THE ROLE OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR IN CONCEPT PROFILING

Abstract

The article systematizes the main methodological aspects of the study of conceptual metaphor. Attention is focused on solving the following tasks: to reveal the essence of ‘conceptual metaphor’, to determine the types of conceptual metaphor, to systematize the methodological aspects of the study of conceptual metaphor. It is argued that metaphor is a cognitive tool that allows to present an abstract concept difficult for comprehension through another more empirically studied concept. The cognitive-linguistic view of metaphor is considered, according to which metaphor works at three levels: supra-individual, individual and sub-individual. The supra-individual level corresponds to how a given language and culture reflect decontextualized metaphorical patterns, it correlates with the level of domains and frames. The individual level corresponds to the metaphorical cognitive system used by individual speakers, correlates with the use of mental processes in mental space, when universal aspects of the meaning of metaphorical expression in a particular communicative situation contains the most specific information acquired with experience. The sub-individual level corresponds to the universal aspects of various kinds of embodiment, corresponds to the level of image-schemes, generalizing models of which help to explain the meaning of abstract concepts. Conceptual metaphors connect abstract concepts with physical ones (based on perception), as a result of which the conceptual system becomes embodied, thoroughly based on perception. It is concluded that concepts consist of metaphorical structures that we have in our long-term memory and that provide a conceptual substrate of meaning in general and meaning of a particular language in particular. Image-schemes, domains and frames, taken together, constitute the content of concepts, which gets an emotional color in the mental space of each individual speaker.