Metaphor : an inescapable phenomenon in natural language comprehension

Interpreting metaphors is an integral and inescapable process in human understanding of natural language. Part I of this paper discusses a method of analyzing metaphors based on the existence of a small number of generalized metaphor mappings. Each generalized metaphor contains a recognition network, a basic mapping, additional transfer mappings, and an impiicit intention component. It is argued that this method reduces metaphor interpretation from a reconstruction to a recognition task. Steps towards automating certain aspects of language learning are also discussed. Part II analyzes analogical mappings underlying metaphors and implications for inference and memory organization. Regularities have been observed indicating that certain types of conceptual relations are much more apt to remain invariant in analogical mappings than other relations, resulting in an induced invariance hierarchy. The central thesis is that human inference processes are governed by the same analogical mappings manifest as metaphors in language. 1 This research was sponsored in part by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under grant number N00014-79-C-0661, and in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DOD), Order No. 3597, monitored by the Air Force Avionics Laboratory under Contract F33615-78-C-1551. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the author, and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the U.S. Government.