A Research On Cohesive And Coherent Functions Of Metaphor

The study of metaphor can be traced back to Aristotle. In our traditional research, metaphor is only a figure of speech and a rhetorical device. With the development of psychology and cognitive linguistics, people have realized that metaphor is not only a rhetorical device but also a thinking pattern and a cognitive tool. In the book Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson put forward conceptual metaphor theory. They believe that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life. It is a systematic way for us to think, act and express ourselves.Scholars have studied metaphor from different perspectives and contributed a lot to the development of the study of metaphor. But its study at the discourse level seems to be somewhat neglected by most of them. In fact, metaphor can be regarded as an important textual strategy and plays a significant role in discourse construction. The present study attempts to analyze somewhat systematically the cohesive and coherent functions of metaphor in discourse from the cognitive perspective.The thesis, based on a detailed review of the essence, working mechanism and characteristics of metaphor, makes an analysis of the cohesive and coherent functions of metaphor in discourse with sample discourses. Metaphor, in essence, is to understand one kind of thing in terms of another. It involves two conceptual domains, source domain and target domain. Metaphor is a systematic and coherent mapping of structure from the source domain to the target .The systematicity of metaphor and the mapping between conceptual domains endow metaphor with cohesive and coherent functions in discourse. Metaphor can extend at the discourse level as a result of metaphorical entailments, forming a systematic lexical cohesive network. The systematicity of metaphor and the mapping between conceptual domains can help to construct a coherent discourse.Metaphor is an important part of our conceptual system and plays a significant role in linguistic expressions. As an important textual strategy, it can help achieve cohesion and coherence at the discourse level.