What is an entity metaphor?

Definition
	An entity metaphor is an ontological metaphor in which an abstraction is represented as a concrete physical object.

Examples (English)
	In the following sentences, the mind is represented as a machine or a brittle object: We're still trying to grind out the solution to this equation. My mind just isn’t operating today. Her ego is very fragile. You have to handle him with care since his wife’s death.

Kind
	Here is a kind of entity metaphor:
	What is personification?

Generic
	An entity metaphor is a kind of
	What is an ontological metaphor?

Source
	Lakoff and Johnson 1980:25, 27–28

Context for this page:

Concept module: entity metaphor
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): E
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, 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: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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