40 years of Metaphors we live by

remarks on Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphors

Abstract

In his essay Cognitive Linguistics and Autonomous Linguistics, published in the 2007 Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, John R. Taylor suggests dialogue and even integration between cognitive linguistics and other approaches in language studies. Following Taylor’s line of argument this article reviews George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphor. This study intends to address both authors’ empirical and rhetorical excesses since publishing Metaphors we live by forty years ago as an outcome of their rejection of Noam Chomsky’s generative grammar. Thus, it is expected to further converge generativism and cognitivism, as already initiated by researchers such as Taylor, Ray Jackendoff, Peter Culicover, Alan Prince, and Paul Smolensky.