Delinking and Revaluing for Metaphors

This paper claims that similes and metaphors must be distinguished since their basic cognitive functions differ from each other. As is well known, similes merely undertake the function of comparing. However, this paper claims that metaphors are produced by a revaluing process which is preceded by a delinking process. The delinking process first disassociates the target domain from its ordinary value. Then, the revaluing process provides a new value to the target domain. The evidence for the delinking process can be found in the falsity judgment we receive when we interpret metaphors. In addition to the difference between similes and metaphors, this paper also examines the distinction between metonymy and metaphor by arguing that the former does re-functioning while the latter does revaluing.