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Cognitive metaphor is a tool for understanding abstract ideas through direct comparison with physical concepts. It goes beyond literary use and is found in everyday language. This theory is based on the shared human experience of dealing with abstract concepts, and it is seen in various cultures and languages.
One way someone uses a concrete or physical idea to better understand abstract ideas is referred to as cognitive metaphor. It is a particular kind of metaphor that goes beyond literary or poetic use, and extends to practical, everyday considerations. A common example of a cognitive metaphor is the idea of ”up” and “down” used to indicate the amount of something. When the cost of a product, which is a quantitative value, increases, it is said to “go up” or “go up”. These types of concepts are quite common and are found in a number of different cultures.
Cognitive metaphor theory refers to the general concept of this idea and how people as a whole use figurative language and comparisons. A metaphor is a direct comparison between two different things, such as “His eyes were pools of dark water reflecting the night sky” or “He’s an angry bear, first thing in the morning.” Rather than claiming that one thing is like another, the two objects are directly related to each other.
While a cognitive metaphor works in much the same way, rather than simply acting as an expression, it is a tool for better understanding the world. A concept, which is abstract or theoretical, is directly compared with another concept of a real or physical nature. This allows someone to more easily create a frame of reference through which the abstract idea can be fully understood.
For example, the idea that when a product becomes more expensive, it is said that “prices go up,” is a cognitive metaphor. The cost of the product does not physically increase in height. It is a quantitative value that is increasing in magnitude and cost. However, this is an abstract concept, in which there is not a physical component of this increase that can be noticed, if not the greater amount of money needed to pay for it.
The “increase” probably represents the idea of an increase in the volume of water within a given body. A glass of water, for example, with the addition of additional water physically increases in height upwards. In this way, there is a concrete example of an additional amount that results in a physical increase. Through the cognitive metaphor, this real concept is compared with the abstract idea of increasing the cost of a product, and thus the latter idea becomes easier to understand.
The use of cognitive metaphor likely stemmed from shared human experiences as people began dealing with numerous abstract concepts. Language may have initially been needed only to point to and describe the physical elements and environment around people. As the non-physical components became more important, such as “love” and “worth,” physical concepts were often used to more easily explain and describe them. This is why cognitive metaphor can be seen in numerous cultures and languages, and there is a fundamental understanding of what these expressions mean.
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