Language in the metaphorical mirror (on the basis of linguistic concepts of the 20th - 21st centuries)

The article explores tools for creating a conceptual idea that serves as the basis for building an image of language within the framework of various linguistic theories of the 20th - 21st centuries. The study puts forward a thesis that scientific conclusions that are highly abstract in nature can be interpreted and separated into visual figurative components. The function of the ontological metaphor is analyzed, including its cognitive and sense-constructive role in the formation of the scientific viewpoint. The paper characterizes the concept of metalinguistic metaphor as the basic means of creating and transforming language images both over time (in diachrony) and within a specific time period (in synchrony). The role of metaphor in the development of the linguistic theories considered is determined. The study touches upon not only the creative scientific potential of metaphor but also the restrictions that it imposes on the author’s viewpoint. Interdisciplinary terminological intersections are described, which are also considered as an auxiliary means of metalinguistic reflection. The study employed such methods as linguistic analysis, interpretive analysis (commenting and systematization of metalinguistic statements), cognitive-discursive method. Particular attention is paid to the context as a micro and macro environment for the reflections about the language, including extralinguistic factors. The article analyzes the main linguistic theories that were developed in the 20th - 21st centuries such as materialistic, behavioral, mental, abstract, socio-cultural, and cognitive-linguistic. It is emphasized that the conceptual metaphor is a research tool for systematization and generalization of scientific facts through the prism of the individual author’s vision.