Mark Turner Department of English, University of Maryland December 1997

To what extent can we model thought and the figurative as emergent properties of complex adaptive systems?  This is the question I will address.  Along the way,  I will present conceptual and linguistic mechanisms that are  general but that can produce what are judged to be  "figurative" and "figural" products. I will show that what counts as "analogical" or "metaphoric" depends upon what conceptual system is already in place.  I will argue that what makes "green house," "house boat," and "fire station" look literal but "land yacht" and "jail bait" figurative is not a difference of underlying conceptual or linguistic mechanisms.