METAPHOR
Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two
things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common
between them. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made
based on a single or some common characteristics. In simple English, when you portray a person,
place, thing, or an action as being something else, even though it is not actually that “something
else,” you are speaking metaphorically. “He is the black sheep of the family” is a metaphor because
he is not a sheep and is not even black. However, we can use this comparison to describe an
association of a black sheep with that person. A black sheep is an unusual animal and typically stays
away from the herd, and the person you are describing shares similar characteristics.
A metaphor develops a comparison which is different from a simile i.e. we do not use “like” or “as”
to develop a comparison in a metaphor. It actually makes an implicit or hidden comparison and not
an explicit one. A simile states that A is like B, a metaphor states that A is B or substitutes B for A.
METAPHOR TYPES
•Allegory: An extended metaphor wherein a story illustrates an important attribute of the
subject.
•Catachresis: A mixed metaphor used by design and accident (rhetorical fault).Dead people in
a graveyard being referred to as inhabitants is an example of catachresis. .
•Parable: A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or
more instructive lessons or principles such as in Jesus' teaching method.
•Pun: Similar to a metaphor, a pun alludes to another term. The difference is that pun is a
frivolous allusion between two different things whereas a metaphor is a purposeful allusion.
DEAD METAPHOR
A word or phrase that has lost its metaphoric force through common usage, dead metaphors
normally go unnoticed. Example: “he grasped the concept” or “I didn’t catch your name”.
DIFFERENCE METAPHOR AND METONYMY
Metaphor and metonymy are different kinds of processes. In cases of metonymy, “one entity is
being used to refer to another. Metaphor is principally a way of conceiving of one thing in terms of
another, and its primary function is understanding. Metonymy, on the other hand, has primarily a
referential function, that is, it allows us to use one entity to stand for another.. Which part we pick
out to use as a metonymy indicates which aspect we are focusing on.
“The ham sandwich is waiting for his check”. Where the expression "the ham sandwich" is being
used to refer to an actual person, the person who ordered the ham sandwich.
CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
The essence of metaphor is under-standing and experiencing a conceptual domain in terms of
another.This idea, and a detailed examination of the underlying processes, was first extensively
explored by Lakoff and Johnson in their work metaphors we live by. Metaphor is pervasive in
everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in
terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.
•Source domain: the conceptual domain from which we draw metaphorical expressions
(e.g., love is a journey).
SALEEM AISHA
