Metaphors with LIGHT/DARKNESS

In: S. Gudurić & B. Radić-Bojanić (Eds.), Languages and Cultures in Time and Space VIII/1. Novi Sad: University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Philosophy, 2019

The aim of this paper is to analyze how image-schematic structures build the foundation of the conceptual metaphors KNOWLEDGE IS LIGHT and IGNORANCE IS DARKNESS in English and Serbian idioms with the components Eng. light and dark, as well as Serb. svetlo(st) and mrak / tama. Since the source domains in question, namely LIGHT and DARKNESS, as well as their target domain counterparts, KNOWLEDGE and IGNORANCE, represent bipolar concepts, it can be hypothesized that the image-schematic structures underlying the idioms would reflect these conceptual dichotomies. The results show that there are different ways in which image-schemas may lend structure to the metaphorical interaction between bipolar source and target domains. These conceptual dichotomies can manifest themselves in two ways: on the one hand, as different constellations of schemas along a temporal dimension in a single schematic structure, or, on the other hand, as two mutually incompatible alternative structures differing in one or more specific schemas.

naciscione.com

The paper explores metaphorical traces within the cognitive linguistic framework and examines metaphorical networks in language, created by a cultural concept or a social event. In the cognitive view, our thinking, perception and experiences are basically metaphorical, which determines the interrelationship between thought, culture and language in the process of conceptualisation, resulting in a metaphorical representation in the human mind and its expression in language. Figurative language does not only reflect everyday individual or collective vision, but also testifies to past events, our values, beliefs and attitudes. Most of the abstract notions, phenomena and events are mapped in language in terms of metaphors. Many conceptual metaphors may be traced back to more ancient or recent periods, they may disappear altogether or may change their meaning in the course of evolution.

Šesti međunarodni interdisciplinarni simpozijum „Susret kultura“ – Zbornik radova, 2013

two most basic colour terms, and , in Serbian and English. These two terms have been most basic ones, since they were found to exist even in languages which have only two names for colours. In our analysis, metaphorical extensions were isolated after comparing several Serbian and English dictionaries, and attempts were made at making hypotheses about how these extensions came into being. The study shows that there is a relatively high degree of correspondence between the two compared languages in terms of the existence of underlying conceptual metaphors with and serving as source domains.

Journal of Pragmatics, 2004

The articles presented in this special issue are a selection of papers from the Third International Conference on Researching And Applying Metaphor (RAAM III), held in June 1999 at Tilburg University in The Netherlands. The fourth RAAM conference has since been held in Tunis, in 2001, and the fifth, in September 2003, in Paris. The continued interest in the applied study of metaphor bears testimony to the fruitful nature of contemporary metaphor research, and to the timely identification of its potential for application by the initiators of the conference series, Lynne Cameron and Graham Low. Their edited book of the same title is the most conspicuous published result of these developments (Cameron and Low, 1999), and the present special issue is a further addition to this stock. The particular focus of this special issue is on researching and applying metaphor across languages, the conference theme of RAAM III. The plenary papers of the two invited speakers, Raymond Gibbs and Cliff Goddard, are included as two seminal examples of doing this type of cross-linguistic research with radically different methodologies. Two additional papers, by Alice Deignan and Liz Potter and by Christina Schäffner, add further to the variety of approaches employed in cross-linguistic metaphor research. The undercurrent of methodological discussion that can be observed in all four of these papers, and that is characteristic of metaphor as well as of cross-linguistic research, is brought out in its full complexity in the last two papers, by Elena Semino and her co-authors and by my own paper. Together, these six papers provide a concrete and rich illustration of the diverging concerns of contemporary research on, and application of, metaphor. Gibbs and his associates focus on the similarities and differences between the experience of desire in American English and Brazilian Portuguese. They examine the thesis that metaphor is grounded in embodied experience, an idea that has informed cognitivelinguistic metaphor research from the beginning (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, 1999). What is special about Gibbs et al.'s contribution is its systematic and controlled comparison between two distinct cultures, as well as the way these cultures metaphorically conceptualize and express desire as hunger. In particular, a cognitive-linguistic analysis of expressions relating to desire in both languages first leads to an inventory of hunger metaphors for desire. Then an independent conceptual analysis of the experience of hunger by itself produces a classification of aspects of hunger in both cultures. These conceptual analyses are finally used as predictive categories in a rating study examining how people in both cultures think of and talk about desire as hunger. The overall similarities, as well as some of the differences, are remarkable, and can be seen as support for the view of culture and cognition as embodied experience.

Jezikoslovlje, 2019

Cognitive Linguistics, which primarily deals with the conceptual structures of human mind via their language manifestation, opens new prospects in study- ing binary oppositions. Despite numerous researches of this phenomenon, lots of questions raised here do not have exhaustive answers. What we need is not only inquiry oriented toward ascertainment of the universality (or the degree of universality) of some binary oppositions, but studies of their system in a certain linguaculture within a given time period. The precise study of interrelations among various symbolic domains in this sphere is another important problem. Furthermore, binary oppositions should not be seen as stable and unchangeable structures presented within human consciousness but they must be regarded as the external manifestation of specific cognitive mechanisms. This paper presents an empirical investigation of the binary opposition LIGHT-DARK based on the method of an associative experiment. The analysis of the responses clearly reveals binary oppositions which are deep-rooted in the speakers’ consciousness and which closely interact. These oppositions build a rich background for the metaphorical interchange between corresponding domains which create a whole system where the correlating parts are used for the metaphoric designation of each other. The main focus of this study is the interaction of cognitive mechanisms of contradistinction with conceptual metaphor and further analysis of the result of this process in a language.

The paper explores metaphorical traces within the cognitive linguistic framework and examines metaphorical networks in language, created by a cultural concept or a social event. In the cognitive view, our thinking, perception and experiences are basically metaphorical, which determines the interrelationship between thought, culture and language in the process of conceptualisation, resulting in a metaphorical representation in the human mind and its expression in language. Figurative language does not only reflect everyday individual or collective vision, but also testifies to past events, our values, beliefs and attitudes. Most of the abstract notions, phenomena and events are mapped in language in terms of metaphors. Many conceptual metaphors may be traced back to more ancient or recent periods, they may disappear altogether or may change their meaning in the course of evolution.

Jezyk. Komunikacja. Informacja / Language. Communictation. Information, 2019

Light verb constructions (henceforth LVCs) constitute a peculiar category within the system of verbal constructions having metaphorical meanings, as their semantics is primarily determined not by the verb but rather by its nominal dependent, which generally functions as an object. However, the category of LVCs is far from being homogeneous. The goal of the present paper is twofold. Firstly, I attempt to account for the variability we find within the category of LVCs. Secondly, I analyse the semantic structure of the Hungarian verb köt ‘tie, bind’ in order to find out how LVCs involving this verb can be integrated into the system of verbal constructions with metaphorical meanings. By the study of attested, real-world examples, I also aim to highlight the fact that (contrary to a popular assumption in the specialized literature) the verbal components of LVCs cannot be considered “meaningless” elements. While their meaning is abstract to a lesser or higher degree, they are by no means semantically “empty”; moreover, their meaning is not necessarily and exclusively “grammatical”.

2021

In this paper, four conceptual metaphors very frequently used in the Montenegrin language are analyzed. These are conceptual metaphors: Negotiation is Boxing Match, Stone is Weak, Bad, Low-Quality, Humorous is Bloody and Capital is a Woman (During Intercourse, with an Intention for Procreation). The mentioned conceptual metaphors have entered the focus of our scientific interest because they reveal some very important facts about the Montenegrin mentality. We can say that these facts are immanent to the way of thinking of the average resident of Montenegro to the extent that they are firmly woven into the linguistic expression. These conceptual metaphors can be found in all functional styles of the Montenegrin language, and, most importantly, they are most often used in everyday language. The conceptual metaphors we deal with in this paper, however, are not only related to the way of thinking of the inhabitants of Montenegro, but are, potentially, also part of the universal way of f...

Translating metaphors is one of the most prominent areas where the importance of respect for the receptor languages and cultures can be demonstrated and in this article I present a few examples from my own experience with CIS (former USSR) languages. Among other treatments of metaphor, I draw on the work of K. McElhanon, who suggests translating scenarios rather than words and expressions, even though scenarios are not identical in different cultures. When I was training to become a translation consultant in the late 1990s, David Clark was my main tutor. I have learned many things from him, but the most important was, I believe, his deep and sincere respect for the receptor languages and cultures. He preferred to encourage rather than dictate, so translation teams felt free to look for words and expressions that would fit their own way to describe the world. Translating metaphors is one of the most prominent cases where the importance of respect for the receptor language and culture can be demonstrated and in this article I present a few examples from my own experience with CIS (former USSR) languages. As for the theory, it is impossible even to list the most prominent latest works concerning metaphors, since the changes in recent decades have been revolutionary, especially with the Article