What is an orientational metaphor?

Definition
	An orientational metaphor is a metaphor in which concepts are spatially related to each other, as in the following ways:
	Up or down In or out Front or back On or off Deep or shallow Central or peripheral

Examples (English)

The following sentences express the happy-as-up and the sad-as-down metaphors:

Source:

Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980 15

Generic
	An orientational metaphor is a kind of
	What is a conventional metaphor?

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980 14–15, 18

Concept module: orientational metaphor
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): O
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