scholarly journals Conceptual Metaphors of Emotion in Spoken Language: Good Is Up in Semantics and Prosody

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hazel K Godfrey

<p>Recent research on embodied cognition points to a role for the perceptuomotor system in conceptual representation. One way that the perceptuomotor system may be involved in conceptual representation is through metaphorical mappings, as described in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999). This theory accounts for the embodiment of abstract concepts with metaphoric mappings to perceptuomotor properties. Examples include INTELLIGENCE IS LIGHT (as in “that is a bright idea”), IMPORTANT IS BIG (as in “that is a big deal”), and INTIMACY IS CLOSENESS (as in “you are close to my heart”). The GOOD IS UP (as in “things are looking up”) conceptual metaphor is the focus of this thesis. A prediction derived from Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that activation of the concept of “good” should automatically activate associated perceptuomotor processes, resulting in an attentional shift to upper visual space. Conversely activation of the concept “bad” should result in an attentional shift to lower visual space. There is experimental evidence for the existence of the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor. However, this past research has only assessed the validity of the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor with written emotion-related words. In order to paint an accurate picture of the nature of conceptual representation, both written and spoken language processing must be investigated. The aim of this thesis was to determine whether the conceptual metaphor GOOD IS UP is activated by processing of spoken emotional words. Spoken language has two channels through which emotion can be conveyed; the semantic channel and the prosodic channel. This thesis assessed whether the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor was activated by emotional semantics and prosody separately. Semantically or prosodically valenced words were presented to participants. Positive and negative valence would be expected to elicit activation of the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor; thus GOOD IS UP congruent shifts in attention were expected. Following presentation of the spoken word, a visual target detection and identification task was completed to assess attention to upper and lower space. No metaphor congruent shifts in attention were observed, which suggests that the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor was not activated when words with semantic or prosodic emotion were processed. A thorough evaluation is provided of the differences between the previous studies, using written stimuli, and the current studies, using spoken stimuli. The discrepancies suggest that it is theoretically important to define the boundary conditions under which evidence for conceptual metaphor congruent activation is (and is not) seen. Whether context is an important boundary condition especially needs to be considered. A multiple systems view of representation may need to be applied to Conceptual Metaphor Theory.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hazel K Godfrey

<p>Recent research on embodied cognition points to a role for the perceptuomotor system in conceptual representation. One way that the perceptuomotor system may be involved in conceptual representation is through metaphorical mappings, as described in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999). This theory accounts for the embodiment of abstract concepts with metaphoric mappings to perceptuomotor properties. Examples include INTELLIGENCE IS LIGHT (as in “that is a bright idea”), IMPORTANT IS BIG (as in “that is a big deal”), and INTIMACY IS CLOSENESS (as in “you are close to my heart”). The GOOD IS UP (as in “things are looking up”) conceptual metaphor is the focus of this thesis. A prediction derived from Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that activation of the concept of “good” should automatically activate associated perceptuomotor processes, resulting in an attentional shift to upper visual space. Conversely activation of the concept “bad” should result in an attentional shift to lower visual space. There is experimental evidence for the existence of the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor. However, this past research has only assessed the validity of the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor with written emotion-related words. In order to paint an accurate picture of the nature of conceptual representation, both written and spoken language processing must be investigated. The aim of this thesis was to determine whether the conceptual metaphor GOOD IS UP is activated by processing of spoken emotional words. Spoken language has two channels through which emotion can be conveyed; the semantic channel and the prosodic channel. This thesis assessed whether the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor was activated by emotional semantics and prosody separately. Semantically or prosodically valenced words were presented to participants. Positive and negative valence would be expected to elicit activation of the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor; thus GOOD IS UP congruent shifts in attention were expected. Following presentation of the spoken word, a visual target detection and identification task was completed to assess attention to upper and lower space. No metaphor congruent shifts in attention were observed, which suggests that the GOOD IS UP conceptual metaphor was not activated when words with semantic or prosodic emotion were processed. A thorough evaluation is provided of the differences between the previous studies, using written stimuli, and the current studies, using spoken stimuli. The discrepancies suggest that it is theoretically important to define the boundary conditions under which evidence for conceptual metaphor congruent activation is (and is not) seen. Whether context is an important boundary condition especially needs to be considered. A multiple systems view of representation may need to be applied to Conceptual Metaphor Theory.</p>


Author(s):  
Zoltán Kövecses

The chapter reports on work concerned with the issue of how conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) functions as a link between culture and cognition. Three large areas are investigated to this effect. First, work on the interaction between conceptual metaphors, on the one hand, and folk and expert theories of emotion, on the other, is surveyed. Second, the issue of metaphorical universality and variation is addressed, together with that of the function of embodiment in metaphor. Third, a contextualist view of conceptual metaphors is proposed. The discussion of these issues leads to a new and integrated understanding of the role of metaphor and metonymy in creating cultural reality and that of metaphorical variation across and within cultures, as well as individuals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Omar Bani Mofarrej ◽  
Ghaleb Rabab'ah

The present paper examines the metaphorical and metonymical conceptualizations of the heart in Jordanian Arabic (JA) within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). The main aim is to explore how the human heart is conceptualized in JA, and to test the applicability of the different general cognitive mechanisms proposed by Niemeier (2003 and 2008) to those found in JA. The data were extracted from Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions in Levantine Arabic: Jordanian Dialect (Alzoubi, 2020), and other resources including articles, dissertations and books of Arabic proverbs. The findings revealed that all the four general cognitive mechanisms suggested by Niemeier (2003 and 2008) are applicable to JA. The findings also showed that the similarity derives from the universal aspects of the human body, which lends tremendous support to the embodiment hypothesis proposed by cognitive linguists. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-285
Author(s):  
Mason D. Lancaster

This article provides an overview of metaphor theories and research on their own terms, as well as their use in Hebrew Bible (HB) studies. Though metaphor studies in the HB have become increasingly popular, they often draw upon a limited or dated subset of metaphor scholarship. The first half of this article surveys a wide variety of metaphor scholarship from the humanities (philosophical, poetic, rhetorical) and the sciences (e.g., conceptual metaphor theory), beginning with Aristotle but focusing on more recent developments. The second half overviews studies of metaphor in the HB since 1980, surveying works focused on theory and method; works focused on specific biblical books or metaphor domains; and finally noting current trends and suggesting areas for future research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNAMARIA KILYENI ◽  
NADEŽDA SILAŠKI

Abstract Under the theoretical wing of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, we present a contrastive cognitive and linguistic analysis of the women are animals metaphor as used in Romanian and Serbian. Our main aim is to establish whether the names of the same animals are used in the two languages to conceptualise women and their various characteristics (particularly physical appearance and character traits), or alternatively, whether the two languages exhibit any linguistic or conceptual differences in this regard.


Author(s):  
Nenad Blaženović ◽  
Emir Muhić

An analysis was carried out with two interviews given by the tennis-player Novak Djokovic, one of which was in English and the other in his native Serbian. In both instances, Novak Djokovic used many conceptual metaphors throughout his speech, some of which were analysed in more detail. The main premise of the research was that people’s personalities change in accordance with language they speak at any given time and that they use different conceptual metaphors to describe the same events in different languages. The aim of the paper was to investigate whether personality shift in bilingual speakers can be observed through the speaker’s use of conceptual metaphors in different languages. Through the framework of conceptual metaphor theory, it was shown that Djokovic’s personality does change with the language he speaks. This change was shown through the conceptual metaphors, i.e., source and target domains that Djokovic used during the interviews. He does indeed use different source domains to conceptualise the same target domains in different languages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-298
Author(s):  
Sakineh Navidi-Baghi ◽  
Ali Izanloo ◽  
Alireza Qaeminia ◽  
Alireza Azad

Abstract The molecular structure of a complex metaphor comprises two or more atomic metaphorical parts, known as primary metaphors. In the same way, several molecular structures of metaphors may combine and form a mixture, known as mixed metaphors. In this study, different types of metaphoric integrations are reviewed and illustrated in figures to facilitate understanding the phenomena. Above all, we introduce double-ground metaphoric chain, a new form of metaphoric integration that has not been identified in the previous literature. Also, a distinction is made between single-ground and double-ground metaphoric chains. In the former, which has already been introduced, two basic metaphors are chained with the same form and have the same ground, while the latter includes two chained metaphors, one main metaphor plus a supportive one, with different grounds. In this analysis, we benefited from Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to analyse double-ground metaphoric chains. This study suggests that each metaphoric integration leads to a multifaceted conceptualization, in which each facet is related to one of the constituent micro-metaphors.


Author(s):  
Bérengère Lafiandra

This article intends to analyze the use of metaphors in a corpus of Donald Trump’s speeches on immigration; its main goal is to determine how migrants were depicted in the 2016 American presidential election, and how metaphor manipulated voters in the creation of this image. This study is multimodal since not only the linguistic aspect of speeches but also gestures are considered. The first part consists in presenting an overview of the theories on metaphor. It provides the theoretical framework and develops the main tenets of the ‘Conceptual Metaphor Theory’ (CMT). The second part deals with multimodality and presents what modes and gestures are. The third part provides the corpus and methodology. The last part consists in the corpus study and provides the main source domains as well as other rhetorical tools that are used by Trump to depict migrants and manipulate voters.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Burgers ◽  
Kathleen Ahrens

AbstractThe literature provides diverging perspectives on the universality and stability of economic metaphors over time. This article contains a diachronic analysis of economic metaphors describing trade in a corpus of 225 years of US State of the Union addresses (1790–2014). We focused on two types of change: (i) replacement of a source domain by another domain and (ii) change in mapping within a source domain. In our corpus, five source domains of trade were predominant: (i) PhysicalObject, (ii) Building, (iii) Container, (iv) Journey, and (v) LivingBeing. Only the relative frequency of the Container source domain was related to time. Additionally, mappings between source and target domains were mostly stable. Nevertheless, our analyses suggest that the Trade metaphors in our corpus are related to concreteness in a more nuanced way as typically assumed in conceptual metaphor theory: metaphors high in the concreteness dimension of physicality and low in the concreteness dimension of specificity are likeliest to be used over longer time periods, by providing communicators with freedom to adjust the metaphor to changing societal circumstances.


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