The place of metaphor in a devolved cognitive linguistics

Résumé

The article tackles the problem of the role of metaphor, both linguistic and conceptual, in a devolving paradigm of cognitive linguistics. It is argued that while the notion of metaphor proposed by standard Conceptual Metaphor Theory is hard to defend in the web of functionally-oriented alternatives, the exact status of two-domain mappings in a revised cognitive enterprise remains elusive. It is thus further maintained that in order to resolve the quandary precise phenomenological and methodologies declarations should be made so that specific dimensions of devolution could be juxtaposed. The split definitions of metaphor hence obtained could serve as converging/diverging evidence of its status within a functional cognitive linguistics. The overall message is therefore optimistic since a devolution in cognitive linguistics means exciting avenues of research which will need to be pursued in order to re-define the old, monolithic terms against the new, multifactorial background.