What is a causation-as-emergence-from-state metaphor?

What is a causation-as-emergence-from-state metaphor?

Definition
	A conventional metaphor in which causation is represented in terms of emergence of the caused event from the causing state, as if the causing state is a container.

Examples
	Here are some examples in English:
	He shot the mayor out of desperation. He gave up his career out of love for his family. His mother nearly went crazy from loneliness. He dropped from exhaustion.

Generic
	A causation-as-emergence-from-state metaphor is a kind of
	What is a metaphor for causation?

Source
	Lakoff, G. and Johnson 1980

Context for this page:

Concept module: causation-as-emergence-from-state metaphor
In modular book: Metaphors in English, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H. Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Lexicon

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 September 1998