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Chapter 2. Time moves more often in poetry

A comparative corpus study
  • Rosa Illán Castillo and Pagán Cánovas Cristóbal
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Time Representations in the Perspective of Human Creativity
This chapter is in the book Time Representations in the Perspective of Human Creativity

Abstract

It is assumed that humans use spatial concepts to think and speak about time. In this chapter we analyze the spatialization of time in five different literary and non-literary corpora by looking at the frequency with which time units (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and centuries) appear as the subject of a motion verb. The results reveal that there is a tendency to spatialize time more often in literature – especially in lyric poetry – than in other non-literary linguistic contexts. This supports the idea that meaning construction cannot be reduced to a direct transfer-based model, but rather requires an elaborate network of conceptual integration that opportunistically – and creatively – adjusts mappings and integrations to goals.

Abstract

It is assumed that humans use spatial concepts to think and speak about time. In this chapter we analyze the spatialization of time in five different literary and non-literary corpora by looking at the frequency with which time units (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and centuries) appear as the subject of a motion verb. The results reveal that there is a tendency to spatialize time more often in literature – especially in lyric poetry – than in other non-literary linguistic contexts. This supports the idea that meaning construction cannot be reduced to a direct transfer-based model, but rather requires an elaborate network of conceptual integration that opportunistically – and creatively – adjusts mappings and integrations to goals.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Time and creativity in language
  6. Chapter 1. A corpus-based look at time metaphors 15
  7. Chapter 2. Time moves more often in poetry 41
  8. Chapter 3. What is time? 61
  9. Chapter 4. Working on it 81
  10. Part II. Beyond language
  11. Chapter 5. Creative visual metaphors of protracted and frozen time in autobiographical comics about depression 101
  12. Chapter 6. Time-creation in film 125
  13. Chapter 7. Beyond the limits 147
  14. Chapter 8. From “slow lettuce” to “striated time” 163
  15. Chapter 9. Physical and imaginary landmarks in English time gestures 187
  16. Chapter 10. Time in Chinese hands 209
  17. Epilogue. Creative to whom, and on what basis? 233
  18. Index 243
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.75.02ill

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Time and creativity in language
  6. Chapter 1. A corpus-based look at time metaphors 15
  7. Chapter 2. Time moves more often in poetry 41
  8. Chapter 3. What is time? 61
  9. Chapter 4. Working on it 81
  10. Part II. Beyond language
  11. Chapter 5. Creative visual metaphors of protracted and frozen time in autobiographical comics about depression 101
  12. Chapter 6. Time-creation in film 125
  13. Chapter 7. Beyond the limits 147
  14. Chapter 8. From “slow lettuce” to “striated time” 163
  15. Chapter 9. Physical and imaginary landmarks in English time gestures 187
  16. Chapter 10. Time in Chinese hands 209
  17. Epilogue. Creative to whom, and on what basis? 233
  18. Index 243
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