In
cognitive linguistics
Cognitive linguistics is an interdisciplinary branch of linguistics, combining knowledge and research from cognitive science, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and linguistics. Models and theoretical accounts of cognitive linguistics are c ...
, the invariance principle is a simple attempt to explain similarities and differences between how an idea is understood in "ordinary" usage, and how it is understood when used as a
conceptual metaphor
In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another. An example of this is the understanding of quantity in terms of directionality (e.g. "the pr ...
.
Kövecses (2002: 102) provides the following examples based on the
semantics
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and compu ...
of the English
verb
A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
''to give'':
:She gave him a book. (source language)
Based on the metaphor
CAUSATION IS TRANSFER we get:
:(a) She gave him a kiss.
:(b) She gave him a headache.
However, the metaphor does not work in exactly the same way in each case, as seen in:
:(a') She gave him a kiss, ''and he still has it''.
:(b') She gave him a headache, ''and he still has it''.
The invariance principle offers the
hypothesis
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can testable, test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on prev ...
that metaphor only maps components of meaning from the source language that remain
coherent in the target
context
Context may refer to:
* Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary
Computing
* Context (computing), the virtual environment required to s ...
. The components of meaning that remain coherent in the target context retain their "basic structure" in some sense, so this is a form of
invariance
Invariant and invariance may refer to:
Computer science
* Invariant (computer science), an expression whose value doesn't change during program execution
** Loop invariant, a property of a program loop that is true before (and after) each iterat ...
.
George Lakoff
George Philip Lakoff (; born May 24, 1941) is an American cognitive linguist and philosopher, best known for his thesis that people's lives are significantly influenced by the conceptual metaphors they use to explain complex phenomena.
The co ...
and
Mark Turner originated the idea under the name ''invariance hypothesis'', later revising and renaming it. Lakoff (1993: 215) defines the invariance principle as: "Metaphorical mappings preserve the cognitive topology (that is, the image-schema structure) of the source domain, in a way consistent with the inherent structure of the target domain".
See also
*
Figure of speech
A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into '' schemes,'' which vary the ordinary ...
*
Metonymy
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name ...
*
Trope (linguistics)
A literary trope is the use of figurative language, via word, phrase or an image, for artistic effect such as using a figure of speech. Keith and Lundburg describe a trope as, "a substitution of a word or phrase by a less literal word or phrase." ...
Notes and references
Bibliography
* Barcelona, Antonio (2003).
Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads a cognitive perspective''. Second edition.
Walter de Gruyter
Walter de Gruyter GmbH, known as De Gruyter (), is a German scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature.
History
The roots of the company go back to 1749 when Frederick the Great granted the Königliche Realschule in B ...
.
* Glucksberg, Sam and Matthew S. McGlone (1999).
When love is not a journey What metaphors mean". ''
Journal of Pragmatics
The ''Journal of Pragmatics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the linguistic subfield of pragmatics. It was established in 1977 by Jacob L. Mey (at that time Odense University) and Hartmut Haberland (Roskilde University). The ...
'' 31: 1541–1558.
bstract only* Kövecses, Zoltán (2002).
Metaphor a practical introduction''.
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
US.
* Lakoff, George
"The contemporary theory of metaphor"* Lakoff, George
"What is a conceptual system"* Lakoff, George and
Mark Johnson (1980). ''Metaphors we live by''.
* Lakoff, George and Mark Turner (1989). ''More than cool reason: a field guide to poetic metaphor''.
* Yü, Ning (1998).
The contemporary theory of metaphor a perspective from Chinese''.
John Benjamins Publishing Company
John Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent academic publisher in social sciences and humanities with its head office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company was founded in the 1960s by John and Claire Benjamins and is currently managed ...
.
Semantics
Metaphor
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