D. U. Ashurova m. R. Galieva cognitive linguistics

Conceptual Metaphorical Analysis

As has been mentioned, at present, metaphor is regarded not only as a stylistic device, but as “a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system” (Lacoff, 1992), as “a cognitive mechanism whereby one experiental domain is partially “mapped”, i.e. projected onto a different experiential domain, so that the second domain is partially understood in terms of the first one” (Barcelona, 2000:3). A cross-domain mapping is a systematic set of correspondences that exist between constituent elements of the “source-domain” and the “target-domain” (see ch.VII). Detailed metaphorical analysis of conceptual metaphor in every day usage was done in G. Lakoff’s work. Here, we shall concentrate on conceptual metaphor in the literary text. Before proceeding with the topic, it needs to be reminded of a peculiar feature of conceptual metaphor in fiction. One of the most important properties the fictional conceptual metaphor is its crucial relevance to the conceptual information of the whole text. In other words, metaphorical expressions should be studied from the point of view of their cognitive functions within the text. Besides, it should be kept in mind that the cognitive mechanisms of conceptual metaphor is based on conceptual blending.

The following procedure of metaphorical analyses can be recommended:

• 
  identify metaphorical expressions employed in the text;
  
• 
  specify the source domain of conceptual metaphor and the knowledge structure constituting it;
  
• 
  analyze the associative and textual links of the target domain;
  
• 
  reveal the generic space including the common conceptual features of the target domain;
  
• 
  reveal the new conceptual features emerging in the blend as a result of the cross-domain mapping;
  
• 
  define the conceptual significance of the metaphor and its role in the author’s individual world picture representation.
  

It is difficult to overestimate the role of conceptual metaphors in the fictional text, because in the process of conceptual metaphorical analysis the missing implicit components and their links can be restored; implications and inferences can be drawn.
The next passage from the story “The Duel” by O’Henry provides a good example of conceptual metaphorical analysis. The focus of attention in this story is the philosophical view of the city of New York, which is described with the help of several metaphors:
"This town", said he, "is a leech. It drains the blood of the country. Whoever comes to it accepts a challenge to a duel. Abandoning the figure of the leech, it is a juggernaut, a Moloch, a monster to which the innocence, the genius, and the beauty of the land must pay tribute. Hand to hand every newcomer must struggle with the leviathan. You've lost, Billy. It shall never conquer me. I hate it as one hates sin or pestilence or—the color work in a ten-cent magazine. I despise its very vastness and power. It has the poorest millionaires, the littlest great men, the lowest skyscrapers, the dolefulest pleasures of any town I ever saw. It has caught you, old man, but I will never run beside its chariot wheels. It glosses itself as the Chinaman glosses his collars. Give me the domestic finish. I could stand a town ruled by wealth or one ruled by an aristocracy; but this is one controlled by its lowest ingredients.
The analyzed extract abounds in the metaphorical expressions presented in the convergence. This fact testifies to the conceptual significance the analysed metaphors are charged with.
At the first stage of our analysis, we shall identify the metaphors used in the text. They are “a leech which drains the blood of the country; a juggernaut; a Moloch; a monster”.
At the next stage of our analysis we shall analyze the source domains of the given metaphors. The task is to reveal the knowledge structures the source domain conveys. For this purpose we use the materials of explanatory and encyclopedic dictionaries: