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Article
Gateshead Revisited: Perceptual Simulators and Fields of Meaning in the Analysis of Metaphors
Metaphor and Symbol
  • L. David Ritchie, Portland State University
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
12-1-2007
Subjects
  • Metaphor,
  • Ambiguity,
  • Language and communication,
  • Cognition and language
Disciplines
Abstract

In an extension and partial reformulation of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), Ritchie (2003, 2004, 2006) proposed that the linguistic expressions cited as evidence of complex conceptual metaphors can be parsimoniously interpreted in terms of perceptual simulators (Barsalou, 1999), often within extended fields of meaning, which may be but are not necessarily anchored in underlying conceptual metaphors. Cameron (2003, 2007) added substance and precision to the focal concept of communicative context, and showed how metaphors can be analyzed both as part of an overall pattern of figurative language in a communicative event. In this essay a series of metaphors in Tony Blair's speech to the 2005 Gateshead Conference of the Labour Party is analyzed to illustrate how perceptual simulators and fields of meaning can be used to identify nuances of thought and feeling potentially activated by metaphors in a particular communicative context and how the patterns of perceptual simulators and fields of meaning can contribute to our understanding of a particular communicative event.

Rights

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Description

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Metaphor and Symbol. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Metaphor and Symbol, Vol. 23, Issue 1, 2007.

DOI
10.1080/10926480701723565
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/8730
Citation Information
Published as: Ritchie, L. D. (2007). Gateshead revisited: Perceptual simulators and fields of meaning in the analysis of metaphors. Metaphor and Symbol, 23(1), 24-49.