LINGUIST List 14.1006

Fri Apr 4 2003

Diss: Cognitive Science: Jamet "Contribution..."

Editor for this issue: Anita Yahui Huang <anitalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. denis.jamet, Cognitive Science: Jamet "Contributions cognitive..."

Institution: University of Lyon
Program: Linguistique, Langues et Discours
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2002

Author: Denis L. Jamet 

Dissertation Title: 

Contributions cognitive et �nonciative au rep�rage des lexies
m�taphoriques: domaines anglais - fran�ais

Linguistic Field: Philosophy of Language, General Linguistics,
Cognitive Science, Pragmatics

Subject Language:
French (code: FRN )
English (code: ENG )

Dissertation Director 1: Claude Delmas
Dissertation Director 2: Malcolm Clay


Dissertation Abstract: 

This doctoral dissertation traces the long history of metaphor, from
Aristotle to contemporary research, especially through the work of the
American cognitive linguists. We first define metaphor by opposition
to other linguistic structures, such as metonymy, synecdoche and
comparison. Its role and evolution are then studied by the yardstick
of cognitive linguistics, as well as the French linguistic theory
known as "the utterer-centered approach to language", two theories
that are here applied together. We examine the various language
structures metaphor can take on through an utterer-centered approach
to language, keeping in mind the ubiquitous conceptual nature of
metaphor. Emphasis is laid on metaphorical vagueness and
proliferation, two notions which not only represent the main asset,
but the raison d'�tre of metaphor. The fundamentally dynamic nature of
metaphor--exemplified not only by its polysemy, but also by the
linguistic evolution it can follow--is related to the role it plays in
the linguistic system and in its evolution. The hypothesis on which
this dissertation is based is confirmed by the fact that this
conceptual structure leaves traces when uttered in a specific
situation of utterance; these traces are visible in the form of an
additional structure. The examination of the linguistic traces of what
we are entitled to call the utterer-centered approach to metaphorical
operation constitutes the privileged central theme of research, and
its application to the English and French corpora throws new light on
metaphor.