Métaphore prédicative nominale et motifs lexicaux

Pierre Cadiot : Predicative Metaphor and Nominal Motifs Predicative Metaphor (e.g. Max is a lion) is commonly construed as a problem of conceptual rupture in a cognitive framework, even if many philosophers and semanticists have already criticized this view. This text aims at showing that, for explaining why such predications are usual, grammatical and, in some sense, coherent, we need a internally much more flexible conception both of lexical and grammatical (the predication) meanings. They should not be confused with an unique (categorial) dimension, but should integrate an open "motif" stratum, anticipating and mixing up all possible "thematic" instantiations of the meaning. This is both a linguistic and philosophical matter. that, for explaining why such predications are usual, grammatical and, in some sense, coherent, we need a internally much more flexible conception both of lexical and grammatical (the predication) meanings. They should not be confused with an unique (categorial) dimension, but should integrate an open "motif" stratum, anticipating and mixing up all possible "thematic" instantiations of the meaning. This is both a linguistic and philosophical matter.Cadiot Pierre. Métaphore prédicative nominale et motifs lexicaux. In: Langue française, n°134, 2002. Nouvelles approches de la métaphore, sous la direction de Antoinette Balibar-Mrabti et Mirella Conenna. pp. 38-57