Metaphor In Human Language

Introduction

Metaphor’ has been regarded as a figurative phenomenon of language. Derived basically from the Greek root ‘meta- (beyond) and Phora or pherein (to carry) (Webster 's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1979: 716). .Therefore, the term ‘meta–phor’ refers to a shift or movement from one thing to another . Human language expressions are fully of metaphor use. Zhang (2009) stresses on the point that every days thinking and doing is a principle of human languages which is omnipresent in nature, and it contributes to the process of abstraction, therefore it become essential to use metaphor in thinking process and using. A metaphor has been studied and researched . One of the prominent of these studied was introduced by George Lakoff and Mark

Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p.5 ), a precursor of the cognitive view, conceived ‘metaphor as ‘understanding and experiencing a kind of thing against another’. The linguistic and conceptual change in the domain of metaphor is indicative of its change in the past. A metaphor may linguistically be conceived as a figure of speech: a mode of expression that is used to refer to ‘something’ figurative in nature. Similar to symbols metaphors are also used in day to day conversation. In addition, these are implied to communicate about something at a deeper level. It also helps a speaker express a point in the language of the vernacular (local

According to Zhang (2009 ) metaphors universally existing. He also noticed that metaphor is not only limited to linguistics, but can be found in the field of philosophy, cognitive science, intelligence, psychology, sociology and education (p. 79 ) . An advantage of dealing with metaphors is to make a link with different field of study: cognitive science, linguistics and philosophy of language (Schneider1992, 1997, Haverkamp 1998), cognitive anthropology (Strauss & Quinn 1997), and studies on computer science (Indurkhya,1992, Scheider,1996). Different studies have been searched in different fields in pedagogy (cf. Pietrie & Oshlag 1993), in psychiatry (the therapeutic use of metaphorical models, cf. Spence 1990), in psychology (cf. Gentner & Jeziorski 1993). In the context of scientific theories, Lewis (1996) summarized the importance of metaphor as it is essential to the process of conception, development, and finally maintenance.” (p. 487). Other scientists have insisted on the factor of strength in making use of empirical research findings to larger society (Baake, 2003; Kuhn, 1979; Brown, 2003). In addition, Metaphors are even relevant in the realms of the language of Information Technology, as these have been prevalently used (Izwaini,