Metaphors in Cognitive Linguistics

The first part of the article offers an historical overview of metaphors, starting from Aristotle and the classical definition of metaphor. Chomsky's contribution to cognitive psychology is also mentioned together with Rosch’s and Kay and McDaniel’s research concerning categorization. The end of the first part contains new theories of metaphor, thus establishing the link to the second part, which presents the last three decades regarding metaphors in cognitive linguistics, trying to highlight the revival of studies on metaphor. The pervasiveness of metaphors cannot be overlooked in human understanding, and the classical debate is also mentioned (dead versus live metaphors). Our conclusion is that they offer an insight into our everyday experience and may help us in exploring the unknown