The Languages of the Law: An Integrated View From Vico and Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Abstract

Work on the relation between figurative language and the law is a fairly recent trend, within legal discourse studies, linguistics, and semiotics. The work in conceptual metaphor theory, for example, is starting to unpack the underlying metaphorical and metonymic structure of legal language, producing some new and important insights into the nature of this language. Missing from this emerging line of inquiry are the views of the Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico, who was the first to understand the power of figurative language in the creation of symbolic systems, like language and the law. His tripartite evolutionary model of language shows that there is not one language of the law, but three ''languages.'' By integrating Vico's model with the work in conceptual metaphor theory it will be possible to penetrate the underlying conceptual structure of legal discourse and thus lead to a more insightful science of this discourse.Keywords Vico Á Metaphor Á Metonymy Á Irony Á Conceptual metaphor theory Á Legal discourseSince the 1970s there has been a noticeable increase of interest and writing on one of the more neglected figures in the history of ideas-the Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744). The reason for this is, arguably, that the modern cognitive sciences are finally catching up to his ideas. Vico was interested, fundamentally, in unraveling the raison d'eˆtre of meaning structures in the human species and in how these constituted the source of cultural systems. He saw the imagination (the fantasia) as the primary faculty of mind underlying the invention of these very structures. Vico went against the Western tradition of studying the

The accounting meta-metaphor of the Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot

“…Metaphors simplify the communication of complex associations and attributes, and help the processing of conceptual knowledge (Shutova et al, 2013). While the literal and metaphorical language may not always be distinct from each other, the purpose of metaphors is to introduce some fresh insights into the nature of language (Danesi, 2012). Metaphors may also attempt to structure abstract concepts into more concrete concepts (Hastürko glu, 2018).…”

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“…In view of this, the use of metaphors not only streamlines communication but also creates more empathy and proximity to the receiver (Cohen, 1993), thus providing more powerful rhetoric and persuasion and creating a stronger communicative bond. Ultimately, metaphoric communication is biologically efficient and a selection factor that must have had a great importance in the primitive development of language, as was suggested by the 18th-century Neapolitan philosopher Giambattista Vico (D'Alfonso, 1994;Danesi, 1993), who was the first to understand the power of figurative language in the creation of symbolic systems like language or law (Danesi, 2011).…”

The Metaphorical New Synthesis: Toward an Eco-Evolutionary Theory of Metaphors

“…Also, together with the development of language, there would be an evolution of metaphoric language (Danesi, 2011), an exclusively human feature (Feldman & Narayanan, 2004;Johansson, 2005), although other groups of primates such as chimpanzees might also be predisposed to it (Dahl & Adachi, 2013). The discovery of metaphors involved abstraction and the allocation of something to a different thing, a mental construction (Ortony, 1993): to map conceptual structures between domains (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002).…”