Critics of conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) argue that metaphors are produced and understood as novel meaning creations, and often note that other factors may account for some of the ways people use and understand metaphors apart from entrenched metaphorical concepts, or conceptual metaphors. This article situates CMT within the multidisciplinary…

To its credit, conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) has drawn significant attention to the question of what figurative language can tell us about human concepts. However, the answers CMT theorists have offered are typically unsubstantiated by the empirical evidence, and occasionally unfalsifiable. This reply to Raymond W. Gibbs Jr.'s positive…

A major revolution in the study of metaphor occurred 30 years ago with the introduction of "conceptual metaphor theory" (CMT). Unlike previous theories of metaphor and metaphorical meaning, CMT proposed that metaphor is not just an aspect of language, but a fundamental part of human thought. Indeed, most metaphorical language arises from…

Two experiments investigated the processing and appreciation of double grounding, a form of intentional ambiguity often used in the construction of headlines. For example, in "Russia takes the froth off Carlsberg results," the key element, "takes the froth off," is significant both metaphorically, where it refers to the…