Understanding Metaphor In The Way You Are-An Online Metaphor Processing Model

It has been a history of more than two thousand years since people started to study metaphor. At the time of Aristotle, metaphor was studied as a rhetoric device in literature. As the study of metaphor develops, the topics on metaphor have been discussed under the framework of philosophy, linguistics, logic, cognitive science, AI, and so on. Metaphor has become a hot topic of scholars from various disciplines. Different versions of definition, meaning, and classification of metaphor are listed by them. By contrast, the processing of metaphor is evidently overlooked. On the basis of the metaphor study by cognitive linguists, this thesis aims to propose an online metaphor processing model, which is mainly supposed to explain how metaphorical meaning is processed by the recipient, no matter it is right or wrong. Based on Conceptual Blending Theory and Schema Theory, this model can solve the problem of where the blending happens and what kind of knowledge is used for blending. These two issues will show different ways of combination when the recipient is encountered with different kinds of metaphor. This model can explain relevant issues related with metaphor processing. It also includes six optimal principles which show the tendencies of the recipients when processing metaphor. After the model is set forth, a pilot research is done to testify the power of the model. Participants are asked to finish translating several sentences and those with metaphorical expressions are calculated and studied. The result of the research is coherent with the model and the participants' translation shows clearly the vitality of the optimal principles of the model. The model is not only supposed to be predictable, but also inspiring. It can be applied to metaphor teaching in class. The advice for teachers and students is not pedagogical and shows only general directions in the development of metaphor teaching. The model is still in its initial stage and the author hopes more and more people would join in to advance the development of this subject.