Words are to Language : Language is to Metaphor : Metaphor is to Communication

Locke explores the significance of language and words; if they are similar and if they are a single unit. Lakoff and Johnson delve into the world of metaphors and how they are used linguistically in our day-to-day lives. Lakoff didn't speak about the signification of words, nor did Locke speak of metaphors. I try to gain understanding of each overlapping terms by asking the following questions:How are the terms connected? Do metaphors gain their signification through its language or through the words? Why do we need metaphors ? How do language and metaphor aid in communication? I try to understand the links between each term, through each writer.

Lakoff and Johnson constantly refer to the metaphorical structure as the "human conceptual system" that governs "our everyday functioning, down to the most mundane details"(1). It is evident then, that the metaphorical structures that humans live by gain their signification through their constant repetition, by people, or a culture. In the civil conversation, words gain signification in their constant repetition, like metaphors do. It is only through the repetition that metaphors can become as embedded in a culture as they do. Metaphors are similar to Locke's notion of "mix modes"(818). These mix modes are made up of different ideas and terms, each with their own meanings. The only way that these modes and ideas come to have one single meaning is through the language. The words by themselves are of no signification, the language is what sets them apart and gives them their meaning, in this case the metaphorical structure. In reference to Lakoff' and Johnson's example, "time is money", time by itself just means what it says and money is just that, money (4). When put together however, it gains its signification, its metaphorical structure that a culture adapts and applies in their regular language and daily discourse. In other words, the language is what gives the metaphor its signification. Words are just the vehicle that brings forth the meaning through the language.

 Now that we have established that the metaphors are found in the language, I pose the question, why do we need metaphors? 

Lakoff and Johnson already promulgate, "metaphor is not just a matter of language, that is, of mere words"(3). They express that metaphors are linguistic expressions of our human conceptual system. Metaphors are used to put into words what we experience as individuals. We need them to help us understand the things we feel and to communicate these feelings to others. The oriental metaphors for example, are used as connotations maybe of our feelings. As humans we can say "I am feeling down," and understand what each other means. It is just the way we process everything, to make it simpler. This leads to the notion of "simple modes. " So, while structural metaphors are mix and have a much more intricate conceptual system behind it, the oriental metaphors are more like the "simple modes" that Locke refers to. The simple modes like "up-down," make it easier to understand what we are trying to say and easier to explain what we are feeling. "Up" cannot be confused with anything else. But, to say "I'm happy," or "I'm ecstatic" may make things complicated. So the word "up" is used to make communication a lot less ambiguous and to prevent uncertainty. The language of the  oriental metaphors is simpler and makes it easier to "excite in the hearer exactly the same idea they stand for in the mind of the speaker" (817). 

How do language and metaphor aid in communication? Do metaphors make it easier or harder to communicate? 

As humans everything we say and do is stemmed from a metaphorical concept because,

 "Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature"(Lakoff and Johnson1). Therefore, because we are programmed like this, our language too is stemmed from a metaphorical nature.  How can we communicate our "ideas"effectively without using the metaphorical conceptual system that we have governed by? I don't think we can.We are metaphoric beings who need to communicate through language. I don't think we can communicate our "ideas" effectively without using metaphors. It would make no sense. If we are to communicate our ideas to one another, we will have to use some metaphors. 

-Kelli

Sources:

Locke, John. “From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, Second Edition. Ed. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. 814-827.

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Excerpts from Metaphors We Live By (1980). The Literary Link. Janice E. Patten. 2010. San Jose State University. Web. http://theliterarylink.com/metaphors.html.