On Metaphor And Metaphorical Thinking

The omnipresent uses of metaphor make it a heated topic for discussions and researches. But according to the material collected by the writer, systematic studies on metaphor from perspective of thinking have seldom been touched.Based on the overview and analysis of the previous studies on metaphor, this paper, approaching from thinking perspective, attempts to elaborate the relationship between metaphorical expressions and metaphorical thinking. In the light of current studies, a tentative conclusion is reached: metaphorical thinking comes before metaphorical expressions; the relationship between them is dynamic; they are closely related to each other with metaphorical thinking playing, a decisive role; meanwhile metaphorical expressions influence metaphorical thinking.Then, the paper focuses on the origin, features, manners of metaphorical thinking, as well as its various functions, which is the central part of the paper.This present study is aimed at understanding and knowing metaphorical thinking, providing some insights to the researches of metaphor in order to explore the unknown field with the help of this cognitive tool.