Group 2 are puzzled by the fact that these sentences do not come across as particularly figurative, focusing on "I have a headache". They all agree that "My head hurts" is more clearly literal, and Debra proposes that the expression "You are a pain in my neck" is a more typical metaphor.
They rightly point out that "you are a pain in my neck" does not fit with the moving/fixed scheme of the (event structure) metaphors in the given examples.
An important part of "conceptual metaphor" as a theoretical construct, developed by Lakoff and Johnson, is that our everyday thoughts and language are subconsciously grounded in metaphoral thought structures:
http://www.google.com/books?hl=sv&lr=&id=r6nOYYtxzUoC&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=lakoff+johnson&ots=Llx99p9A0-&sig=GfaP-uIYp60YPGH1ejrrXVIuxxY
http://www.google.com/books?hl=sv&lr=&id=KbqxnX3_uc0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=lakoff+johnson&ots=lfOeadbAfi&sig=pE4XoFO69qZCLE8iLopwu_Pvzps
They come back to this issue of what sentences are metaphorical vs. literal, using the headache and pain in the neck examples several times in their small group discussions, and express a bit of confusion and frustration.
Rachel joins in to clarify her view on the matter. The group thinks that "I have a headache" is literal, but Rachel counters that it is not an object that you can put in your pocket, it's an abstact state of mind.
Lakoff & Johnson claim that metaphorical vs. literal language is not a clear-cut dichotomy, but a gradual scale, which I think is shown in a nice way in the example sentences given here.
Did any of the teachers compare these metaphors directly to the energy as unit metaphor of energy theater?
ReplyDeleteKatie, you mean energy as a substance? Yes, I think they all at least underlined parts of the student transcript that corresponded to a substance metaphor and identified that as a possession type of metaphor. It's a little hard for me to say, though... when they have a worksheet, they refer to it and write on it a lot, sometimes at the expense of expressing themselves verbally. Maybe Jesper knows.
ReplyDeleteJesper, that's a good reminder that Lakoff & Johnson say that literal vs. metaphorical is a gradual scale. I had forgotten that in the moment.
ReplyDeleteAs a reply to Katie, they were reflecting on the metaphor of energy as units or a substance-like entity, since they read a text as homework, where it was pointed out that this particular metaphor is promoted expicitly in the energy theater.
ReplyDeleteAfter analysing sentences that did not relate to energy, they were given the task to read a transcript excerpt from eighth-graders analysing a video of leaves in the wind from an energy perpective. In relation to the text, they were asked to note metaphorical expressions. Examples could be: "the leaves have energy" or "the leaves are pushed by energy". For some reason, Julie did not see the expression of energy as pushing the leaves as metaphorical.
I have some clips on this and will add a post, but they engaged more in the headache example than with energy.