| It is my thesis that metaphor is a linguistic, as opposed to a larger, cognitive phenomenon. I define metaphor as the formation of semantic anomaly, and language as a system of symbols. I argue that metaphor always consists of symbols, and must be necessarily linguistic because for there to be anomaly, some system must be defied. I explore developmental theories in order to illuminate the link between the mature phenomenon of metaphor's creation and understanding, and developmental stages of symbol and language use which closely resemble metaphor. I conclude that knowledge develops by understanding what is known in terms of what is unknown. Metaphor is a manifestation, in language, of this cognitive process. Finally, I explore the effect of metaphor upon consciousness. Metaphor brings consciousness to the properties of language itself which might otherwise remain unconscious. Thus, I show that metaphor is necessarily linguistic because it is fundamentally about language. |
