What empirical work can tell us about Primary Metaphors

Abstract

The distinction between Complex and Primary Metaphors (Grady, 1997; Lakoff & Johnson 1999) has figured prominently in the later stages of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). In this paper, we review a number of psycholinguistic empirical studies that address the existence of these structures in the human mind. We will show how many of these studies can be specially helpful for CMT, since they propose refinements in the theory, point at non-linguistic realizations of metaphor, and suggest constraints on proposed metaphors. In conclusion, the interplay between theoretical proposals and empirical work which is common in other scientific enterprises seems to be working in this case also.