Editing Primary metaphor (section)

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In [[cognitive linguistics]], a '''primary metaphor''' is an ingrained association between certain pairs of distinct concepts. These innate [[conceptual metaphor]]s inform cognition, and are theorised to arise unconsciously from experienced events which can form "pre-metaphor" [[pattern]]s.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Grady
 |first1               = Joseph E.
 |last2                = Ascoli
 |first2               = Giorgio A.
 |editor-last1         = Hampe
 |editor-first1        = Beate
 |date                 = 29 June 2017
 |pages                = 34 - 35
 |chapter              = Sources and Targets in Primary Metaphor Theory: Looking Back and Thinking Ahead
 |title                = Metaphor: Embodied Cognition and Discourse
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=idAoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA35
 |publication-place    = Cambridge
 |publisher            = Cambridge University Press
 |page                 = 
 |isbn                 = 9781107198333
 |access-date          = 11 April 2025
 |quote                = From the perspective of Primary Metaphor Theory, the most plausible answer seems to be that experiences lead to natural cognitive associations ('pre-metaphors'), which then may or may not be established as conventional patterns of conceptual and linguistic associations [...].
}}
</ref>
Primary metaphors persist across different languages because basic embodied experiences, which form their basis, are universal.<ref name="Flesh"/>

In these associated pairs of concepts, one can be said to be the "source" concept, which is usually grounded in a measurable experience, while the other is the "target" concept, which is usually more abstract and subjective.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} They may arise via conflation during early development, before the subject is able to distinguish the two concepts.<ref name="Flesh">{{cite book |last1 =Lakoff |first1 =George |last2 =Johnson |first2 =Mark |title =Philosophy In The Flesh: The Embodied Mind And Its Challenge To Western Thought |date =1999 |publisher =Basic Books |isbn =978-0-465-05673-6 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=XPHaAAAAMAAJ |access-date =6 November 2024 |language =en}}</ref>

One example is the association of "heaviness" with "difficulty".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grady |first1=Joseph E. |last2=Ascoli |first2=Giorgio A. |title=Metaphor: Embodied Cognition and Discourse |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-20310-4 |pages=27–45 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/metaphor/sources-and-targets-in-primary-metaphor-theory-looking-back-and-thinking-ahead/EACC819EB83AC4875D5114D67B4F8321 |access-date=6 November 2024 |chapter=Sources and Targets in Primary Metaphor Theory: Looking Back and Thinking Ahead}}</ref> Likewise, there is a correlation between ''knowing'' and ''seeing'' forming the primary metaphor ''knowing is seeing''. Understanding an expression such as ''[[glass ceiling]]'' rests on two such primary metaphors.

Evidence for primary metaphors is usually observed in the use of language, though evidence from the visual domain has also been researched.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 =Ortiz |first1 =María J. |title =Primary metaphors and monomodal visual metaphors |journal =Journal of Pragmatics |date =1 May 2011 |volume =43 |issue =6 |pages =1568–1580 |doi =10.1016/j.pragma.2010.12.003 |url =https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037821661000408X |access-date =6 November 2024 |issn =0378-2166|url-access =subscription }}
</ref>

The term ''primary metaphor'' was coined by linguist Joseph Grady.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Haser
 |first1               = Verena
 |date                 = 22 December 2011
 |orig-date            = 2005
 |chapter              = Lakoff/Johnson's theory of metaphor
 |title                = Metaphor, Metonymy, and Experientialist Philosophy: Challenging Cognitive Semantics
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=-G13Jd-zZ70C
 |series               = Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL], volume 49
 |publication-place    = Berlin
 |publisher            = Walter de Gruyter
 |page                 = 161
 |isbn                 = 9783110918243
 |access-date          = 12 April 2025
 |quote                = [...] Grady's theory of primary metaphor (Grady, Taub, and Morgan 1996; Grady 1997) [...].
}}
</ref>