Refining the Experientialist Thesis: How Correlation Motivates Metonymy and High-Level Resemblance Enables Metaphor

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Abstract This paper reassesses experiential correlation, a foundational construct in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, by addressing two persistent asymmetries: the marginalization of resemblance in metaphor research and the neglect of correlation as a motivator for metonymy. We argue for a dual thesis: (a) experiential correlation alone may be insufficient to license conceptual metaphor, requiring high-level resemblance, understood as an abstract evaluative similarity between source and target experiences, to achieve cognitive coherence; and (b) experiential correlation provides essential grounding for a broad range of conceptual metonymies, particularly situational and causal patterns such as EFFECT FOR CAUSE and CAUSE FOR EFFECT. Analyzing domains including verticality, temperature, size, weight, motion, and brightness, we show that high-level resemblance is a necessary licensing factor for correlation-based metaphors. We further indicate that causal metonymies operate systematically in hypallage, synesthesia, lexical-constructional integration, and metaphorical amalgams. These findings support a unified embodied account of metaphor and metonymy within Cognitive Linguistics.

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