L’interaction métaphorique: une grandeur algébrique

Conceptual interaction is the direct consequence of conceptual transfer, which is the specific feature of metaphor. It can be described as a competition between two incompatible concepts for determining one and the same topic: if raindrops are called teas of rain, for instance, the concept of drop and the concept of tear interact. When there is competition, we can imagine two opposite outcomes and a zero balance. This is how interaction behaves: its balance is an algebraic magnitude, ranging between a negative, a null and a positive value. The balance is negative when the strange concept is adapted to the conceptual identity of the topic, dropping any properties incompatible with it. Simple substitution can be seen as a null balance of interaction: in the presence of a substitutive option, interaction is blocked before it starts. The positive side of interaction is projection: the conceptual profile of the topic is both challenged and reshaped under pressure from a strange model. The algebraic conception makes possible a comprehensive view that makes room to any kind of metaphor, from dead catachreses to the most living and creative instances, passing through the consistent metaphorical concepts highlighted by Cognitive Linguistics.