COGNITIVE NATURE OF METAPHOR

Abstract

The article explores the theoretical basis of the study of a metaphor as a cognitive unit, the approach to understanding metaphor, the process of metaphorization in view of the need for a modern individual to rethink the essence of cognition, mechanisms of generating and keeping the information, as well as learning some new information. Approaches to studying metaphor and its nature are presented in the article. The role of metaphor in the process of perception and interpretation of information, which makes it a key figure in cognitive linguistics, has a special place in the paper. In order to achieve the article’s objectives, the process of metaphor creation and the role of metaphor in the “thinking / mental activity of a person - world” and “language - society/surrounding reality” systems and the relationship of these components were considered. It is noted that to create the metaphor a special process called reflection is needed, through which conceptual transference takes place. Metaphors as linguistic expressions are possible precisely because they are embedded in the conceptual system of man. Metaphor is the result of the influence of individual creativity on the formal semantic structure. The conceptual process that gives rise to a metaphor recognizes both similar features, which the anomaly is based on and on the dissimilar ones, which the semantic anomaly is based on. Thus, the only real world accessible to a man is the world that is created by this individual in the process of cognition based on his own sensual experience. It has been revealed that the nature of metaphor is not constant and the level of the expressiveness can change during its existence – some of metaphors can almost lose their metaphorical component becoming a part of a regular language. So, according to the cognitive approach to metaphors’ nature, metaphors are understood not just as a matter of language, but as a matter of thought as well.