Hierarchical mental metaphors theory by D. Casasanto compared to other research into linguistic and cognitive abilities in infants

The article deals with Hierarchical Mental Metaphors Theory (HMMT) developed by D. Casasanto to show the connections between seemingly contradicting features of primary metaphors emerging from recent research since they have been shown to be learnt and innate, universal and specific, fixed and flexible. The mechanism of strengthening of specific mappings accounts for the change from universality to specificity which is not unique to metaphor: it has also been observed in phonetic perception and semantic categorization. It is shown how this evidence supports the basic tenets of HMMT.