THE CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF JOY
Oana-Maria Pastae2020, Pastae Oana Maria
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study how "joy", an emotional concept, is metaphorized in English from a cognitive perspective. We are going to introduce the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics, then, briefly touch what a metaphor is, we will go over different types of conceptual metaphors and finally, we are going to talk about the conceptual metaphors of "joy". We think in metaphors, we learn them very early, and we don't know that. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of what we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. (George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, 2003, p.8). First, we are going to define what a metaphor is. For over 2,000 years, metaphor was studied within the rhetoric and was focused on how to persuade others of a particular point of view by the use of rhetorical devices. As a consequence, metaphor has been identified since the time of Aristotle with implicit comparison: Achilles is a lion. If Lakoff (1993) and Lakoff and Turner (1989) distinguish between conceptual metaphors, conventional metaphors and image metaphors, Grady's (1997, 1999) distinguishes correlation metaphors and resemblance metaphors. The resemblance is not physical: Achilles does not actually look like a lion but our cultural knowledge which holds that lions are courageous, helps us associate Achilles with the lion's qualities of courage and ferocity. Lakoff and Turner (1989) call resemblance metaphors based on physical resemblance image metaphors. Resemblance metaphors have received considerable attention within conceptual metaphor theory, particularly within the approach now known as cognitive poetics. Lakoff and Johnson's book Metaphors We Live By changed the way linguists thought about metaphor. Conceptual Metaphor Theory was one of the earliest theoretical frameworks identified as part of the cognitive semantics enterprise and provided much of the early theoretical impetus for the cognitive approach. The basic premise of Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that metaphor is not simply a stylistic feature of language, but that thought itself, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature. Secondly, we will describe the types of conceptual metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson (1980, pp. 26-79) identified three types of conceptual metaphors: Structural metaphor-one concept is structured on the basis of other concept that is highly structured and clearly defined (e.g. LOVE is a JOURNEY). Orientation metaphor-organizes whole system of concepts (e.g. HAPPY is UP). Most of our basic concepts are organized in conceptual frame of one or more spatially oriented metaphors that are grounded in the physical and cultural experience. Ontological metaphors-serve various purposes such as reference, quantification etc. They treat abstract (non-physical) things as entities. We barely notice them as metaphors because they are so naturally imprinted in our conceptual system that we take them to be the direct descriptions of mental phenomena. We use them to understand the events, actions and states. Events are metaphorically conceptualized as objects, actions as substances and states as containers (Lakoff & al. 1980, pp. 40-45). Finally, we are trying to make the cognitive model of joy taking the example of Lakoff for anger. Joy is a fluid in a container: She was bursting with joy; joy is heat/fire: Fires of joy were kindled by the birth of her son; joy is a natural force: I was overwhelmed by joy; joy is a social superior: If I ruled the world by joy; joy is an opponent: She was seized by joy; joy is a captive animal: All joy broke loose as the kids opened their presents; joy is insanity: The crowd went crazy with joy; joy is a force dislocating the self: He was beside himself with joy.
