What is a communication-as-conduit metaphor?

What is a communication-as-conduit metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which ideas are represented as objects, words as containers, and communication as sending the ideas in the words, so that the addressee may get the ideas out of the words.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	It's hard to get that idea across to him. I gave you that idea. It's difficult to put my ideas into words. The meaning is right there in the words. His words carry little meaning. That's not what I got out of what he said.

Generic
	A communication-as-conduit metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for aspects of communication?

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

Context for this page:

Concept module: communication-as-conduit metaphor
In modular book: Metaphors in English, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H. Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Lexicon

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 September 1998