A major revolution in the study of metaphor occurred over 25 year ago with the introduction of "conceptual metaphor theory." Unlike previous theories of metaphor and metaphorical meaning,conceptual metaphor theory,or CMT,proposed that metaphor is not just an aspect of language,but also a fundamental part of human thought.Indeed,most metaphorical language arises from pre-existing patterns of metaphorical thought or conceptual metaphors.This paper provides a brief overview of the linguistic and psychological evidence supporting CMT and describes some of the criticisms of CMT offered by various scholars within cognitive science.Advocates of CMT must address these weaknesses in the theory,while critics must acknowledge the strengths of CMT as metaphor scholars from all academic fields work toward a comprehensive theory of metaphoric language and thought.
