Metaphor and Iconicity: A Cognitive Approach to Analysing Texts

280 Pages·2005·1.3 MB·English

by  Masako K. Hiraga

Metaphor and Iconicity
A Cognitive Approach to Analysing Texts
Masako K. Hiraga
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Metaphor and Iconicity
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Also by Masako K. Hiraga
CULTURAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND TYPOLOGICAL ISSUES IN COGNITIVE
LINGUISTICS (Co-editor with Chris Sinha and Sherman Wilcox)
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Metaphor and Iconicity
A Cognitive Approach to Analysing Texts
Masako K. Hiraga
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© Masako K.Hiraga 2005
All rights reserved.No reproduction,copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,or under the
terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency,90 Tottenham Court Road,London W1T 4LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this
work in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2005 by
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hiraga,Masako.
Metaphor and iconicity:a cognitive approach to analyzing texts /
Masako K.Hiraga.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–3345–6 (cloth)
1. Metaphor. 2. Iconicity (Linguistics). 3. Discourse analysis.
4. Poetics. 5. Cognitive grammar. I. Title.
P301.5.M48H57 2004
401¢.43–dc22
2004052323
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd,Chippenham and Eastbourne
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Tables xiii
List of Figures xiv
List of Abbreviations xvi
Part I Framework 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 A glimpse of the issue 3
1.1.1 Metaphor in icon 3
1.1.2 Iconicity in metaphor 5
1.1.3 How a poem manifests metaphor–icon links 7
1.2 Purpose of study 14
1.2.1 Contribution to the study of linguistic
iconicity 14
1.2.2 Contribution to the study of the status of
written language 18
1.3 Scope and organisation of study 19
1.3.1 Scope of study 19
1.3.2 Organisation of study 20
2 Methodological Framework 22
2.1 Background literature 23
2.1.1 The traditional treatment of metaphor and
iconicity 23
2.1.2 Metaphor and iconicity in cognitive linguistics
and poetics 25
2.2 Peircean definition 29
2.2.1 Firstness, Secondness, Thirdness 29
2.2.2 Icon, index, symbol 30
2.2.3 Image, diagram, metaphor 31
2.3 Cognitive definition: interplay between metaphor
and iconicity 35
2.3.1 Iconicity and metaphor defined 35
2.3.2 The model of blending 36
v
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vi Contents
2.3.3 Grammatical metaphors 41
2.4 Jakobson on poetic function revisited 45
2.4.1 The poetic function of language 46
2.4.2 The role of repetition in text 46
2.4.3 Repetition as grammatical metaphor 49
2.5 Summary 50
Part II Analysis 55
3 Manifestation of Metaphor–Icon Links: Prototypical Examples 57
3.1 Shape and sense in Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’ 58
3.1.1 Text as shape 58
3.1.2 Text as icon 59
3.2 Grammatical parallelism in Shelley’s ‘Love’s Philosophy’ 63
3.2.1 Text as metaphor 63
3.2.2 Iconic interpretation by metaphor 67
3.3 Isomorphism of text structure in Basho’s Oku
no Hosomichi 70
3.3.1 Haiku and cognitive metaphor 70
3.3.2 Texts 72
3.3.3 The spring poem 73
3.3.4 The autumn poem 80
3.3.5 Metaphor–icon links in macro-structure 85
3.4 Concluding remarks 89
4 Vision as Meaning 91
4.1 Poetry and visual representation 91
4.1.1 The writing systems of English and Japanese 92
4.1.2 Visual representation in poetry 96
4.2 Visual poetry 100
4.2.1 Imagic manifestations 100
4.2.2 Diagrammatic manifestations 106
4.2.3 Remarks on comparison 115
4.3 Subtle manifestations of visual iconicity in poetry 116
4.3.1 General diagrammatic features 117
4.3.2 Orthographical revisions of haiku 118
4.4 Concluding remarks 125
5 Sound as Meaning 127
5.1 Poetry and auditory representation 127
5.1.1 The sound systems of English and Japanese 128
5.1.2 Auditory representation in poetry 131
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Contents vii
5.2 Phonosymbolism 134
5.2.1 The dance of sounds in Edgar Allan Poe’s
‘The Bells’ 135
5.2.2 Charging the music: phonological revisions
of haiku 146
5.3 Diagrammatic structuring of the sound 156
5.3.1 Mirror of sounds in Williams’s ‘The Red
Wheelbarrow’ 157
5.3.2 Hidden melodies in Tomonori’s ‘Hisakata no’ 161
5.4 Concluding remarks 168
Part III Further Issues 171
6 The Interplay of Metaphor and Iconicity in Grammar
and Discourse 173
6.1 A typology of grammatical metaphors 173
6.1.1 Relational diagrams 175
6.1.2 Structural diagrams 178
6.1.3 Iconicity in discourse 185
6.2 Metaphor–icon links in polite language 186
6.2.1 VERTICAL DISTANCE 187
6.2.2 TEMPORAL DISTANCE 191
6.3 Concluding remarks 192
7 Iconicity and Written Language 194
7.1 Written language and writing systems 194
7.1.1 The alphabet vs non-alphabetic writing
systems 195
7.1.2 Chinese characters as ideograms and
logographs 197
7.2 Iconicity and kanji 199
7.2.1 Metaphor–icon links in kanji 200
7.2.2 Kanji as a poetic medium 206
7.3 A re-evaluation of written language 207
7.3.1 The comprehensive view 207
7.3.2 An extended definition of written language 212
8 Conclusions 219
8.1 Summary of main claims 219
8.1.1 Theoretical contributions 219
8.1.2 Methodological contributions 222
8.2 Further research issues 224
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8.2.1 ‘Languaging’: language in the making 224
8.2.2 Ecology of communication media 225
Notes 228
References 239
Index 253
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Acknowledgements
I
would like to acknowledge the many people who have helped and
encouraged me both before and during the writing of this book.
C
entral to this project are the vision and insight of Mark Turner and
Gilles Fauconnier, who deserve my greatest debt of gratitude. I would
like to thank them for their works and words, which always boosted my
confidence and sharpened my thinking.
O
nthe entire manuscript, Hayley Davis and Joan Turner offered exten-
sive comments and suggestions. As friends and colleagues, they have
meant so much to me. I would also like to express my gratitude to
Yoshihiko Ikegami, Gunther Kress and Michael Toolan for their con-
structive criticisms on early drafts of the manuscript.
N
ot only for being my first mentor in linguistics at Aoyama Gakuin
University, Tokyo, but also for his continued influence through the
research circle of the Institute of Human Linguistics (IHL), I must thank
Yasuo Isami.
M
embers of IHL who have helped through their various discussions
include Masako Akimatsu, Haruo Hoshii, Katsutoshi Ito, Masaru
Makiuchi, Yumiko Mikuni and Niro Ohki.
E
ver since we first met, Yoko Fujii, Joanna Radwanska-Williams and
Valerie Anne Wilkinson have been constant friends and the most ideal
of colleagues. Without their rich input at every stage of thought and
writing, the book would have been much the poorer.
T
he moral support, encouragement and friendship of Erich Berendt,
Brian Falconbridge, Masanori Higa, Sachiko Ide, Teruyuki Kume, Ken-
ichi Noda, Kumiko Torikai and Yasukata Yano are highly appreciated.
A
special thank you goes to Joseph Goguen, John Robert Ross and
Linda Waugh, whose feedback has been invaluable in shaping my ideas
and challenging my thought.
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