From the discussion above, we can see that cognitive linguists confirm the directionality of metaphorical transfer from concrete source domains to abstract target domains. "Such mappings are asymmetric in that they are one-directional, involving projections from a source domain to a target domain." They are unidirectional because bodily experience of the concrete categories serves as the source of our understanding of the abstract ones, but not the other way round. Nevertheless, many examples show that both the source domain and the target domain can be concrete and physical. In other words, metaphorical mappings also involve transference between concrete concepts. This is because metaphor is a very convenient and economic way of referring to things" . A ready example is the metaphors composed of butcher and surgeon: The butcher is a surgeon or the surgeon is a butcher. Of course the two metaphors have quite different senses. Yet what matters to us here is that both butcher and surgeon are concrete concepts and that they can serve as both a source domain and a target domain. Therefore, it is possible for us to understand butcher in terms of surgeon and also surgeon in terms of butcher. Though we are familiar with both the terms, the metaphorical mappings help us understand what kind of surgeon one is by means of the knowledge of a butcher, and what kind of a butcher one is by means of the knowledge of a surgeon. If a butcher should act as if he were a surgeon and treat his patient (an animal) like a person, taking too much time and being too tentative as he cuts up a piece of meat, he would be an incompetent butcher. The metaphor is intended and understood as a negative evaluation of the butcher's competence. Casting him as a surgeon highlights the incongruity between his methods and those appropriate to a butcher. Similarly, if a surgeon should act as if he were a butcher and treat his patient (a person) as an animal, working too carelessly,he would be an incompetent surgeon. Again the metaphor is intended and understood as a negative evaluation of a surgeon's competence. Casting him as a butcher highlights the incongruity between his methods and those suitable for a surgeon.
According to Langacker, a domain is "a context for the characterization of a semantic unit" . Domains are necessarily cognitive entities and cognitive units such as mental experiences and representational spaces. Most concepts are context dependent and at the same time serve to define other concepts, be it implicit or explicit. In other words, most concepts presuppose other concepts and in turn are defined by reference to them. Concepts are mutually dependent. Langacker uses the concept KNUCKLE to illustrate what a domain is. "The concept·KNUCKLE ... presupposes the conception of a finger. It would be virtually impossible to explain what a knuckle is without somehow invoking the conception of a finger as a holistic entity." "Given the concept of FINGER, KNUCKLE is easily and straightforwardly characterized. FINGER provides the necessary context—or domain—for the characterization of KNUCKLE." But FINGER is not itself a primitive notion. It is similarly characterized in part by its position relative to a HAND, HAND in relation to an ARM, and ARM in relation to the BODY as a whole. Therefore, it is natural for most concepts to be understood as domains.
Although it is typical for one concept to serve as a domain for the characterization of another, there must be a point of which no further reduction is possible. So far as shape is concerned, the notion BODY is a configuration in three-dimensional space which is a concept not definable relative to some other, more fundamental conception. This sort of primitive representational field is referred to as a basic domain. Any non-basic domain is called a subdomain. Though a basic domain cannot be described in terms of more fundamental concepts, the field of conceptual potential it defines may nevertheless be structured. The concepts it permits can be ordered or grouped in various ways and be determined to lie at different "distances" from one another, and the domain can be described in terms of one or more dimensions.
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