Final answer:
Humans use metaphors to apply concrete experiences to understand and express abstract or complex ideas, enriching language and shaping thought. Metaphors like 'life is a journey' and 'ideas are food' illustrate how this linguistic tool facilitates communication and influences our perceptions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Metaphors in Human Communication
Humans transfer meaning with metaphors by applying familiar experiences to comprehend and convey abstract or complex ideas. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable, in order to suggest a resemblance and facilitate understanding. For example, the metaphor “life is a journey” uses our experiences of travel to frame our understanding of life's progress and challenges. In essence, metaphors allow us to use what we know about something concrete and tangible to discuss something that is abstract or difficult to directly describe.
In everyday language, metaphors are pervasive and shape our perceptions and actions. The metaphor “ideas are food”, for instance, encourages us to think of ideas as things that can nourish or satisfy us mentally, just as food does physically. Similarly, “social relationships” can be thought of as 'connections' or 'bridges,' giving a spatial quality to the abstract concept of interpersonal connections.
Not only do metaphors enrich our language and help us communicate complex concepts, they also shape the way we think, influencing our perceptions and behavioral responses to various experiences. Cognitive linguists like George Lakoff and Mark Johnson highlight the centrality of metaphor in creating complex meaning in language, further underscoring how integral metaphors are to human thought and language.