Habit, choice, priming, and activity as flow: rethinking metaphorical models of action and cognition in cognitive linguistics

Abstract This article proposes a reconceptualization of action and cognition within Cognitive Linguistics (CL) by re-examining its foundational metaphorical models. While meaning in the field is often defined as embodied and usage-based, its dominant metaphors remain static, privileging stability over process. Methodologically, the research in this paper adopts the principles of the “Cognitive Science of Philosophy,” engaging in an analysis of the metaphors underlying CL. This involves a critical self-reflection on the static metaphors in CL and a proposal of a new, dynamic metaphorical model of activity is flow to better attune the field’s tools with its prevailing process-oriented modes of thought. The proposed model synthesizes major philosophical sources, notably phenomenology and pragmatism, alongside the work of Gilles Deleuze and Bruno Latour. This new framework models habit as a dynamic sedimentation shaping a “terrain,” choice as a modulation within it, and priming as the microgenetic link between them. As shown in this article, the model enables a reframing of various issues concerning metaphor theory, meaning construction, discourse analysis, and translation studies.