The exchangeability of speech by cognitive metaphors

This article proceeds the reports regarding the development of learning techniques for deaf people based on information visualization. It connects Piagets research about the use of symbol systems with contributions taken from cognitive linguistics concerning cognitive metaphors. On the one hand it is shown, that audible speech is only one of many ways to access abstract content. It is possible to exchange it by visualizations of cognitive metaphors which are a proper visual aid used in special languages. On the other hand, a demonstrator program for a knowledge editor based on cognitive metaphors is introduced. This editor may be a useful tool even for analyzing metaphors.