In this ambitious and wide-ranging book, Andrew Goatly looks at how we use metaphor to communicate meaning. Combining insights from functional linguistics and relevance theory, he provides a powerful model for understanding how metaphors work in real communicative situations, how we use them to communicate meaning and how we process them.

Drawing on substantial linguistic corpora including literary works by William Golding, TS Eliot, Ezra Pound, George Eliot and AS Byatt, articles from national newspapers and extracts from popular and advertising culture, this book:

examines the distinction between literal and metaphorical language

surveys the means by which metaphors are expressed in texts

locates the interpretation of metaphor in its social context

contains tasks and suggestions for further work

The second edition has been revised to include relevant examples, updated texts and new lexical data. It discusses recent developments in metaphor research by key figures such as Lynne Cameron, Jonathan Charteris-Black, Alice Deignan, Rachel Giora, Veronika Koller, Zoltan Kovecses, Andreas Musolff and Elena Semino.

The Language of Metaphors provides the ideal introduction to metaphors for all students and researchers with an interest in communication, language, literature and psychology.