Name of the theory

Blending Theory

Structural Mapping Theory

Representative scholar

Fauconnier and Turner

Genter

Viewpoints of the theory

Two distinct input spaces are mapped into a Generic Space, which contains the original attributes of the two sources. Moreover, a blended space leaves its own attributes, and also contains other associative concepts to make it produce a richer blending space.

The main concepts of source and target are filtered and integrated one by one in the attribute structure, and then, the attribute relationship of the metaphor is obtained by matching the concepts of the source and the target.

Model of the theory

Common viewpoints

The two theories construct the theoretical analogy model by the mapping process, and emphasize that the process of the analogical relationship must be mixed with elements other than two attributes. The construction process is not simply a matching of the relationships between the two attributes.

Different viewpoints

The blending theory has two different inputs, indicating that the mapping relationship does not point to a single meaning, but produces new meaning by the blending the two inputs; the structural mapping theory interprets the corresponding relationship as mapping to a specific target, indicating that they have a single-point specific metaphor relationship.