A Feature-Based Analysis of Similes and Metaphorsin Metaphor Theory

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to explore uses of similes as a type of figurative expressions in metaphor theory (MT). After providing a brief overview of prior treatments of similes and metaphors as figurative tropes, this research points out problems of making a clear distinction between metaphor and simile. This study claims that simile should be understood as a cline on the continuum of metaphoricity, and that simile should be viewed as a literary device for representing the referent in the target domain (i.e., topic) by utilizing cognitively salient feature(s) of the compared entity in the source domain (i.e., vehicle). To prove this claim, this research discusses characteristics of similes in the following terms: (i) similes frequently occur in the constructions ‘look like’ and ‘seem like’, misleading to the sharp distinction between explicit vs. implicit comparison, (ii) simile is not one-to-one correspondence between topic and vehicle as a whole, but it is a device of representing attributes of the topic in terms of certain salient feature(s) of the vehicle, (iii) the use of simile should be understood as a cognitive process of coding the most prominent features in the form of simile. This research provides a new way of looking at similes in the study of figurative expressions in language.