The dance of metaphor

Abstract In dialogue, individuals can effortlessly understand each other’s metaphors and continue the metaphoric topics, yet this underlying cognition remains unclear. Drawing on interactive alignment theory and conceptual metaphor theory, this study defines cross-speaker repetition or association of metaphors in dialogue as “metaphoric alignment”. We established a corpus and analysis paradigm for investigating the patterns, characteristics, and cognitive mechanisms of metaphoric alignment in Chinese face-to-face dialogue, taking both focal and global perspectives. Results show four main types and seven sub-types of focal metaphoric alignment, with consistency most frequent. Global metaphoric alignment includes synchronous, divergent, convergent, and mixed patterns, with synchronous pattern dominant. For the cognitive mechanisms, focal metaphoric alignment involves four ways of construal, whereas global metaphoric alignment is semantically driven and unfolds through three patterns of development. Such processes demonstrate a dynamic development from metaphor emergence to entrenchment. In the end, a Cognitive Model of Metaphoric Alignment is proposed.