Some problems of investigating metaphoric domains in the linguistic cultures of different nations

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of widening the scope and nomenclature, as well as methods of investigation, as connected with the phenomenon of the language metaphor. It is pointed out that the theory of conceptual metaphor which was postulated within the cognitive linguistics surely creates a general framework for the description of the metaphorical process as a whole. But if one takes some special aspects of the metaphor as a hybrid of cognitive and linguistic processes it seems insufficient to point out only the models based on substantivized notions, as ARGUMENT IS WAR. We suppose that the metaphorical architectonics is based not only on the mentioned substantive-like models, but on the predicative knots, such as formed by such parts of speech as adjectives or verbs, as well. Within this paper, in particular, the complex linguistic activity analysis of the paradigm of metaphorical models with the kernel English verb bring and its equivalents using the joined methods of grammar-morphological, syntactical, semantico-syntactical, stylistical, linguo-pragmatical and other projections of the language and speech investigations, necessarily preserving the cognitive semantic basis of the research. The possibility of simultaneous appearance of metaphor and metonymy finds its reflection in the paper, this fact giving possibility to view them not only as independent but the intercrossing one another phenomena. The necessity of similar studies of the metaphorization process according to the vector of searching for their universal properties is marked in the paper.

Keywords

• metaphor
• source-domain
• target-domain
• metonymy
• activity approach of linguistic studies