QUESTIONING THE ARCHITECTURE AND STRUCTURE OF IDEALIZED COGNITIVE MODELS IN METAPHOR AND METONYMY

Abstract

The paper theorizes on the general architectonics of idealized cognitive models (ICMs) and their involvement in metonymy and metaphor. The article posits that an ICM's structure should reflect the architecture of the neural network/s engaged in processing of a given concept. The ICM nodes, or cogs, construct a complex, hierarchically organized neural connections, with the superior nodes being highly selective, invariant and prototypical. Signals travelling from one cog to another within one ICM are essentially metonymical, while a cog shared by two or more ICMs marks a metaphoric shift.