名词性隐喻的认知科学理论

Cognitive Studies of the Substantive Metaphors

传统上,隐喻如My lawyer is a shark被当作隐性的比较:My lawyer is like a shark。以此为基础,Ortony(1979)的突显不平衡模型认为,隐喻涉及本体(my lawyer)和喻体(shark)突显特征的不平衡。当代认知科学对隐喻的研究中,两个主要模型正在相互竞争。结构映射模型认为,隐喻理解开始时,本体喻体两个概念做结构排列,随后是推论的方向性投射。特性赋予模型主张,隐喻是按照它表面形式理解的,本体被归类到一个喻体代表的上级范畴。本文评述了这几种模型,并把它们的发展追溯到Aristotle和Black的哲学思想。

Traditionally, metaphors such as ＂My lawyer is a shark＂ have been treated as implicit comparisons （＂My lawyer is like a shark＂）. Ortony＇s （1979） salience imbalance model, which is based on this view, posits that metaphor involves comparisons between the topic （＂my lawyer＂） and the vehicle （＂shark＂） that exhibit an imbalance in the salience of the properties. In contemporary cognitive studies of metaphor, two major models are currently competing against each other. The structure mapping model assumes that metaphor involves an initial structural alignment of two structured representations, followed by directional projection of inferences. The property attribution model argues that metaphors are exactly what they appear to be： class-inclusion assertions, in which the topic is assigned to a superordinate category represented by the vehicle. This paper reviews these models and traces their developments to the philosophical views of Aristotle and Max Black.