Cover not available

In:Performing Metaphoric Creativity across Modes and Contexts
Edited by Laura Hidalgo-Downing and Blanca Kraljevic Mujic
[Figurative Thought and Language 7] 2020
► pp. 19–42

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

Chapter 2
Metaphor in multimodal creativity

 | University of Umea, Sweden
 | Independent Scholar
 | University of California, Santa Cruz
Published online: 29 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.7.02oko
Abstract
This chapter describes the role that metaphor plays in multimodal creativity in several creative endeavors, specifically music, art, dance, and advertising. Many creative instances of metaphor performance rely on entrenched metaphorical concepts that get manifested in very specific, concrete ways in different artistic domains. Furthermore, although metaphorical thought and language are typically believed to map information from an embodied source domain into more abstract target domains, we argue that creative multimodal performance emerges from people’s very ordinary, yet still highly metaphorical, conceptualizations of mundane bodily experiences. We explore multimodal creativity not just from seeking metaphors as manifested in different domains (e.g., music, art, dance), but also from the ways people talk about creative expressions and understandings.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Music
  • 3.Painting
  • 4.Dance
  • 5.Advertisements
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (24)
References
Antle, A., Corness, G. & Droumeva, M. (2009). What the body knows: Exploring the benefits of embodied metaphors in hybrid physical digital environments. Interacting with Computers, 21, 66–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emslie, M. (2009). Skinner Releasing Technique: dancing from within. Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices, 1, 169–175. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C., & Urios-Aparisi, E. (Eds.) (2009). Multimodal metaphor. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. (2017). Metaphor wars: Conceptual metaphor in human life. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. & Cameron, L. (2008). Social-cognitive dynamics of metaphor performance. Cognitive Systems Research, 9, 64–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hanrahan, C. & Salmela, J. (1990). Dance images – do they work or are we just imagining things? Journal of Physical Education Recreation & Dance, 6, 18–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heiland, T., & Rovetti, R. (2010). Which images and image categories best support jump height? In R. Solomon, & J. Solomon (Eds), Abstracts of the 20th Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science (pp. 74–75). Birmingham, UK: IADMS.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, M. & Larson, S. (2003). Something in the way she moves. Metaphor and Symbol, 18, 63–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kittay, E. (1987). Metaphor: Its cognitive force and linguistic structure. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larson S. (2012). Musical forces: Motion, metaphor, and meaning in music. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, C., & Ladewig, S. (2014). Metaphors for sensorimotor experiences: Gestures as embodied and dynamic conceptualizations of balance in dance lessons. In M. Borkent, B. Dancygier, & J. Hinnel (Eds.), Language and the creative mind (pp. 295–324). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Okonski, L., Madden, J., & Tothpal, K. (In press). Understanding nonverbal metaphor: A cognitive approach to metaphor in dance. In Fernandes, C. & Evola, V. (eds.) Dance Data, Cognition, and Multimodal Communication 19. London/New York. Routledge.
Overby, L. & Dunn, J. (2011). The history and research of dance imagery: Implication for teachers. IADMS Bulletin for Teachers, 3, 9–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rentz, J. (2003). Metaphor, creativity, and art practice. Retrieved at [URL] (June 13, 2009).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
Spitzer, M. (2004). Metaphor and musical thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sullivan, K. (2006). How does art ‘speak’ and what does it ‘say’: Conceptual metaphor theory as a tool for understanding the artistic process. In D. E. Boyes, & F. B. Cogan (Eds.), Thought tools for a new generation: Essays on thought, ideas, and the power of expression (pp. 81–89). Eugene, OR: Robert D. Clark Honors College.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). The languages of art: How representational and abstract painters conceptualize their work in terms of language. Poetics Today, 30, 517–560. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swanwick, K. (2007). Interlude: Metaphor and the Mission of the Arts. In L. Bresler (Ed.), International Handbook of Research in Arts Education, Part One (pp. 497–503). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Camp, J. (1996). Non-verbal metaphor: A Non-explanation of meaning in dance. British Journal of Aesthetics, 36, 177–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zaltman, G., & Zaltman, L. (2008). Marketing metaphoria: What deep metaphors reveal about the minds of consumers. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zaporah, R. (2003). Improvisation on the edge. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zbikowski, L. (2009). Music, language and multimodal metaphor. In C. Forceville, & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal metaphor (pp. 359–382). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Listening to music. In K. Chapin, & A. Clarke (Eds.), Speaking of music: Addressing the sonorous (pp. 101–119). New York: Fordham University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Türker, Ebru & Jae Hyun Park
2025. Multimodal Metaphoric Creativity, Framing, and Recontextualization in Education Discourse: University Advertisements in South Korea. Metaphor and Symbol 40:2 ► pp. 153 ff. DOI logo
Tseng, Ming-Yu
2024. ‘Just Like Pandemic Prevention’: The Semiotic Flow That Interweaves Multimodality, Metaphor, and Narrativity. Metaphor and Symbol 39:2 ► pp. 110 ff. DOI logo
Alarcón-Hermosilla, Salvador
2022. Ambience and nature in travel writing: An ecostylistic study ofThe Old Patagonian ExpressandEastward to Tartary. Journal of World Languages 8:3 ► pp. 593 ff. DOI logo
Cienki, Alan & Michael O’Connor
2022. Researching embodied metaphor production through improvisational dance practice. In Dynamism in Metaphor and Beyond [Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication, 9], ► pp. 63 ff. DOI logo
Gibbs, Raymond W.
2022. Looking for metaphor in the natural world. In Figurativity and Human Ecology [Figurative Thought and Language, 17], ► pp. 43 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