Pragmatički aspekti identifikacije metaforičkih izraza

Abstract

Given certain objections to the hyperproductive theory of conceptual metaphor and the related approaches thereof in the research field of cognitive linguistics, various attempts to design a procedure which would rectify the objections have already been voiced. I am primarily concerned here with MFA and MIPVU. In this paper I bring into account pragmatic aspects in the identification of metaphorical expressions so as to propose and evaluate a (potential) procedure that would be in accordance with the cognitive-inferential approach to communication. Two main conclusions are proposed: 1) what is termed direct metaphor in cognitive linguistics cannot be a metaphorical expression because it involves quite a specific, different inferential path and 2) dictionary definitions with their listed meanings for a given lexeme cannot be relevant in the way proposed in the MFA and MIPVU procedures, because human cognition recognizes far more concepts than lexemes; furthermore, the mental lexicon plays an important role in this process.