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2. Consider the role that metaphorical systems play in both our thinking and our language.

Key Points:

  • There is an interesting theory that the natural metaphors we use to talk about things influence our descriptions and the way we think.
  • Metaphors are much more prevalent than one might think.
  • Lakoff suggests that there are certain fundamental ways in which we think about things in the world, and that this kind of analogical thinking finds its way into our language in striking ways.
  • Lakoff claims that mental models result from simple observations.
  • Lakoff’s basic argument is that we have very simple but significant and repeated experiences of certain types; these common experiences are used as models for the interpretation of a wide range of phenomena.

Copyright 2005 BPS Blackwell