Sign and Metaphor

Author(s): Yi-Fu Tuan

Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Sep., 1978), pp.
363-372
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SIGN AND METAPHOR

YI-FU TUAN
ABSTRACT. The capacityto feel deeplyabout the environment
and the ability
to innovate-these two primaryconcernsof the humanistgeographer-are closely
linked.Both presupposea mindthatis able to apprehendand create the affective
sign,the metaphor,and the symbol.Environmentis vividbecause the stimulusa
personreceivesfromone source can generatemultipleand unexpectedsensations,
images,and ideas. Synesthesia,
metaphoricalpredication,and symbolicthoughtare
different
modes of this process: theydifferin the degree of conscious awareness
and in the contentof articulableideas. Humanistgeographers,by studyingthis
process,will betterunderstandthe "feltquality"of environment
and the problems
of design.

IN humangeographywe sometimestreatpeo-

tivebehavioris manifestin multipleways durple as thoughtheyhave littleor no aware- ingtheordinarycourseof living,but thatwhich
ness. This is the approach of sociophysicists. lies at theirroot is the uniquelydevelopedhuOn the otherhand, we sometimespostulatea man power to apprehendand create the affecworldin whichpeople are alwaysfeeling,will- tivesign,the metaphor,and the symbol.
ing,thinking,
and makingdecisions.This is the
ROUTINE BEHAVIOR AND SIGNS
natural emphasis of humanistscholars. Both
Innovationpresupposesa backgroundof staapproachesare valid,thougheach is limitedby
its own restrictive
view of the person. In fact, bilityand order.We feel at timesthat ours is
people behave at times almost like automata a chaotic and constantlychangingworld. This
withhardlya hint of conscious awareness; at feeling,however, may simply reflectthe narrow
othertimes,theyrespondto theirenvironment focus of individual experience. Even the modwithfeelingand thought.A comprehensive
hu- ern city,which some people like to describe as
man geographywill need to embracethewhole almost a jungle, displays order-the order of
routine and predictable activities. A bird's-eye
spectrumof human awareness.
From the standpointof a comprehensive
hu- view of the city will show streams of cars movman geography,two questionsmay be raised ing on the rightlanes, stopping when the traffic
concerninghumanawareness.One is: whatare lights turn red. If there is a pedestrian mall or
the circumstancesunder which people behave bridge, we can safely predict that most people
like automataand what are the circumstances will walk on the rightside even though the law
underwhich,to thecontrary,
theyare propelled does not require them to do so. Inside the buildto feeland think?The second questionis: what ings, people will behave by and large in stanis thenatureof a people's affective
and thought- dard patterns: one patternin the dentist'soffice,
imbuedresponseto environment?
Phrased dif- another in a large department store, a third in
ferently,
are theremeans of exploringthe na- the public library, and so on.' In the course of
ture and process of the human imaginationso time, one generation will pass and another take
thatwe can betterunderstandwhat lies at the its place; there will be changes in environmenheart of humanisticgeography-the feltqualityof the humanworld?I shall addressmyself 1 For a county seat (population 830) in eastern
to the second question. An answer is to be Kansas, Roger Barker has identified "198 standing
patternsof behavior and milieu with noninterchangefound in the idea that the capacity to feel able programs.
If the town were abandoned by its
deeply-to see the world vividly-and the ca- present inhabitantsand resettledby people of totally
pacityto innovateare closely linked.Innova- alien culture,theywould require 198 instructionbooks
Dr. Tuan is Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN 55455.

and/or trainingprograms to reconstitutethe behavior

environment of Midwest." Roger Barker, Ecological
Psychology (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University
Press, 1968), p. 116.

ANNALS OF THE ASSOCIATION

OF AMERICAN
GEOGRAPHERS
? 1978 by the Association of American Geographers.
Printed in U.S.A.

Vol. 68, No. 3, September

363

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1978

364

Yi-Fu

tal settingand adjustmentsin behavioralpatterns,but what mustimpressthe objectiveobserveris their stability:cars still stop or go
whenthe lightschange as thoughthe cars, like
the trafficsignals, are programmedmachines
withouthuman occupants. A. N. Whitehead
put it thisway:2
A system will be the product of intelligence. But
when the adequate routine is established, intelligence vanishes, and the system is maintained by a
co-ordination of conditioned reflexes . . . No one,
from President to miner, need understand the system as a whole. There will be no foresight,but
there will be complete success in the maintenance
of routine.

September

TUAN

ferencelies mainlyin the number,type, and

complexityof signsto whicheach species will
respond.4Such worlds,because theyare uninformedor onlyweaklyinformed
by imaginative

feeling and thought,tend to be schematic.5 It is

not surprising
thatthe scientist'sabstractmodels should often prove adequate to the explanatorydescriptionoftheseschematicworlds.
BEYOND

SIGNS

Human beingsrespondnot only to signsbut

also to affective
signsand symbols.Theirspeech
is not mere verbal gesticulation,consistently
cliche-ridden,but contains fresh metaphors,
and it is occasionallyused forthought(Fig. 1).
In routineactivities,human beings respond A sign is an aid to action. An affectivesign
moreor less automaticallyto signsin the envi- elicits an imaginativeand emotion-tinted
reronment.I define"sign" as thatwhichtriggers sponse. A symbol encapsulates and nurtures
offa movementor act ratherthan a mood, a an idea or a set of ideas. It "serves to make
feeling,or a trainof thought.An environment one conceive the idea it represents,and is an
in which people are at home is one wherein aid to thoughtand day-dreaming."6
All anitheyhave establisheda routine,thatis to say, mals, includinghuman beings, know how to
one in whichthesignsare unambiguousin their interpretappropriatelythe signs in their recall forspecifictypesof behavior.For example, spectiveenvironments:theymust in order to
I see the hands of the bedside clock point to survive.Affectivesigns are withinthe experisix and I getup; I see a toothbrush
in a tumbler
and I brushmyteeth;I get into my car, drive obvious biological uses, and equally obvious criteria
down the road and when I see the Esso gas of truthand falsehood." Susanne K. Langer, PhilosostationI turnright,and so on to the end of phy in a New Key (New York: Mentor Book, 1958),
anotherday. Even thewordsI use, whichseem p. 60.
4 "A man, viewed as a behaving system, is quite
to call for thought,are oftenlittlemore than
simple. The apparent complexity of his behavior over
automatic"speech acts" promptedby succes- time is largely a reflectionof the complexity of the
sive signssuch as a colleague standingby the environmentin which he finds himself." On another
elevatorand the secretarybehindher desk. In page: "Only human pride argues that the apparent
short,my social speech is made up of cliches intricacies of our path stem from a quite different
source than the intricacy of the ant's path." Herbert
thatfitsnugglyintothe repertoire
of customary A. Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial(Cambridge,
gestures. A world in which human beings Mass.: MIT Press, 1970), pp. 52-53.
5 On the schematic nature of the animal world, see
respond unthinkingly
to environmentalsigns
makesforthatessentialorderor stabilitywith- D. 0. Hebb, The Organization of Behavior (New
John Wiley, 1949), pp. 93-94; H. H. Price,
out which innovationcannot arise. But this York:
Thinkingand Experiencing (London: Hutchinson Unistable world of reiterative
patternsis littledif- versity Library, 1969), pp. 39-42; Roger Brown,

ferent in its fundamental, psychological characteristicsfromthe worlds of animals.3 The dif-

Words and Things (New York: The Free Press, 1968),

pp. 168-270; and Roger Muchielli, Introduction to
Structural Psychology (New York: Equinox, Avon
Book, 1972), pp. 71-72. On the schematic nature of
2 A. N. Whitehead, Adventuresof Ideas (New York:
the human world-the lack of conscious awareness
in routine behavior-see David R. Seamon, MoveMentor Book, 1955), p. 96.
3 "The interpretationof signs is the basis of animent, Rest, and Encounter: A Phenomenology of
mal intelligence. Animals presumably do not distin- Everyday EnvironmentalExperience, unpublished docguish between natural signs and artificialor fortuitous toral dissertation, Clark University, 1977. I have
signs; but they use both kinds to guide their practical explored this theme in Space and Place: The Perspecactivities.We do the same thing all day long. We an- tive of Experience (Minneapolis: University of Minswer bells, watch the clock, obey warning signals, fol- nesota Press, 1977), pp. 68-74 and in the paper "Imlow arrows ....
The interpretationof signs ...
is ages and Mental Maps," Annals, Association of
the most elementary and most tangible sort of intel- American Geographers, Vol. 65 (1975), pp. 205-13.
6 Susanne K. Langer, Feeling and Form (New York:
lection; the kind of knowledge that we share with animals: that we acquire entirelyby experience, that has Scribner's, 1953), p. 26.

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1978

365

SIGN AND METAPHOR

Feeling

Behavior (action)

Thought

Affectivesign
Symbol

Sign

Synesthesia, Metaphor,Simile

Space: Schematic-action

Aesthetic

Symbolic-abstract

World: Routine-practical

Affective

Conceptual-exploratory

Humanistic
geography

(Study of ideas and

concepts)

Academic
field

Behavioral
geography

Stable world: design is feasible

Unstable (innovative) world:

design is problematic

FIG. 1. The human world is one in which individuals behave (act), feel, and think. Behavior responds to sign, feeling to affectivesign, thinkingto symbol. Synesthesia, metaphor, and
simile are way stations to symbolic thought.The main arrow points in the direction of increasing awareness. The greater the awareness the less stable the world becomes, and the greater
the problem of design. The scientificmethod is best adapted to studyingthe world of signs (behavioral geography). Humanistic geography is concerned with the worlds of affect and of
thought.

ence of both animals and humans,but to a

unique degree among humans. Symbols exist
solelyin the humanworld.
I shall illustratethe meaningof sign, affectivesign,and symbolwithtwo examples.Considerthe traffic
light.To motoristsit is a sign
and calls for suitable action. Engineersput it
therefor no other purpose. In a dark foggy
night,however,the glowingred eye mayevoke
an emotion-tinted
responseand vaguelystirthe
imagination.The traffic
lightthenbecomes an
affectivesign. It can also be a symbol;for instance,I may see it as a symbolof law and order in society.Anotherexample is the cross
on top of a church.Unlike the traffic
light,the
cross is meantto be an affective
sign.A Christian may respondto it as to a sacred objectone thatevokes a sense of dread, or as a symbol aroundwhichhe can organizehis thoughts
To manypeople, howconcerningChristianity.
ever, the cross may well play an unintended
role-that of a sign,a mere landmarkfor ori-

entationin the city.How would an intelligent

animal,say, a dog respondto a traffic
signal?
He may take it as a sign-perhaps forrelieving
nature. Under certain conditionshe may respond to it in dread as to a threatening
presence, but he cannot see it as a symbolforthe
idea of law and"order. Again, a dog may be
taughtto reactto a cross in a seeminglyreverentialmanner,but it will not be forhim a symbol thatconduces to thought.Because the human worldcontainsaffective
signsand symbols,
and not just signs,it differsin importantways
fromthe animalworld.The humanworld,despiteits weightof routine,is capable of radical
changeinducedby large shiftsin awareness.
AFFECTIVE SIGN AND METAPHOR

My speechmaybe fullof tiredphrases,mere

verbal gestures to smooth the social intercourse, but occasionallyI coin a freshmetaphorsuch as "the red eye of the traffic
signal."

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366

September

Yi-Fu TUAN

signal
My habitualrelationshipwiththe traffic
is unimaginative:the signalmerelytriggersreflex actions. But occasionally it functionsas
an affective
sign: it can stirmyfeelingand imagination.It looks alive and ifI had to describe
the appearanceI would have said that"the red
lightlooks like an angryeye." The human resignis invariablytouched
sponseto an affective
by an idea, and thatidea whenclothedin words
revealsits metaphoricalstructure.
Whatis a metaphor?PhilipWheelwright
recognizes two parts in the concept-"epiphor"
and "diaphor."The epiphorstrivesforthe outreach and extensionof meaningthroughcomparison.Its essentialmarkis "to expressa similaritybetweensomethingrelativelywell known
or concretelyknown (the semantic vehicle)
and something
which,althoughof greaterworth
or importance,is less known (the semantic

two dissimilarentities,"domain" and "scenery." Domain belongs to the vocabulary of

politicaland economicdiscourse.A domainor
an estatecan be surveyedand mapped; it can
be viewed objectivelyfroma theoreticalpoint
high above. Scenery,on the otherhand, is an
aestheticterm.It is an individualand personal
perspectivefroma positionon theground.The
diaphoricmeaningof landscape lies not in one
image (concretelyknown) pointingto another,
but ratherin both-equally important-imaginativelysynthesized.

7 Philip Wheelwright,
Metaphor and Reality (Bloomington: Indiana UniversityPress, 1962), p. 73.
8 Wheelwright,op. cit., footnote 7, p. 72.

9T. F. Karwoski and H. S. Odbert, "Colormusic," Psychological Monographs, Vol. 50, No. 2
(1938), p. 3.

SYNESTHESIA AND METAPHOR

How is it possible that stimulusfromone

object or idea can evoke anotherimage or idea
thatis onlydistantlyrelatedby analogy?If we
have an answer, we would have solved the
problemof humanthinking
and creativity.
The
tenor)."
Consider two rathercommonplace ex- metaphoricalprocess, which lies at the basis
amples: "A mightyfortressis our God" and of human imaginationand thought,is not
"the river of life." God is an importantbut clearlyunderstood.We can, however,acquire
fuzzyconcept. The fortressanchorsone facet an insightinto the metaphoricalprocess by
of God-his strength,
dependability,and pro- looking at a physiological and experiential
tectivemight.When I am in a fortressI feel process that resemblesit and probablylies at
God's presence.The fortress
sign its roots: thisis synesthesia(Fig. 1).
is an affective
pointingto, or hintingat, somethingof greater
Synesthesiais the blendingof sensoryeximportance.Put in anotherway, the fortress periences.It occurswhen"sensationsfromone
is an epiphoricvehicle, of which the tenor is sense modality(e.g., taste or smell) are called
divinepower. The otherexample is "the river forthwhen stimuliof anothersense modality
of life." Nothingis closer to us than our own (e.g., hearingor vision) are presented."9We
lifeand yetit seems elusivebecause we cannot all have some capacityfor synestheticexperisee it. The riveris an apt epiphoricvehicle. ence. To a few-perhaps less than ten percent
We look at a streamwindingits way to the of any large populationsample-this capacity
sea or peteringout in a waste of sand, and say is developedto an exceptionaldegree.The most
"that'slife." The body of waterhere does not commonvarietyof synesthesiawould seem to
call for practicalaction-"stop," for instance, be "colored hearing,"a conditionwhereinthe
a messagethathumansas well as animalsun- hearingof a sound inducesthe visualizationof
derstand-but ratherit serves as an affective a certaincolor. In human speech, vowels are
sign, a vehicle for the outreachand extension able to evoke colored images withremarkable
of meaning.
consistency.Still more commonis the associaThe diaphor,in distinctionto the epiphor, tionof thepitchof a sound withthebrightness
strivesforthecreationof meaningthroughjux- of an image. For example,low pitchedsounds
Its role is not to point such as deep voices, drums,and thunderprotapositionand synthesis.8
from one thing to another,from "river" to duce darkimages,whereassqueaks,violinsand
"life"; ratherit is to combine two dissimilar sopranovoices producewhiteor brightimages.
appearances or ideas. Take the word "land- Another common association is between the
scape." It is a diaphorin the sense thatit de- pitchof a sound and the size and shape of an
rives its tensive meaning throughcombining image. Thus, high pitched sounds are small,

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1978

SIGN AND METAPHOR

367

angularand sharplyedged,whereaslow pitched sian synestheteand mnemonist,known to experimenters

as S., was once asked whetherhe
soundsare dark,round,and massive.10
and could find his way home from the institute
Synesthesiacan be highlyindividualistic
specific.One person informedFrancis Galton where some tests on his remarkablememory
thatto himthe letter"A" is alwaysbrown.To had been conducted.S. replied: "How could I
the poet ArthurRimbaud, on the otherhand, possiblyforget?Afterall, here's this fence. It
"A" is black." Synesthesiacan also be general has such a saltytaste and feels so rough;furithas such a sharp,piercingsound."14
and widelyshared: forinstancethe association thermore,
and blue The world of an extremesynesthetemay be
of redcolor withwarmthand activity,
color withcoldness and passivity.Cultureand rich but it also tends to be hallucinatory.He
languagedifferamong human groups,and yet hears a sound and sees a color as well,although
the "feelingtone" of theirworlds may have onlyhis auditoryorganhas been stimulatedby
much in common.The feelingtone of a phe- an outsidesource.A personlike S. findsit diffione sensationfromanother,
nomenon,whichmay be an appearance or an cult to distinguish
idea, is its connotativesignificance.To use a or between sensationsand actual experiences
related term "affectivesign," the meaningof of events.His vivid and phantasmalworld rean affectivesign-its connotativesignificance sembles in some ways that of a small child.
Charles Osgood notes, Indeed, childrenare known to show stronger
-may be transcultural.
tendenciesthanadults.A biological
Navaho, and synesthetic
in his studyof Anglo-American,
in lan- advantage of this capacity is that, by aiding
Japanesegroups,thatdespitedifferences
guage and culturetheyshow similarsynesthetic memory,it enables the child to get a firmer
tendencies.Thus, forall threegroups,the idea hold on his world,although-in extremeform
"fast" is seen as thin, bright,and diffuse; -it leads to fantasy.As a child grows older,
"heavy" is down, dark, and near; "quiet" is he depends less on the servicesof synesthesia
horizontal and "noisy" is crooked.12 Morse and more on the resourcesof language for a
betweencer- firmgrasp on the world and forfindingit rich
Peckhampostulatesa relationship
Moreover,with the resources
dimensionsand human feel- and stimulating.
tain architectural
in character of languagethe child can explorethe world in
ings that appear to be synesthetic
theprodwayswithoutconfounding
forexample,the imaginative
and mayalso be transcultural:
association of verticalityand soliditywith a uctsof his imaginationwithreality.
Highly specialized giftsof nature can be a
sense of demand,of closed solids withfixityor
rejection, open pavilions with flexibilityor mixedblessing.For example,a minimaltalent
with ade- forcalculatingnumbersin the head is a condiopenness, light and rectangularity
tion for doing mathematicsat more advanced
quacy, deep axis withenergyrelease.13
The human world is richerfor our synes- levels, but an exceptionalcomputationalgift
thetictendencies.A sound is not only a sound may hinderthe birthof originalmathematical
but also a color; and if not a specificcolor for ideas. Likewise,synesthesiais a probable conmost of us, then at least the pitch of a sound dition for understandingand inventingmetadoes suggestimages of brightnessor darkness. phors,but thevividnessof directexperiencein
Synesthesiaaids memory.Extremesynesthetes an extremesynesthetecan be an enchantment
of a highorder.To them,ran- that hampersthe mind fromexploringanaloare mnemonists
dom alphabetsare easy to recall because they gies at thelevel of ideas. The Russian mnemonare not only shapes but also colors. The Rus- ist S. once told the linguistL. S. Vygotsky:
"What a crumbly,yellow voice you have."15
10 Karwoski and Odbert, op. cit., footnote 9, pp. 1Is S. here simplyreportingon his sensations,
60; and Lawrence E. Marks, "Synesthesia," Psycliol- or is he speakingin a poetic,metaphorical
lanogy Today, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1975), pp. 48-52.
We
no
anOr
is
he
both?
have
guage?
doing
11 "You vowels, A the black, E white, green U,
blue 0, Some day I will reveal your hidden identities." swer for this particularinstance,but we do
(Arthur Rimbaud). Quotation in Philip Wheelwright, knowthatS. has difficulty
in appreciating
metaop. cit., footnote 7, p. 76.
phors.People tend to assume thatpoetrycalls
12 Charles E. Osgood, "The Cross-cultural Generality of Visual-Verbal SynestheticTendencies," BehaviowalScience, Vol. 5, No. 2 (1960), pp. 152-53.
13 Morse Peckham, Man's Rage for Chaos (New
York: Schocken Books, 1967), p. 199.

14 A. R. Luria, The Mind of a Mnemonist (New

York: Basic Books, 1968), p. 38.
15 Luria, op. cit., footnote 14, p. 24.

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368

Yi-Fu

TUAN

September

for the most graphickind of imagination.In states,whereinthe translationfromone sensafact,the metaphorsin poetic language evoke tion, image, or idea to anotheris dependent
notso muchimagesas ideas: theimagesare not in varyingdegree on conjointexperience,culthe meaning,theyare the vehiclesof meaning. ture,and individualtalent.An example,already
We say of a lovely youngwoman that "she is given,of synesthesiaas the resultof conjoint
a rose." A synesthete
or a small childmaywell experienceis the couplingof the visuallylarge
findthisexpressionnonsensical.Put a rose side withthe auditoriallyloud. Cultureoperates at
by side witha woman,and whereis the resem- a more conscious level: it extendsand elaboblance? A rose is much closer in appearance rates a synestheticdisposition.For instance,
and constitution
to a cabbage than to a young the generaltendencyto associate frontalspace
humanfemale,yetsuchis theforceofthemeta- withilluminatedspace and futuretimemay be
phor that many people will find its coupling more explicitlyacknowledgedin some cultures
withthe lattermore natural.
than in others.Finally, a person can seek to
A personwho looks at a fenceand hears a enrich and deepen the meaningof an image
"sharp,piercingsound" as well is a synesthete; by marryingit to another: he attemptsmetahis capacityis inborn-a functionof his neuro- phoricalthought.
In theexchangesof dailyspeech,a fewfresh
logical endowment.Strong synesthesiain an
individualis a unique gift;on the otherhand, metaphorsmay emerge but most are shopuniversalsynesthetic
tendenciesalso exist. All worn. Some metaphorsare so old and univerpeople appear to associate the visually large sallyemployedthat,like certainkindsof widely
with the auditoriallyloud. Such coupling can shared synesthetic
experience,theyseem conbe the productof invariantexperiencerather stitutiveof human nature.Animal and human
than of some neurophysiological
process. As metaphorsare cases in point.JamesFernandez
He notes thatthe
Osgood putsit, "it is simplya characteristic
of arguesfortheiruniversality.
the physical world that as a noise-producing humansenseof selfis elusive,thatthepronouns
object approaches or is approached,increases of social life (the "I," "you, " he, " it") are
in visual angle are correlatedwithincreasesin inchoate unless they are predicatedon some
loudness."1 Synestheticevents of this kind affectivesign,some metaphor.Pronounsmust
occur withoutpreparatorythought.They are become objects by takingthe point of view of
not the resultof an active imagination.It can "the other,"beforetheycan become subjects
be difficult
to tell,however,whetherideas have to themselves."This becomingan object, this
in factplayeda role. For example,whenI look taking the other, this predicationupon the
at a landscapeand see peace, calm,and nurtur- pronoun,is a process that has for millennia
a syn- turnedto the animal world."18Childrenlearn
ingpower,am I registering
unreflectively
estheticevent or does my experiencedepend theiridentitiesby playinganimal games. They
on the priorinputof formulatedideas? I can- are nervouschickensone momentand ravennot be certain.But this is clear: when I look ous beasts of preythe next.By masteringthese
at a landscape and see a reclininghuman fe- roles theylearnto see themselvesas havingthe
male or motherfigure,imaginationis at work.
characteristicsof these animals, but also as
"Mother earth" is a metaphor.
them.Even in our machine-domitranscending
nated society,infantsand college coeds play
UNIVERSAL
METAPHORS
It may be thatstrongsynesthesiaand meta- with stuffedanimals. Boys engage in "horse
phoricalthinkingare two ends of a continuum play." Fathersteasinglypretendto eat up their
in human capacity.At one end, the outreach
fromone sensationto anotheris an automatic the various colors of billiard balls when he hears
physiologicalprocess made possible by an in- numbers from one to fifteen.At the other extreme
we have the learning of language and familiaritywith
terlacingof nerve fibers;at the other,the ex- literature, with all of the sensory analogies there
tensionof an image or idea is a playfulleap suggested."T. F. Karwoski, H. S. Odbert, and Charles
of the mind.17Between them lie intermediate E. Osgood, "Studies in SynestheticThinking. II. The
op. cit., footnote 12, p. 168.
"Learning . . . covers a very wide range. At one
extreme we have the case of the individual who sees
6Osgood,

17

Role of Form in Visual Responses to Music," Journal

of General Psychology,Vol. 26 (1942), p. 215.
18 James Fernandez, "The Mission of Metaphor in
Expressive Culture," Current Anthropology,Vol. 15,
No. 2 (1974), p. 122.

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1978

SIGN AND METAPHOR

369

small children,and thenofferthempiggyback evoke freshimages and ideas by linkingthe

rides.As adults,we neverbecome so confident heavenlybodies of perduringhuman concern
theneed to the countryand the city,viewed since anas to escape altogether
ofour identities
for animal metaphoricpredications.In mo- cient times as antitheticalways of life. He
we feelmorere- wrote:22
or conflict,
mentsof ambiguity
assuredif we can liken the opposingteams to
A touch of cold in the autumn night
hawks and doves. I say of a colleague thathe
I walked abroad
is a jelly fish.Althoughneitherof us has seen
And saw the round moon lean over a hedge,
Like a red-faced farmer,
a jelly fish,we both know thata precise accuI did not stop to talk, but nodded;
sation has been made and that,moreover,the
And round about were the wistfulstars
label will stick.19
With white faces like town children.
"Sky father" and "earth mother" are old
METAPHOR AND SYMBOL
metaphors,knownin diverseculturesin widely
parts of the world; likewise,the idea
different
Synesthesiaprovides a foundationfor the
the earth.It is an old and developmentof metaphoricalthought.Discurof rain impregnating
common habit of thoughtto see the earth in sive and systematicthoughtrests,in turn,on
terms of human anatomy: rocks are bones, the human abilityto create metaphors,thatis,
soil is flesh,and the plant cover the hairpiece reach fromone image or idea to anotherand
of a cosmic being. The association is strong perceivetheirjoint meaning.23
Metaphor,simAmeri- ile, and the full articulationof ideas form a
enoughso thatto some nonagricultural
can Indians it is sacrilegeto tear up the grass continuum:one movesfromthe implicitto the
for the purpose of plantingcrops.20 Even to explicit(Fig. 1). The simile,in distinctionto
peoples, diggingup the earth the metaphor,is explicitin its analogy: "wistsome agricultural
in the past arousedunease and called forritual ful stars are like white-facedcity children."
propitiationsand sacrifice.Clearly,seeing the The symbolgoes beyond the simile. It is an
earth as motheris not just a literaryconceit. abstractedaffective
sign thathas lost its direct
Although Westernman does not look upon linkwitha humansubjectin a specificcontext.
pebbles in a streamas "toes" (like the Dogon It permitsan extendedexcursionin analogic
of West Africa), his topographicalvocabulary reasoning;it is an aid to day-dreamingand to
does containanatomicalmetaphors:forexam- thought.Plato acceptedthe microcosmicmetaple, headland,foothill,volcanicneck,the spine phor of his time-the idea thatman's body is
or brow of a ridge,the tail of a drumlin,the a likenessof the cosmos. He did not,however,
shoulderof a valley,and themouthof a river.21 restwiththe metaphor;he proceededto build
Usinghumanbeingsor animalsas predicates on it a toweringschema of correspondences
of nature is an ancient practice. Many such harmonizingthe componentsof the universe
zoo-metaphorshave long since lost theirorigi- fromthe very small to the very large.24To take
nal power to stimulate.A few are kept alive a morecurrentexample,we maybeginwiththe
as partof a continuingtradition,and theymay direct apprehensionthat "society is an orgastillaffectthewayspeople treatnature,but the nism."We take the nextstep and say that"soimages they call forthhave gone stale. New cietyis like an organism,"and thenproceedto
metaphors,of course, continueto appear. In- think explicitlyand in detail in what ways
novative conjunctions of ideas continue to societyis, and is not, like an organism.
emerge. The human mind is extraordinarily As we move on to thought,theimpactof the
fertile.We may well ask whetherthe moon originalaffective
signor metaphortendsto lose
and the stars can still inspirenew anthropo- itsemotionalpower.A church,forexample,no
morphicimages.The answerwould seem to be
yes. T. E. Hulme, for example, was able to
22T. E. Hulme, "Autumn." Quotation in WheelFernandez, op. cit., footnote 18, p. 122.
For samples of American Indian lyricism, see
T. C. McLuhan, ed., Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait
of Indian Existence (New York: Outerbridge& Dienstfrey, 1971).
21 Victor W. Turner, "Symbols in African Ritual,"
Science, Vol. 179 (16 March, 1973), p. 1104.
19
20

wright,op cit., footnote 7, pp. 74-75.

23 "Thought is metaphoric, and proceeds by comparison, and the metaphors of language derive therefrom." I. A. Richards, The Philosophy of Rhetoric
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1936), p. 94.
24 Leonard Barkan, Nature's Work of A rt: The Human Body as Image of the World (New Haven: Yale
UniversityPress, 1975), pp. 17-18.

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370

Yi-Fu TUAN

September

longercommandsawe. From a numinouspres- phoric functionof landscape seems to have

ence it becomesa symbolfortheChristiandoc- waned: we rarelyrespondto a landscape as to
trineof salvation,forthe church'steachingon a numinouspresence.But the symbolicmeanthe relationshipbetween God and man. Yet, ing of landscape has increased.We thinkand
this seeminglyfragileweb of articulatedideas talk about it more.25
signsthat
As an illustration
of multiplesymbolicmeancan overcomethe impactof affective
workdirectlyon the senses. Considerhow one ings, take the English landscape in the eighmightexperiencethe interiorof an old cathed- teenthcentury.We may now choose to see it
ral in a Latin country.It is dark and musty, throughthe eyes of Jacquetta Hawkes, for
there are flickeringcandle lights,women in whom it is a momentwhen a precariousbalblack, blood-covered effigiesof the dying ance was achievedbetweenthe shiftingforces
Christ,memorialsand stone coffinsof the il- of natureand of man.26The harmonyand lovelustriousdeparted.They are all affectivesigns liness of the English countrysideare a result
balance. A particularscene
ofwoe and death.But to someonewho is aware of thismomentary
of Christiansymbolismand has profoundsym- can thus serve as a symbol for the idea of
pathy for the storyit tells, the feelinginside ecological health.We may,however,choose to
see the same landscape throughthe eyes of
thechurchis not morbidnessbuthope.
The commercialstripof new and rapidlyex- Raymond Williams,for whom the gross dispandingAmericantownsprovides,in a sense, proportionin scale between the cottage and
a contraryexample. The strip is brightlylit the mansionis a symbolof social injusticein
at night. The language of signs is explicit eighteenth-century
England.27The pointof the
and leaves no doubt in the motorist'smind as illustrationis two-fold.One is the consciousto where he can stop to refuel and to eat. ness of choice, which the symbol allows and
Bright illuminationand colors are affective which the affectivesign,being directand imsigns that evoke cheer, a sense of thrusting plicit in its effect,does not. The other is the
power againstthe darknessand gloom of the possibilityof usingthe landscape as a material
surroundingcountryside.Children appreciate symbolaroundwhichideas concerningecologiwho cal healthor social injusticecan accrue.
thelightsand so did teen-agedyoungsters
used to drivetheirresuscitatedvehiclesup and
DESIGN IMPLICATIONS
down the strip.Sophisticatedadults,however,
are oftendeprecatory.They forgetthe conveThe categoriesof perceptionhere sketched
nienceof the signswhichtell themwhat to do, have implicationsfordesign: theysuggestwhy
theychoose not to respond to the lightsand designerscan make successfulplans, and also
colors as affective
signs-metaphorsof dynam- why plans oftenfail (Fig. 1). Designingfor
ism and vitality;insteadtheyinterpretthe ap- otherpeople is feasiblebecause humanbehavpearances symbolically.The strip as a whole ior, like thatof otheranimals,is routinized;it
and in its parts symbolizefor them the least dependson thehabitof respondingto environappealing sides of American life-its vulgar mental signs in an appropriatemanner.Signs
to es- may be clear or ambiguous,facilitating
thrustfor quick success,its insensitivity
action
tablishedvalues, its blatancyand crassness.
in the one case and handicappingit in the
The difference
betweenthe affectivesign or other. One duty of the planner is to ensure
metaphoron the one hand and the symbolon
theotheris one of degree: the symbolcarriesa
25 We articulate our feelings and ideas far more
greaterproportionof articulableideas. Con- than do people in traditional societies. "While exesider "landscape." We have seen that it is a gesis of anythingand everythingis the order of the
diaphorin the sense thatit combinesand syn- day in universityculture, it is much rarer in tradithesizes two dissimilarideas-"domain" and tional cultures. Empirical research, in fact, shows that
it is usually quite difficultto obtain the significataof
"scenery."Landscape is epiphoricinsofaras it symbols." James W. Fernandez, "Analysis of Ritis a vehicleforsomethingmore importantand ual: Metaphoric Correspondences as the Elementary
less tangiblethanitselfsuch as divinepresence. Forms," Science, Vol. 182 (28 December, 1973),
Landscape may lose its affectiveand meta- p. 261366.
Hawkes, A Land (London: Cresset
phoricpowerand become a mereunitof space. Press,Jacquetta
1951), p. 143.
it
can
more
the
other
On
explicit
acquire
hand,
27 Raymond Williams, The Country and the City
connotationsand become a symbol.The epi- (New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1973), p. 106.

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1978

371

SIGN AND METAPHOR

that the signs achieve maximumclarity.Thus

architectsshould plan officebuildingsso that
people can findtheirway fromone bureau to
the next withoutthe endowmentof a sixth
sense,and highwayengineersmightbe able to
designa route systemsuch that motoristscan
drive fromone city to anotherwith minimal
mentaland emotionalstress.
Planning an environmentthat affectsour
emotionsand stirsour imaginationis also possible. We can all thinkof a pedestrianmall, a
urban cenresidentialarea, or a reconstructed
terthathas succeededfarbeyondtheutilitarian
functionsit primarilyserves. The reason why
one can plan such environmentsis that a
"grammar"of affectivesignsexists.There are
rules that govern affectiveand imaginative
responses. A designerknows that a certain
stimuluswill evoke a certainfeelingand even a
rudimentaryidea. Synesthesia and the root
metaphorsof a culturegive stabilityto a people's emotionsand thoughtso thattheyare, to
a degree,predictable.Red color is "warm" and
and solidityevoke a sense
"active," verticality
of "demand." But an imaginativedesignercan
do muchmore than the followingof such simple rules. Just as a writercan stimulatethe
readerwitha new literaryconceit,so a planner
or architectcan stimulatehis clientwitha new
architecturalor spatial conceit: he might,for
instance,juxtapose two dissimilarelementsor
deliberatelyintroduceambiguityin his design
so that a client is challengedto perceive his
environment
anew.28
We have movedfromsignsthattriggerstandard behavior to what approximatesa discourse between the imaginativedesignerand
his responsive-imaginative
client.Planningfor
humanbeings can oftenbe objective,for reasons alreadygiven,but it ultimatelymustembrace humandiscourse.And herewe encounter
in design. There exist
fundamentaldifficulties
no rules that guaranteesuccessfulhuman discourse. Differencesin individual personality
and of culture,includingthe use and appreciation of language, are not readily overcome.
Even withinthe shared cultureof a family,a
28 Robert Venturi, Complexity and Contradiction in
Architecture (New York: The Museum of Modern
Art, 1966); Amos Rapoport and Robert E. Kantor,
"Complexity and Ambiguity in Environmental Design," Journal of the American Institute of Planners,
Vol. 33 (1967), pp. 210-21.

membercannot be sure thathis pun or practical joke will producethe desiredeffect.Innovation even at the humblestlevel risksfailure.
A freshmetaphormay cause incomprehension
rather than enlightenment;an architectural
conceit may baffle and distress rather than
stimulateand refresh.Objects intendedas signs
(e.g., the traffic
signal) may be read as affective signs or symbols,and vice versa. Moreover, discursivethought-increasinglyprominentin modernsociety-can deeplyaffectour
perceptionso that a landscape formerlyadmiredfor its harmoniouslines and ecological
healthmay now symbolizesocial injusticeand
economic exploitation.
SPEECH

AND REALITY

A talentedwritercan evoke the mood and

personalityof a place; withmere words he is
able to conjure "life" out of a pile of stones.
All human beings, however,have the power
of speech. We all can and do make the world
around us more presentand vivid by giving
utteranceon appropriateoccasions and in suitable settings.Unlike the professionalwriter,
who has to conjurewithwordsan image of the
contextwheretalk occurs,in real lifethe contextis given: it is whateverconcretesituation
we happen to findourselvesin. Given a real
locale, words have surprisinginfluenceeven
if theyare not used in any strikingly
original
way. A casual metaphor,forexample,can detractor enhance the reputationof a neighbor.
People whisperin our ears that so-and-sois a
jelly fish,or that he has a razor-sharpmind.
our view of a particularindividThenceforth,
ual is altered,howeverslightly:he becomes a
more vividpersonality-someoneforus to despise or admire.Clearly this power of speech
applies not only to people but also to aspects
of our materialenvironment."A gingerbread
house," I say slylyof a proud businessman's
mansion,and its image suffers.We well know
thata deftlytold ghoststorycan radicallyalter
a man's perceptionof thelonelyroad. At nightfall, as I climbinto the car in preparationfor
the long drive along the coast of New Jersey,
a friendsays: "By the way, folkshere believe
thatthemarshflameyou willsee fromtheturnpike is the lanternof a railroadman, accidentally beheaded on his job, searchingfor his
head."

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Yi-Fu TUAN

372

September

cumstancesdo the affectivesigns functionas

such,and not as meresigns?How are the symThe worldof competenceand habit consists bols maintainedby ceremonialacts and discurof signsthatdo not commandfocusedinterest. sive speech?Whatthemestendto dominatethe
Driving along the highwayI must be able to inhabitants'conversation?What are theirfavinterpretthem correctlywith a minimumof orite metaphors?The felt quality of a place
consciouseffort.
From timeto time,a particu- can never be fullyrevealed by describingthe
lar object-such as themarshflamein thedark physicalstructures
and notingthe ways people
night-catches my attention and evokes a movein them.Nor is it merelya stableattribute
mood, a feeling,or a rudimentary
idea. It is thatcan be elicitedthroughthe use of restricthen an affectivesign. However, the marsh tive questionnaires.Such approacheshave eviflame can generatemore than just a passing dent
value, but theymustbe supplementedby
mood or idea. As the result of attachingan
studyinga people's speech as it appears natuelaborateghoststoryto the flame,an affective
signbecomes a powerfulsymbolable to create rallyin the course of day-to-daylivingand on
an eerie scene in themind'seye of anyonewho more dramaticoccasions. Even commonplace
wordshave poweriftheyare utteredin theonhas heard the story.
This, in a nutshell,is the feltqualityof our going situationsof life, and not extractedby
environment-mostlygray and unseen, occa- formalsurvey.Wordsserveto maintainroutine
sionallyvivid.A task forhumanistgeographers and also to shatterit. Humanist geographers
is to understandbetterhow localitiesand envi- want to know how a people, not only through
ronmentscome to be imbuedwithfeelingand imaginativeaction but also throughenlivening
thought.Given a settingwe ask: what are its speech, create and recreatetheirmultifaceted
affectivesigns and symbols?Under what cir- and kaleidoscopic worlds.
CODA

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