Metaphor in Language: Universality and Cultural Variation

     Metaphor is not just a literary device or a rhetorical flourish; it also plays a significant role in our speech. In Metaphors We Live By (2003), George Lakoff and Mark Johnson classify metaphor as a fundamental tool of communication in daily speech, emphasizing that human language cannot be separated from metaphor.

This article will clarify the role of metaphor in our speech and highlight its universality, showing how different cultures and communities may share similar conceptual views.

     Many terms we use in daily speech are rooted in metaphor, often without conscious awareness of their metaphorical nature. For example, the concept of ARGUMENT is structured by the conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR, as discussed by Lakoff and Johnson (2003).

The following examples will explicate the intentional aspect

-I defended my argument with strong evidence

     In this example the concept defend has a related meaning for war, imagine being in a battel_ key elements associated with war include; something you want to defend, an enemy, and a weapon. It is the same in the argument which is compared as the following: 

Argument 🡪 something that needs to defend 

Strong evidence 🡪 the weapon

The objections of the topics 🡪 the enemy 

Other examples:

– She won the argument decisively. (Uses “won” as if it were a battle or war.)

– His criticism was a direct hit. (Uses “direct hit” as if a missile or bullet struck a target.

     Metaphor consists of source and target domain in such the source domain usually relate to physical parts and the target domain represents the abstract concepts. For example, in the expression ‘He was so mad, smoke was coming out of his ears,’ the concept of anger (an abstract emotion) is metaphorically linked to smoke (a concrete physical phenomenon). This connection is based on the idea that anger can cause a rise in body temperature, similar to fire. Just as smoke is a visible result of fire, it is metaphorically imagined as a result of an angry person, as if smoke were coming out of their ears. The mapping between the source and target domains is shaped by human experience, including bodily sensations and cultural norms (Kövecses, 2005).

The universality of metaphor: 

     Conceptual metaphors arise from two primary factors: embodiment and context. Context refers to the local culture (Kövecses, 2005). In cognitive linguistics, a metaphor is understood as a set of conceptual correspondences, or mappings, between two conceptual domains: a source and a target (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Kövecses, 2002).

     Humans share both similarities and differences. Physically and psychologically, they exhibit common traits, such as having a head, body, heart, and bones, and experiencing universal emotions like happiness, pain, and anger. Additionally, the interaction between physical and psychological states leads to similar reactions across humanity, such as an increase in body temperature when feeling angry. Since language serves as a window into human cognition and metaphor is one of its most significant expressions, these shared experiences are reflected in universal metaphors (Perović & Vuković, 2020). A study conducted by Rica Hajdi analyzed body-related figurative terms in a dictionary and found that out of twelve thousand metaphors, over two thousand were related to the human body.

     Despite these shared experiences, humans also exhibit significant differences in their thoughts and environments. Geographic factors, such as living in plains versus mountains or experiencing hot versus cold climates, influence human perspectives. Additionally, national boundaries divide people into different cultural groups, further subdivided into clans and families, each inheriting distinct traditions and beliefs. These cultural variations are reflected in human languages and, consequently, in metaphors. 

     As Lakoff and Johnson (1980:22) state, “the most fundamental values in a culture will be coherent with the metaphorical structure of the most fundamental concepts in the culture.” Cultural patterns shape how individuals conceptualize reality, and this often occurs through conceptual metaphors (Perović & Vuković, 2020). Below are examples illustrating the universality of metaphor along with the variations in cultural metaphor:

 Table 1: Universality metaphor

Table 2: Cultural metaphor

     Languages are filled with metaphorical expressions, some related to universal concepts, while others are specific to culture and personal beliefs. All of these reflect the cognitive ability to generate an infinite number of relationships and connections between the abstract and tangible domains to express abstract and complex feelings and ideas to ease our communication.