Metaphor--Its Identification And Interpretation

Metaphor is common in our communication of facts and ideas. It is not only a part of language but also a way of thought with its cognitive force. Familiar as it is, it still presents great difficulties to EFL learners in their efforts for accurate understanding due to the fact that it is an instance of the non-literal use of language. This thesis presents various attempts at defining metaphor, examines the cognitive, pragmatic and interactive nature of it and analyzes three basic approaches a speaker may apply in signaling a metaphorical intent. What is more important, this thesis discusses the interpretation of metaphor by commenting on some established metaphorical theories and points out that metaphor interpretation is a complicated process involving not only construction of analogy and connection, but also consideration of user's purpose and examination of its social context. All these efforts are meant to present metaphor, especially its identification and interpretation, in a systematic way so that they might be of some help to EFL teachers as well as learners.