Cover not available

In:Dynamism in Metaphor and Beyond
Edited by Herbert L. Colston, Teenie Matlock and Gerard J. Steen
[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication 9] 2022
► pp. 205–222

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

Experiential viewpoint, simile and dynamicity in discourse

 | The University of British Columbia
Published online: 9 September 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.9.11dan
Abstract
The proposal to consider the use of metaphor from the perspective of discourse dynamicity is becoming increasingly popular. In this chapter, I give the idea further support, but I also suggest two additions: a closer look at how dynamicity works in various discourse types and a clearer focus on how dynamicity is achieved through the use of various figurative forms. Besides, I argue for a more structured understanding of the link between discourse, figuration and experiential viewpoint. I consider a range of examples, from various discourses, including literary texts, to substantiate the types of research questions facing the idea of dynamicity.
Article outline
  • 1.Types of experience and experiential viewpoint
  • 2.Simile and metaphor: Constructional features and discourse
  • 3.Discourse dynamicity and figurative form: Simile and other tropes
  • 4.Non-figurative narrative elaboration
  • 5.Where does this lead?
  • Notes
  • References
References (43)
References
Bowdle, Brian F. and Dedre Gentner. (2005). The career of metaphor. Psychological Review 112(1): 193–216. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brandt, Line and Per Aage Brandt. (2005). Making sense of a blend: a cognitive-semiotic approach to metaphor. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 3: 216–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, Lynne. (2007). Patterns of metaphor in reconciliation talk. Discourse and Society 18: 197–222. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, Lynne, Robert Maslen, Zazie Todd, John Maule, Peter Stratton & Neil Stanley. (2009. The discourse dynamics approach to metaphor and metaphor-led discourse analysis Metaphor and Symbol 24: 63–89. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dancygier, Barbara. (2009). Genitives and proper names in constructional blends. In Vyvyan Evans and Stephanie Pourcel (eds.), New directions in cognitive linguistics, 161–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed). (2017a). The Cambridge handbook of cognitive linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2017b). Cognitive Linguistics and the study of textual meaning. In Dancygier 2017a (ed), 607–622. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dancygier, Barbara and Adrian Lou. (2019). It’s like if constructions and stance off-loading in multimodal artifacts. Paper presented at the 15th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Nishinomiya, Japan, August 7, 2019
Dancygier, Barbara and Eve Sweetser. (2014). Figurative Language. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dorst, Aletta G. (2011). Metaphor in fiction: language, thought and communication. PhD Dissertation, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(2017). Textual patterning of metaphor. In Semino and Demjén (eds), 178–192.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, Gilles, and Mark Turner. (2002). The way we think: conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2008). Rethinking metaphor. In Gibbs (ed.), 53–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gentner, Dedre, and Brian Bowdle. (2001). Convention, form, and figurative language processing. Metaphor and Symbol 16(3/4), 223–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2008). Metaphor as structure-mapping. In Gibbs (ed.), 109–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W., Jr. (2006). Embodiment and cognitive science. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed). (2008). Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011a). Evaluating Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Discourse Processes 48(8): 529–562, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011b). Multiple Constraints in Theories of Metaphor. Discourse Processes 48(8): 575–584, Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017a). Metaphor, language, and dynamical systems. In Semino and Demjén (eds), 56–70.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017b). Embodiment. In Dancygier (ed) 2017a, 449–462. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, Raymond W., Jr and Lynne Cameron. (2008). The socio-cognitive dynamics of metaphor performance. Cognitive Systems Research, 9, 64–75. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Glucksberg, Sam, and Boaz Keysar. (1993). How metaphors work. In Andrew Ortony (ed.) Metaphor and thought, Cambridge University Press: 401–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goatly, Andrew. (1997/2005). The language of metaphors. London and New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grady, Joseph, Todd Oakley, and Seana Coulson. (1999). Blending and metaphor. In Gerard Steen and Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. (eds.), Metaphor in cognitive linguistics. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Israel, Michael, Jennifer Riddle Harding, and Vera Tobin. (2004). On simile. In Michel Achard and Suzanne Kemmer (eds.), Language, culture and mind, 123–35. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Zoltán. (1995). Anger: its language, conceptualization, and physiology in the light of cross-cultural evidence. In John R. Taylor and Robert E. MacLaury (eds.), Language and the cognitive construal of the world, 181–96. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2000). Metaphor and emotion. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moder, Carol. (2008). It’s like making a soup: metaphors and similes in spoken news discourse. In Andrea Tyler, Yiyoung Kim, and Mari Takada (eds.), Language in the context of use: discourse and cognitive approaches to language, 301–20. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, Cornelia. (2008). Metaphors dead and alive, sleeping and waking: a dynamic view. University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Semino, Elena. (2016). Descriptions of pain, metaphor and embodied simulation. Metaphor and Symbol 25(4): 205–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Semino, Elena and Zsófia Demjén (eds). (2017). The Routledge handbook of metaphor and language. London and New York: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sources of examples
Franzen, Jonathan. (2016). Purity. London: 4th Estate (Harper Collins Publishers)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
St Aubyn, Edward. (2012). The Patrick Melrose novels. New York: Picador.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fan, Jiayang. (2019). Hong Kong’s Protest Movement and the Fight for the City’s Soul. The New Yorker, December 16, 2019Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Letters to editor, The New Yorker, August 5, 2019Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lepore, Jill. (2019). The lingering of loss. The New Yorker, July 1, 2019Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kelly, Aoife. (2019). ‘Brexit is like. ’ – the best analogies from the tired and confused across UK and Ireland. Independent.ie, March 27, 2019Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Colston, Herbert L.
2025. The big figurative picture. In What makes a Figure [Figurative Thought and Language, 19], ► pp. 14 ff. DOI logo
Colston, Herbert L.
2025. A look at, inside, and outside metaphors. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 23:1 ► pp. 35 ff. DOI logo
Holm, Anne & Esme Richardson-Owen
2025. ‘I watch your hands like butterflies landing’: Embodied dynamicity in Nick Cave’s similes. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics DOI logo
Jackson, Brad
2023. Embodied Figuration and Character Emotion in Cinema: The Role of Embodied Affective Cues. Baltic Screen Media Review 11:1 ► pp. 106 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 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