Original scientific paper

Metaphor in the language of science

Anuška Štambuk

Abstract

In the process of knowledge development a new experience is frequently conceptualised and structured by means of metaphors which help us understand it. A great part of the language of science and technology is, therefore, metaphorical in nature. Modalities of metaphorical patterns used in scientific lexicon are discussed. Simplified lexical models are analyzed in the light of the wrong analysis theory which explains the creation of particular conceptual
prototypes on the basis of limitations of scientific knowledge in the given synchronous moment. The comparison of English metaphorical models with the Croatian ones has shown that the two languages frequently use the same metaphor. However, in some cases the two
languages apply different metaphors to point out certain (usually the same) features of the conceptual category. The comparison of these metaphors reveals some traits of the fundamental conceptual mechanism of metaphorical mappings in the scientific lexicon.
Metaphors also play an important role in constituting the scientific theories, by providing a vehicle both for communicating the new knowledge and for stimulating new understanding and new discoveries within a metaphorical model.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

118420

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/118420

Publication date:

15.3.1999.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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