By Jason Pickett
It is always a good idea to be acquainted with the different groups of source domains and the target domains that go with them to understand a great basis of metaphor, and even more so, how the human mind thinks and perceives specific target domains. Not only does this demonstrate what we as humans associate specific target domains with, but also it shows us what source domains we find to be most common and how often we use them. These groups tend to be separated into two categories orientation and ontological. From the orientation groups we get things generally dealing with up and down, and other various directions. From ontological we get things dealing with substances and physical objects. We acquire even more sub-categories from these two groups such as up and down, in and out, containers and liquids et cetera. Most of these things most people in most societies would have at least some experience with. This would suggest something for the necessity of certain objects, or perhaps moreover, of the pure abundance of them in nature. In this section one will find many different groupings of metaphor, several examples of each grouping, and a small explanation for each group.
Some of the most basic metaphors, which everyone on Earth should be aware of to a great extent are those of direction or orientation. The metaphors tend to be quite universal for orientation metaphor across all cultures, while the orientation tends to be somehow inherent in the target domain being compared with. An example of this is the “up and down” group, ‘up’ and ‘down’ tend to be in most actions on Earth, and elsewhere in the Universe. ‘Up’ and ‘down’ to our culture can be applied to a wide variety of metaphors, but tends to be applied most often to ‘up’ somehow meaning ‘good’ and ‘down’ generally meaning ‘bad’. This is not always the case, but as we will see it tends to be a rule of thumb. The up-down source domain can be seen as the source domain for all of the following metaphors: happy is up; sad is down, conscious is up; unconscious is down, health and life are up; illness and death are down, having control or force is up; being subject to force or control is down, more is up; less is down, foreseeable events are up (and ahead), high status is up; low status is down, good is up; bad is down, virtue is up; depravity is down, rational is up; emotional is down. (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp 14-17)
As can be seen from the paragraph above, ‘up’ generally means ‘good’ and ‘down’ generally means ‘bad’. There tend to be physical reasons for these associations and shall be stated below. Most of these reasons give cause to believe that almost all cultures would in theory share the same fundamental metaphors, thus are thought to be universal to a large degree. Many of the physical reasons may seem very obvious, and it is because they are, but again the simpler a metaphor’s source is, the more likely it is to be widely used and understood. The rest of this section is taken directly from pages 15 through 17 of Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson.
This best summarizes all the ways that things could be up, including the physical reasons why, this section is drawn straight from Metaphors We Live By, as stated above, and was the best possible representation available for this text (thus the multi-page quote).
On to ontological metaphors, which happen to make up a great deal of the metaphors used in the world. Ontological metaphors tend to be physical objects or substances that generally all of us in a society have experience with and are generally used with either other physical objects, or more often with abstract concepts. These could be substances such as water, and things like that, or they could be objects like machines and natural entities, however; a very large amount of them tend to be from ourselves as people. We as humans have a great way of describing, and indeed thinking about things in terms of people (perhaps this suggests something of a egotism our specie bares). Below are examples of different kinds of things we use ontological metaphors for, and some specific ontological metaphors for specific target and domain sources. Inflation is an entity, the mind is a machine, the mind is a brittle object, referring, quantifying, identifying aspects, identifying causes, setting goals and motivating aspects. (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp 26-28).
Many of these things only sum up how we view the actual target domain as having ontological aspects, when it has perhaps more abstract concepts that are not quantifiable or what have you. Of course it should be noted that for these and for all metaphors that of course the target domains will not act just like the source domain in every aspect, and often there are limitations to just how liberally a certain source domain can apply to a certain target domain. An example of this (and good ontological metaphor) is the time is money metaphor. Time can be spent, but one can not get his time back for time spent, and so forth. Back to ontological metaphors, examples of all of the above ontological metaphors, and the referential ones that accompany of them, will like the orientation metaphors before them be taken from the pages 26 through 28 of Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson.
Perhaps a bit of explanation is necessary for the last five or so metaphorical groupings. These do not appear to be metaphorical at first, but the true metaphor is in the fact that each of these abstract concepts are being discussed as though they were physical objects, and thus the groupings they belong to. All of these tend to either place the actual abstract concepts themselves as physical objects or substances, or it refers back to them as if they were themselves physical objects. It is most commonplace to find these things in our and indeed in almost any society that humans have. One must wonder if we are even capable of thinking of abstracts concepts as simply abstract concepts, and not physical entities. It must be said that metaphor is simply not a way of speaking or writing and conveying information to others, or to ourselves at a later time, but rather it is: a means of thinking about the universe and its properties, especially its abstract ones, that we perhaps must have something more clear to represent to us for them to make sense.
A very important aspect of ontological metaphor for us, is personification. Understanding abstract or any phenomena it terms of ourselves is probably one of the most familiar and easy ways for we as people to understand the world around us, and all of the concepts we must think and speak of on a daily basis. We personify a great deal of things including animals, abstract concepts and inanimate objects. People are not always simple, and often it takes people whole lifetimes to study and ultimately understand human behaviour. In contrast to the idea that human behaviour is quite complex, it must be said that it is familiar to everyone and thus makes for perhaps the simplest and most resourceful source domain for all cultures and societies, because it is the one thing that all people have in common and can draw from without fail. With all of that being said, some examples from the book Metaphors We Live By page 33 once again.
All of these ontological and quantitative groupings are the most basic and plentiful sorts of metaphor. They all tend to be initially of something we have direct experiences with, and are so ingrained into our nature that we tend to comprehend most metaphors that we hear or read as relatively common and understandable as a result. The foundation for nearly every source domain is from one of these two categories. This shall be applied to the rest of the text especially to the etymology section as it draws almost entirely from these sorts of groupings.
“Happy is up; sad is down: I’m feeling up. That boosted my spirits. My spirits rose. You’re in high spirits. Thinking about her always gives me a lift. I’m feeling down. I’m depressed. He’s really low these days. I fell into a depression. My spirits sank.
Physical basis: Drooping posture typically goes along with sadness and depression, erect posture with a positive emotional state.
Conscious is up; unconscious is down: Get up. Wake up. I’m up already. He rises early in the morning. He fell asleep. He dropped off to sleep. He’s under hypnosis. He sank into a coma.
Physical basis: Humans and most other mammals sleep lying down and stand up when they are awaken.
Health and life are up; sickness and death are down: He’s at the peak of health. Lazarus rose from the dead. He’s in top shape. As to his health, he’s way up there. He fell ill. He’s sinking fast. He came down with the flu. His health is declining. He dropped dead.
Physical basis: Serious illness forces us to lie down physically. When you’re dead, you are physically down.
Having control or force is up; being subject to control or force is down: I have control over her. I am on top of the situation. He’s in the high command. He’s in the upper echelon. His power rose. He ranks above me in strength. He is under my control. He fell from power. His power is on the decline. He is my social inferior. He is low man on the totem pole.
Physical basis: Physical size typically correlates with physical strength, and the victor in a fight is typically on top.
More is up; less is down: The number of books printed each year keeps going up. His draft number is high. My income rose last year. The amount of artistic activity in this state has gone down in the past year. The number of errors he made is incredibly low. His income fell last year. He is underage. If you’re too hot, turn the heat down.
Physical basis: If you add more of a substance or of physical objects to a container or pile, the level goes up.
Foreseeable future events are up (and ahead): All upcoming events are listed in the paper. What’s coming up this week? I’m afraid of what’s ahead of us. What’s up?
Physical basis: Normally our eyes look in the direction which we typically move (ahead, forward). As an object approaches a person (or the person approaches the object), the object appears larger. Since the ground is perceived as being fixed, the top of the object appears to be moving upward in the person’s field of vision.
High status is up; low status is down: He has a lofty position. She’ll rise to the top. He’s at the peak of his career. He’s climbing the ladder. He has little upward mobility. He’s at the bottom of the social hierarchy. She fell in status.
Social and physical basis: Status is correlated with (social) power and (physical) power is up.
Good is up; bad is down: Things are looking up. We hit peak last year, but it’s been downhill ever since. Things are at an all-time low. He does high-quality work.
Physical basis for personal well-being: Happiness, health, life, and control- the things that principally characterize what is good for a person- are all up.
Virtue is up; depravity is down: He is high-minded. She has high standards. She is upright. She is an upstanding citizen. That was a low trick. Don’t be underhanded. I wouldn’t stoop to that. That would be beneath me. He fell into the abyss of depravity. That was a low-down thing to do.
Physical and social basis: Good is up for a person (physical basis), together with a metaphor that we will discuss below, society is a person (in the version where you are not identifying with your society). To be virtuous is to act in accordance with the standards set by the society/person to maintain its well-being. Virtue is up because virtuous actions correlate with social well-being from the society/person’s point of view. Since socially based metaphors are part of the culture, it’s the society person’s point of view that counts.
Rational is up; emotional is down: The discussion fell to the emotional level, but I raised it back up to the rational plane. We put our feelings aside and had a high-level intellectual discussion of the matter. He couldn’t rise above his emotions.
Physical and cultural basis: In our culture people view themselves as being in control over animals, plants, and their physical environment, and it is their unique ability to reason that places human beings above other animals and gives them this control. Control is up thus provides the basis for man is up and therefore for rational is up.” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp 14-17)
“Inflation is an Entity: Inflation is lowering our standard of living. If there’s much more inflation, we’ll never survive. We need to combat inflation. Inflation is backing us into a corner. Inflation is taking its toll at the checkout counter and the gas pump. Buying land is the best way of dealing with inflation. Inflation makes me sick.
The Mind is a Machine: We’re still trying to grind out the solution to this equation. My mind just isn’t operating today. Boy, the wheels are turning now! I’m a little rusty today. We’ve been working on this problem all day and now we’re running out of steam.
The Mind is a Brittle Object: Her ego is very fragile. You have to handle him with care since his wife’s death. He broke under cross-examination. She is easily crushed. The experience shattered him. I’m going to pieces. His mind snapped.
Referring: My fear of insects is driving my wife crazy. That was a beautiful catch. We’re working toward peace. The middle class is a powerful silent force in American politics. The honour of our country is at stake in this war.
Quantifying: It will take a lot of patience to finish this book. There is so much hatred in the world. DuPont has a lot of political power in Delaware. You’ve got too much hostility in you. Pete Rose has a lot of hustle and baseball know-how.
Identifying Aspects: The ugly side of his personality comes out under pressure. The Brutality of war dehumanises us all. I can’t keep up with the pace of modern life. His emotional health has deteriorated recently. We never got to feel the thrill of victory in Vietnam .
Identifying Causes: The pressure of his responsibilities caused his breakdown. He did it out of anger. Our influence in the world has declined because of our lack of moral fibre. Internal dissention cost them the pennant.
Setting Goals and Motivation Actions: He went to New York to seek fame and fortune. Here’s what you have to do to insure financial security. I’m changing my way of life so that I can find true happiness. The FBI will act quickly in the face of a threat to national security. She saw getting married as the solution to her problems.” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp 26-28).
“His theory explained to me the behaviour of chickens raised in factories. This fact argues against the standard theories. Life has cheated me. Inflation is eating up our profits. His religion tells him that he cannot drink fine French wines. The Michelson-Morley experiment gave birth to a new physical theory. Cancer finally caught up with him.
In each of these cases we are seeing something nonhuman as human. But personification is not a single unified general process. Each personification differs in terms of the aspects of people that are picked out. Consider these examples.
Inflation has attacked the foundation of our economy. Inflation has pinned us to the wall. Our biggest enemy right now is inflation. The dollar has been destroyed by inflation. Inflation has robbed me of my savings. Inflation has outwitted the best economic minds in the country. Inflation has given birth to a money-minded generation.
Here inflation is personified, but the metaphor is not merely Inflation is a person. It is much more specific, namely, inflation is an adversary…” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp 33-34).