Metaphor across Time and Conceptual Space: The interplay of embodiment and cultural models

Description

Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2013. — 252 p.— ISBN-10: 9027204063; ISBN-13: 978-9027204066.Contemporary linguistic forms are partially the product of their historical antecedents, and the same is true for cognitive conceptualization. The book presents the results of several diachronic corpus studies of conceptual metaphor in a longitudinal and empirical “mixed methods” design, employing both quantitative and qualitative analysis measures; the study design was informed by usage-based theory. The goal was to investigate the interaction over time between conceptualization and cultural models in historical English-speaking society. The main study of two linguistic metaphors of anger spans five centuries (A.D. 1500 to 1990). The results show that conceptualization and cultural models — understood as non-autonomous, encyclopedic knowledge — work together to determine both the meaning and use of a linguistic metaphor. In addition, historically a wide variety of emotion concepts formed a complex cognitive array called the Domain Matrix of emotion. The implications for conceptual metaphor theory, research methodology, and future study are discussed in detail.Theoretical foundationsThe Cognition-Culture interfaceDiachronic aspects of synchronic conceptsMetaphor across historical timeA macro-study of human emotion in cultural context, A.D. 1500–1990Research questions and methodologyThe main study of two diachronic metaphors of angerMicro-studies of emotion – the 19th centuryThe edge of anger: The spleen metaphor across emotion domainsBubbling happiness: Properties of emotionConclusions and implicationsThe non-autonomous nature of cognition, language, and cultureEpilogue. “Bridging the Gap” between theory and real-world language useReferences. The historical Four Humors texts with brief annotationsAppendicesIndex