Connecting the dots: Mental spaces and metaphoric language in discourse

Abstract

How are metaphors understood in local context? We examine the rise of the expression connect the dots as it appears in the speech of counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke in a radio interview. Although conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff& Johnson 1980, 1999) provides important insights into the congruence of the connect-the-dots-metaphor with conventional metaphoric mappings between seeing and knowing, it cannot account for novel uses of the metaphor in the expressions used by these discourse participants. These novel metaphors are better described by mental spaces and conceptual integration theory, as involving conceptual structure integrated from multiple mental spaces. We examine how specific aspects of background, contextual, and linguistic knowledge contribute to their meaning in this particular instance. Examining prosodic features in the speech will help us account for the role vocalization plays in the structuring of ongoing discourse. This examination enables researchers to assess the compatibility between mental spaces theory and Wallace Chafe's theory of discourse.

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