The Interplay of Syntax and Semantics in Active Metaphors: a Case Study.

In spite of the early, pioneering work of Genette (1970) in the field of the syntax of metaphor, most of the research on metaphor in cognitive semantics has focused, for the most part, on everyday, conventional metaphors and ignored the syntax of metaphor. However, some useful recent work has been done by Mac Cormac (1990), Stockwell (1992) and Goatley (1997). Following the research line proposed by Goatley (1997) we will deepen the investigation of a syntactic pattern that we noticed to be quite productive among active, literary metaphors. Thus, the present study is intended to find out how one of the syntactic resources available for metaphor, namely the Noun 1 OF Noun 2 (N1 OF N2) structure can affect the interpretation or semantics of metaphor. The data source is the novel "Enduring Love" by Ian Mac Ewan that came out in 1997 at the Vintage Publishing House, London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]