The explicit short kinship metaphors I have presented show some of the ways we use genealogy as a basis for conceptual metaphors. I would now like to suggest how widely and powerfully we use genealogy in other conceptual metaphors.
Genealogy underlies our concepts of diachronic and synchronic classification.
Linguistic derivation across time is expressed in terms of parentage, and the consequent classification of languages is expressed in terms of families, descent, and relation. The concept of relation derives from genealogy, among other things. Such comparison suggests the concept of a homomorphism . A homomorphism is a mapping of one set into another in such a way as to preserve relations . This mapping will preserve relations.