The Cognitive Study of Metaphor

To explore metaphor from the cognitive perspective is not only a new way to view metaphor, but also a better way to reveal the nature of metaphor. There are mainly three cognitive theories for metaphor in the history of metaphor research-Interaction Theory, Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Relevance Theory. On the basis of restating these theories, the paper is to explore their motivations, ways and limitations to interpret metaphor, so as to understand metaphor better from the cognitive perspective.