From three dimensions to five steps

The value of deliberate metaphor

Abstract

Recent interest in the nature of deliberate metaphor has demonstrated the need for a threedimensional model of metaphor. Metaphor is not just a matter of language and thought, but also of communication. How can this starting point be connected with a discourse-psychological framework for metaphor in which it is assumed that people have to represent metaphor as part of a number of complementary mental models for discourse? And how can this discourseanalytical approach be formalized in the five-step method for metaphor analysis going from language to thought: Can this method be adjusted to cater to the formal analysis of metaphor in communication as well, so that a distinction can be made between deliberate and non-deliberate metaphor in the five-step method? These are the questions addressed in this article.