ABSTRACT
Metaphors originate in neural mapping between cognitive domains, as one of the basic activities of the brain is being connected to another, more abstract domain. According to George Lakoff, there is also reason to assume that metaphors play a generative role in the dreaming itself, thus “mediating between the meaning of the dream to the dreamer and what is seen, heard or otherwise experienced dynamically in the act of dreaming”. The idea that metaphors operate on different levels in dreams than in conventional stories appears to be confirmed by certain findings about the loss of the ability to dream. To cognitive linguists, the main characteristic of metaphors is the neural mapping of a concrete concept to a more abstract one. In metaphors, two facilities are called on at once: on the one hand, perception or motor control; on the other hand, categorising and reasoning.
