HUMOR AND METAPHORS IN MEDICAL LANGUAGE
Vol.10,No.2(2017)
The study makes an attempt to analyze cognitive models of metaphor and humor developed
by Fauconnier and Turner (1994) and Attardo and Raskin (1991). Although metaphor
and humor are different categories, their cognitive models demonstrate similarities which
may create a joint category, metaphorical humor. The study focuses on the co-existence
of metaphorical and humorous characteristics in a single expression taken from medical
slang. Similarities between the metaphor and humor can be found in the analogies and
implications between the contrasting conceptual domains. The difference between the
metaphor and humor lies only in the weights of between- and within-domain relationships
(Hillson & Martin 1994). The aim of the paper is to show that the existence of humor and
metaphor in a single phrase may reveal common cognitive processes in the creation of
metaphorical humor.
humor; metaphor; cognitive processes; cognitive models; medical language; medical slang
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