Cover not available

In:Figurativity and Human Ecology
Edited by Alexandra Bagasheva, Bozhil Hristov and Nelly Tincheva
[Figurative Thought and Language 17] 2022
► pp. 43–61

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Looking for metaphor in the natural world

ORCiD logo with link | Independent Cognitive ScientistSanta Cruz
Published online: 10 November 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.17.02gib
Abstract
Metaphor in thought, language, and other expressive actions, emerges not just from the body (or culture) alone, but from humans acting in the natural world. Numerous natural world phenomena serve as source domains in many areas of metaphorical thinking and language use. This is not surprising given people’s intimate relations with the natural word, yet this fact has not been sufficiently acknowledged in contemporary theories of metaphor. My aim in this chapter is to outline some of the methodological strategies that scholars may adopt to detect how people’s interactions with the natural world may give rise to very different metaphorical experiences. These strategies focus on several ways that scholars can seek evidence of the impact of the natural world on metaphorical thinking: from linguistic analyses, experimental studies, ethnographic investigations, and hypothesis-driven examinations of human actions in a variety of contexts. Collectively, these methods for finding metaphor in the natural world highlight the importance of an ecological perspective on metaphor (e.g., what the world affords for meaning) and provide new insights into theoretical models of metaphorical thought and meaning-making.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Great writers’ observations about nature
  • 3.Natural world events as models for human thinking
  • 4.Look to corpora for figures of speech related to nature
  • 5.Political debates about nature
  • 6.Looking for metaphor in multimedia advertisements
  • 7.Finding natural world metaphors in teaching and learning
  • 8.Purposefully seeking out metaphors in the natural world
  • 9.Conclusion
  • References
  • Internet sources
References (31)
References
Carrol, L. (2016). Alice in Wonderland. London: Folio Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, A. (1998). Being there: Putting brain, body and world together again. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frank, A. (2008). Diary of a young girl. San Jose, CA: Maple Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. (2012). Metaphors, snowflakes, and termite nests: How nature creates such beautiful things. In F. MacArthur, J.-L. Oncins-Martinez, M. Sánchez-García & A. Piquer-Piriz, (Eds.), Metaphor in use: Culture, context, and communication (pp. 347–372). Philadelphia/ Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. (2017). Metaphor wars: Conceptual metaphor in human life. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W. Jr. (2019). Metaphor as Dynamical-Ecological Performance. Metaphor and Symbol, 34(1), 33–44, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R., & Santa Cruz, M. (2012). Temporal unfolding of conceptual metaphoric experience. Metaphor and Symbol, 27, 299–311. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larson, B. (2011). Metaphors for environmental sustainability: Redefining our relationship with nature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meider, W. (1983). Proverbs are never out of season: Popular wisdom in the modern age. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Okonski, L., Gibbs, R., & Chen, E. (2020). Metaphor in multimodal creativity. In L. Hidalgo-Downing & B. Kraljevic (Eds.), Performing metaphorical creativity in context: Exploring modes and cultures (pp. 19–42). Philadelphia/ Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Overby, L. & Dunn, J. (2011). The history and research of dance imagery: Implications for teachers. IADMS Bull. Teach. 3, 9–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sawada, M., Mori, S., & Ishii, M. (2002). Effect of metaphorical verbal instruction on modeling of sequential dance skills by young children. Perceptual and Motor Skills 95, 1097–1105. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thibodeau, P., & Boroditsky, L. (2011). Metaphors we think with: The role of metaphor in reasoning. PLoS ONE, 6,: e16782. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thoreau, H. (2012). Walden. New York, NY: Empire Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ulrich, R. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224, 420–421. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, M., Alcock, I., & Grellier, J. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports, 9, 7730 Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiseman, R. (2014). Social distance in hunter-gatherer settlement sites: A conceptual metaphor in material culture. Metaphor and Symbol, 29, 129–143. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, N. (2014). Embodiment, culture, and language. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and culture (pp. 227–239). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Internet sources
10. [URL]
11. [URL]
12. [URL]
13. [URL]
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

O'Dowd, Niamh A., Lorraine Adriano & Jeannette Littlemore
2024. “Our earth, it's like it's in a toaster”: Creative, figurative and narrative interactions in interviews with lower secondary school students about climate activism. Language & Communication 99 ► pp. 19 ff. DOI logo
Xiao, Deming
2024. Review of Tay (2022): Navigating the realities of metaphor and psychotherapy research. Metaphor and the Social World 14:1 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo
Tincheva, Nelly
2023. ‘Narrative structure’, ‘rhetorical structure’, ‘text structure’. English Text Construction 16:1 ► pp. 30 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue