「愛は旅」

SU Lichang(蘇立昌) Semantic Theory and Figurative Language: Cognitive Explanations*1


レイコフ&ジョンソン以降の隠喩研究の認知論的展開;


Ever since the publication of the book Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in 1980, the traditional view of metaphor has been reconsidered and challenged by the cognitive linguists such as Lakoff and Johnson. The new view of metaphor, according to Lakoff and Johnson, is to see metaphor as;

1. Metaphor is a property of concepts, and not of words.
2. The function of metaphor is to better understand certain concepts, and not just some artistic or esthetic purpose.
3. Metaphor is often not based on similarity.
4. Metaphor, far from being a superfluous though pleasing linguistic ornaments, is an inevitable process of human thought and reasoning. (pp.67-68)

さて、conceptual metaphor。これは、

When one conceptual domain is understood in terms of another conceptual domain, we have a conceptual metaphor. This understanding is achieved by seeing a set of systematic correspondences, or meanings, between the two domains. Conceptual metaphors can be given by means of the formula A IS B or A AS B, where A and B indicate different conceptual domains. (p.194)
として定義される。しかし、conceptual metaphorは様々な比喩的表現を可能にする前提としてのメタ・レヴェルにおけるメタファーといえるのではないか。例えば、LOVE IS A JOURNEYというconceptual metaphor(p.73)。これは、以下のようなよく使われそうな、或いはポップ・ミュージックでお馴染みの表現の前提となっている;

Look how far we’ve come.
We’re at a crossroad.
We’ll just have to go our separate ways.
We can’t turn back now.
I don’t think this relationship is going anywhere.
Where are we?
We’re stuck.
It’s been a long, bumpy road.
This relationship is a dead-end street.
We’re just spinning our wheels.
Our marriage is on the rocks.
We’ve gotten out of the track.
This relationship is foundering. (pp.73-74)
そして、

the travelors/the lovers
the vehicle/the love relationship itself
the journey/events in the relationship
the distance covered/the process made
the obstacles encountered/the difficulties experienced
decisions about which way to go/the choices about what to do
the destination of the journey/the goal(s) of the relationship(p.74)
というような写像関係/対応関係が認められるという。
そういえば、大貫妙子さんも

今の私達を もしも なにかにたとえたなら
朝の霧のなかで 道をなくした 旅人のよう
(「彼と彼女のソネット」)
と歌っている。また、日本の古典的な表現としての「逢坂の関」(Cf. 篠田浩一郎『仮面・神話・物語』)。
Boucles d'oreilles (ブックル ドレイユ)

Boucles d'oreilles (ブックル ドレイユ)

ほかにconceptual metaphorとして挙げられている例;


AN ARGUMENT IS WAR
THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS
IDEAS ARE FOOD (p.75)