Joseph E. Grady: "Theories Are Buildings Revisited" (1998)

This is another paper in which Grady proposes that we should analyze problematic metaphors as results of a combination of several simple, "primary" metaphors.

This time, he applies his method to the "conduit metaphor," the many-faceted metaphor that is alleged to be behind our talk of information content, getting the idea across, etc.

According to his analysis, this compound metaphor is constructed from the following four metaphors:

• CONSTITUENTS ARE CONTENTS
• BECOMING ACCESSIBLE IS EMERGING
• TRANSMISSION IS ENERGY TRANSFER
• ACHIEVING A PURPOSE IS ACQUIRING A DESIRED OBJECT

This analysis can be tested by comparing the metaphor's English elaboration with its elaboration in other languages..