Reconsidering “Image Metaphor” in the Light of Perceptual Simulation Theory

Abstract

“Image metaphor” is defined in Conceptual Metaphor Theory as a mapping of visual structure from one entity onto another based on the mental images they evoke. It is considered an exceptional, one-off phenomenon that can be distinguished clearly from prototypical conceptual metaphors. However, according to Perceptual Simulation Theory, all language, both literal and nonliteral, is understood partially by simulating in our minds what it would be like to actually perceive the things that are being described, which suggests that visualization is not unique to image metaphor. As I argue in this article, the mental imagery invited by image metaphors is nevertheless likely to be particularly vivid, detailed, and complex, as well as involving more conscious and deliberate thought processes. Since it is hard to consider visualization in abstract terms, pictorial equivalents of image metaphors are used to support my claims.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am most grateful to Raymond Gibbs, Jr., and Alison Wray for their comments on an earlier version of this article.

Notes

¹ Although many works in this medium are replete with visual metaphors (El Refaie, 2012; Kukkonen, 2008), the phenomenon has, for the most part, been neglected by both metaphor and comics scholars.

² An alternative way of analyzing hybrid visual metaphors might be in terms of “conceptual blends” (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002). However, a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of Blending Theory exceeds the limited scope of the current article. For a critical review of this theory as an explanatory framework for metaphor, see Ritchie (2004).