On the Ontological Status of Metaphor // BSU bulletin. Philosophy. - 2026. №2. . - С. 21-29.

On the Ontological Status of Metaphor

DOI: 10.18101/1994-0866-2026-2-21-29 UDK: 130.2:800.1

The 20th-century debate over whether metaphor is a cognitive phenomenon or an immanent linguistic mechanism can be resolved by defining it as a unit of linguoculture. The close interrelation of language and thought makes a definitive choice between these positions highly challenging. Moreover, we can find arguments against both the cognitive ontology of metaphor and its categorization within the domain of language under the traditional philological paradigm. The article proposes a view of metaphor as a unit of linguoculture — a communicative-cognitive device for understanding one object in terms of another, reflecting the adaptive function of culture. By linguoculture we understand a sphere of speech activity (langage) formed by exemplary instances of speech (idioms, metaphors, and precedent utterances). These instances possess socially recognized meanings, are regularly reproduced, and are fixed in public memory. This approach allows for overcoming the dichotomy between the cognitive and linguistic approaches to metaphor by demonstrating their inseparable connection within speech activity.

metaphor, ontology of metaphor, philosophy of language, linguoculture, langage (speech activity), adaptive function of culture, language and thought, cultural relativity.