Dimensions of Metaphor Meaning / Dimensões do significado da metáfora

For many years, scholars have been proposing generic or universal theories of metaphor, but metaphors turn out to be more complex than that. In this paper, we discuss cases that show that metaphor meanings and mappings are contextual. By contextual, we mean the interactions between multiple factors in different timescales. The cases we analyze to make our point come from our study of resistance to metaphors. When people resist metaphors, they tend to explain what meaning the metaphor has to them, thus we see naturally occurring evidence for metaphor’s dynamic and multidimensional meanings. Contrary to Lakoff’s claims, there can be no single source of meaning to metaphors. In a complex systems perspective, metaphor meaning is construed in the interactions between different factors, such as the background of the speakers and listeners, the grammatical form of the metaphor, the co-text, personality, other characteristics of the metaphor (aptness, familiarity, conventionality), the history of previous uses of the metaphor, etc. All these factors operate in a non-deterministic way. In this perspective, conceptual metaphors, acquired through experiences, are one source of constraint to meaning. People share similar meanings to the degree that they share similar experiences, knowledge, and biases.