Metaphoric Blending in Science Fiction

Abstract

The argument presented in this paper is that metaphor is used in every variety of science fiction discourse to realize two very important functions derived of the register’s ontological juxtaposition of factitiousness and fictitiousness: to bring literary imagery to life (1), to cognize patterns of thought (2). The paper aims at disclosing metaphoric blending as interaction, integration and mixture of conceptual and image metaphors, in other words – as convergence of metaphorical thought and metaphorical imagination. To achieve this objective, different science fiction sources have been selected and the method of case study has been applied for the analysis of the data. The investigation has revealed that science fiction is at large motivated by the conceptual metaphor Change is motion/movement referring to human evolution and science, and its variations (Change is forward motion, Scientific/technological change is progress, Scientific/technological change is destruction, Scientific/technological progress is emotional regress, etc.), the brief, formulaic utterances of which demonstrate immense generative power going far beyond concepts, extending into a large variety of complex image metaphoric associations on any idea or activity expressible in language and aiming at revealing new aspects of life through creative means. Hence, the present investigation is a case study that focuses on the typicality of interrelatedness of metaphor as a phenomenon of language and metaphor as a phenomenon of thought. My assertion will be that the latter dichotomy is not only an important peculiarity that offers useful insights into the study of metaphor but also testifies to broad cultural transformations as part of the cognitive revolution of our information age.