IS A BALANCE
well-balanced, to be even/uneven, equal/unequal, heavy/light, to find one's center, to
adjust, to adapt, alignment
Because the word “IS” means too much of equality, Schiefer (2005) proposes to use
the word “AS” which can be understood according to Lakoff/Johnson (1980) as a
“complex of experience”. The metaphor is not a way of speaking, but rather a way of
thinking.