conceptual metaphor
Compiled with AI assistance and selectively reviewed. Please consult the cited passages; the books remain the authoritative source. About this companion
Editorial synthesis · provisional
Definition
A conceptual metaphor is a cognitive mapping through which one domain of experience is partially understood using the relational and inferential structure of another. RB2 attributes this account to Lakoff and Johnson, with bodily experience supplying many source domains. The proposal distinguishes structured thought from decorative wording, while preserving partial fit, multiple mappings and the difference between a useful metaphor and proof of its target’s ontology.
Explanation
Argument as war and love as a journey illustrate systematic mappings that generate several expressions and patterns of inference. The source domain contributes roles and relations rather than a literal identity between debate and combat or between love and physical travel. The native references retain Lakoff and Johnson’s attribution.
RB2 explicitly makes these mappings partial and allows several metaphors to illuminate different aspects of one concept. Bodily and social recurrence helps explain their familiarity without requiring every culture or person to use the same expression. A metaphor can foreground one possibility while hiding another, so its availability does not establish exhaustive truth.
AB provides accessible everyday examples, while RB3 distinguishes different directional mappings from a single bidirectional metaphor. Its reflexive account also says cognitive grammar recognizes constraints rather than creating physical laws. The proposal preserves these qualifications instead of making neural or ontological identity follow simply from a recurring phrase.
Scope and attribution
Retain Lakoff–Johnson attribution, multiple mappings and domain-specific limits.
AB — The Actual Book
Everyday expressions show relational mappings without establishing an ontology.
Occurrence locators: 96; Thinker register: 230; Notes: 242, 250.
PB — The Possible Book
Source-verified occurrence; see the printed-page references below.
Occurrence locators: 99, 100.
RB1 — The Real Book, Volume I: The Possible Is Real
Source-verified occurrence; see the printed-page references below.
Occurrence locators: 233.
RB2 — The Real Book, Volume II: Becoming Is Being
Attributed mappings are partial, systematic and often supported by several metaphors.
Occurrence locators: 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 100, 101, 102, 178.
RB3 — The Real Book, Volume III: Murmurations
Directional mapping and cognition’s recognition of constraints remain distinct from creating laws.
Occurrence locators: 68, 76, 77, 83, 84, 130.
Background used in the editorial explanation
Conceptual mappings are distinguished from generic schema/reality relations and categorical composition.