Metaphoricity: a genre-constrained aspect

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1984-8412.2017v14n1p1767

This paper is an attempt at moving forward with the discussion on one of this aspects, which still constitutes an open case: the metaphoricity. I here seek to draw up a systematic definition of metaphoricity, which can meet current assumptions about metaphors and their nature, from the conceptual perspective (cf. LAKOFF; JOHNSON, 1980 e LAKOFF, 1993), and explore cognitive and discursive elements that could somehow affect the activation of that aspect. For this purposes, I give a critical overview of important studies that have been trying to give some account of metaphoricity over the past twenty years, approximately. As a result, I introduce a broad definition of metaphoricity, which adopts the notion of genre as its ultimate epistemological basis. At last, I discuss both theoretical and practical implications of defining metaphoricity in the manners proposed here, especially when it comes to metaphor identification and metaphor analysis.