ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on relevant theories concerning the categorisation and the identification of metaphoric language. It aims to trace the cognitive foundations which have influenced, and continue to influence, metaphor research today. A. Partington suggests that placing emphasis on instances of metaphor that are semi-fossilised or conventionalised allows one to see where and to what extent the boundaries between fossilised and original metaphor begin to blur. Whilst some of the tenets of conceptual metaphor theory continue to influence new cognitive approaches to metaphor, there are issues which it has been unable to address. As a consequence, for many years, metaphor theorists within a range of disciplines were concerned with the distinctions between literal and metaphoric language. Moreover, the image of a cline can also account for notions of conventionality and metaphor's role as 'creative' is not a defining characteristic but a particular function of it.
