Communicating flexibly with metaphor

Abstract

This article argues that certain phenomena concerning metaphor that have been studied largely separately are in fact strongly interrelated, to the extent of forming an indivisible complex that should ideally be addressed in a unified way. The phenomena addressed here are metaphor compounding, metaphor elaboration (often called metaphor extension), metaphor replacement, metaphor strength-modification, and unrealistic source-domain situations. The interrelationships between phenomena that the article discusses include: the potential for unrealism and partial forms of replacement to be implicated in compounding; the way strength-modification can arise from compounding and replacement; and the affinity between elaboration and weak forms of replacement. The article also sketches how the author’s ATT-Meta approach to metaphor, which has previously been presented as handling elaboration and compounding, and hence some types of strengthening, is suitable also for handling the other phenomena.