Freie Universität Berlin
Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie
HS: Psycholinguistik und Metapherntheorie

Metaphors we Love by

Stephan Vierkant

Table of Contents

1. Introduction and Overview ... 1

2. Metaphors ... 2

2.1 Definition of Metaphor ... 3
2.2 Literal ... 4
2.3 Figurative ... 6

3. Conceptual System ... 7

3.1. Definition of Conceptual System ... 7
3.2 Objectivity vs. Subjectivity ... 9

4. Experientialist Approach ... 10

5. Intercultural Metaphor examples of LOVE ... 11

5.1 Sexuality ... 11
5.2 Background and Causes ... 14

6. Conclusion ... 15

7. References ... 16

Abstract

This paper will discuss the definition of metaphor with respect to different approaches. To provide a vaster background for such a discussion objectivity and subjectivity will necessarily be explained. This discussion will be accompanied by a contrastive examination of the concept LOVE in several languages, namely German, Italian, and Japanese. An explanation of differences and similarities of these concepts will conclude the discussion part. Based on the results of my examples, I will show the necessity of supporting the experientialist approach.

1. Introduction and Overview

It is known that learning a second language as an adult is quite difficult. One has to acquire lots of vocabularies, grammar, and the knowledge in which context to use which expression. An important factor in second language acquisition is not to fall back into talking the proper mother tongue. This is seen as the most dreadful error in learning a new language. There are several metaphors which express pretty well the consequences of the lazy learner: Learning new language is like going an escalator in the wrong direction. When you stop going on, you will fall back, to where you started. Or: Studying in a foreign country, with every sentence in your mother tongue, you will lose ten sentences of the language you came to learn in that country. These figurative expressions seem to match the common idea of how hard it is to learn and keep on learning a foreign language. This paper is not about second language acquisition but about what metaphors are, how they are structured, and why there seems to be a definition of metaphor that goes beyond the traditional though mythical position of the ancient Greece. In detail, I first will discuss the term metaphor with respect to literal and figurative language. Then I will go on to conceptual system concentrating on the argument of the false dichotomy of objectivity and subjectivity. The interactional approach is an alternative way that can lead out of the dilemma created between these two insufficient positions. In order to test the interactional approach, I will examine the metaphor of LOVE in several languages, and under several aspects like sexuality, and platonic love. The results and the background of this examination can provide evidence for the interactional approach. After the conclusion I will provide an outlook on the argument since it is a hardly accepted and scientifically radical position with regard to the traditional view.

2. Metaphors

To get an idea of what metaphors are, the best way to find out is probably to see in which contexts metaphors are used. In several occasions it seems to be ideal or even necessary to use a metaphor. First, metaphors are found in poems, prose, in almost every branch of literature. Second, they are found in proverbs, and thus either in written or in spoken form. Third, and this is probably the occurrence we are most unaware of, metaphors make part of our everyday language. To see more clearly the crucial difference of the three areas it is practical to look at some examples:

1) Poem
The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood.
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;…

2) Proverb

Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.

3) Everyday language

Chomsky is no longer the dinosaur in linguistics but a fossil.

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