Metaphor in language use involves the various structures and functions of meaning that constitute the utterances containing metaphorical expressions. For DMT, this involves at least four key issues:
Every metaphor in language use has specific structures and functions for the mental representation of metaphor in language, thought, reference, and communication within and between people.
The frequencies of different metaphor structures and functions are not evenly divided by chance; their configurations yield a multi-dimensional taxonomy for different types of metaphor.
The distributions of distinct metaphor structures and functions, and therefore also of different metaphor types, are not evenly divided by chance across a number of parameters of language use (such as word class, register, and style); the observation and description of these patterns needs to be made more reliable.
Structural-functional metaphor research suggests that many metaphors are ambiguous between deliberate and non-deliberate meaning. Language users need to resolve this ambiguity in processing and this is one basis for the paradox of metaphor in individual cognition.