Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy in Cognitive Linguistics: Theoretical Foundations, Interactions, and Cross-Domain Mappings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69760/aghel.026002013Keywords:
conceptual metaphor, metonymy, cognitive linguistics, cross-domain mapping, embodied cognition, Lakoff and Johnson, figurative languageAbstract
Since the publication of Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By in 1980, conceptual metaphor theory has fundamentally transformed the linguistic and cognitive understanding of figurative language. Rather than treating metaphor and metonymy as rhetorical ornaments confined to literary or poetic discourse, cognitive linguistics reconceptualizes them as basic mechanisms of human thought and conceptual organization that permeate everyday language, reasoning, and communication. This article examines the theoretical foundations of conceptual metaphor theory and conceptual metonymy, analyzes their structural properties and cognitive functions, and investigates the nature of their interaction in actual linguistic data. Drawing on corpus-based and discourse-analytical approaches, the study identifies the primary types of conceptual metaphor and metonymy, discusses the principles governing cross-domain mapping, and examines the relationship between metaphor and metonymy as partially overlapping cognitive mechanisms. The analysis demonstrates that conceptual metaphor and metonymy are not merely linguistic phenomena but reflect deep-seated patterns of human embodied cognition, cultural knowledge, and experiential grounding. The article argues that their systematic study contributes not only to theoretical linguistics but also to applied fields including discourse analysis, cognitive semantics, and language pedagogy.
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