Cercle Linguistique d\'Aix-en-Provence

Richard Trim, 2011, Metaphor and the Historical Evolution of Conceptual Mapping, Palgrave Macmillan, 248 p. [55 £]. ISBN 978-0-230-30482-6. 2011-10

• Do we use metaphors that existed hundreds of years ago?
• Why do some die out and do they ever come back?
• Why are some metaphors only used by very few people?

Richard Trim investigates such issues by examining which major aspects contribute towards the historical evolution of metaphor. He proposes that they include basic conceptualization processes in the form of sensory and physiological perception, universal trends in cognition, cultural features, the number of people who use a figurative expression, the subject involved, as well as their interface with language itself. By comparing very different fields such as the emotions, colour symbolism and political statements in the history of war rhetoric, the author suggests that all these aspects continuously forge paths within a global model of evolution.

PART I: CONCEPTUALISATION IN THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE
Conceptualisation Processes and Symbolism
The Thought/Language Interface
PART II: DIACHRONIC CONCEPTUAL SYSTEMS
Diachronic Universality
Diachronic Conceptual Variation
Diachronic Salience iIn Love Analogies
Semantic Fields and Colour 
PART III: ANALOGY IN WAR RHETORIC
Long-Term Trends 
Time-Specific Analogies in War: The Crusades
Cultural Change in Western War Analogies Since The Late Middle Ages 
PART IV: TOWARDS AN EVOLUTIONARY MODEL OF ANALOGICAL LANGUAGE
Diachronic Mapping at the Conceptual/Linguistic Interface
Cultural History in the Evolution Of Analogy