MAKING SENSE OF A BLEND

MAKING SENSE OF A BLEND

Author:  Line Brandt, Per Aage Brandt

Affiliation:  University of Aarhus, Denmark, Case Western Reserve University (USA)

Abstract: 
In this paper we propose an analysis of the metaphor "This surgeon is a butcher!" discussed in Grady, Oakley & Coulson (1999), introducing it into a mental space framework derived from conceptual metaphor theory (CMT), blending theory (BT) and cognitive semiotics. The method of analysis is to work backwards; we attempt to reconstruct the meaning of the butcher-surgeon metaphor by giving a step-by-step description of the cognition involved in understanding an occurrence of the metaphoric expression, and hypothesize a general framework for analyzing metaphoric blends and other kinds of rhetorically potent integrations of semiotically distinguishable conceptual contents (mental spaces) in expressive blends.

Keywords:  blending, cognitive semiotics, conceptual integration, mental space, metaphor, reference, relevance.

Pages:  5-19