Chapter Three
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(a) systematic patterns of linguistic behaviour are not arbitrary but
motivated by recurrent patterns of embodied experience (bodily
actions and the manipulation of objects in the physical world);
(b) socio-cultural experience is another significant aspect of human
experience (Geeraerts 1999, Rohrer 2006, Hanks 2006);
(c) METAPHOR is: economical (a concise way of presenting complex
ideas), memorable (vivid, based on universal imagery), evaluative
(metaphorical expressions are more prone to axiological polarity
than non-metaphorical ones), Kieátyka (2008: 36), manipulative (a
deliberate focus on selected aspects of an issue);
(d) given the characteristics listed in (c), the pragmatic function of
metaphor cannot be overestimated;
(e) metaphor offers a succinct mode of expression. With the
conversationalisation of the media (Fairclough 1992, 1994;
Fairclough and Mauranen 1997), elements of colloquial speech
enter public discourse, bringing into it idiomatic language based on
rich mental imagery.The axiological function of outer-space metaphors
It is a universally shared human concept that “Earth provides secure
foundation, and its surface is the proper domain of humans: all else is alien
space” (Cohen 2013). Common knowledge of conditions in outer space
(combining scientific facts with folk beliefs) and their impact on the
capabilities of human bodies alarm people. Furthermore, “[t]he physical
inaccessibility of the celestial realm allows a potent source of metaphor”
(Hubbard 2008: 52). The experience of weightlessness alone, or rather the
imagery associated with this state, generally gives rise to unpleasant
sensations of instability and a lack of support, preventing control over the
human body and its natural functioning. Additionally, the cosmic
environment offers few natural fixed reference points, which – combined
with huge distances – contribute to a sense of loss and disorientation in a
cold dark void, far from the tangibility and predictability of the terrestrial.
Another conceptual construct which reflects the human tendency to
categorise and one that carries an axiological load is the folk hierarchy of
creatures known as the Great Chain of Being (Lakoff and Turner 1989).
This is presented schematically by Krzeszowski (1997: 68), in the
following manner: