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Chapter 3. What is time?

Verbal creativity in copula constructions
  • Anna Piata
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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

The focus of this chapter is on poetic metaphors of time that appear in so-called equations, that is, copula constructions of the form ‘NP be NP’. While metaphorical creativity of time has been extensively and thoroughly studied, research on such metaphors is rather limited and mostly associated with image metaphors. Based on data from the English PoetiCog corpus, this chapter demonstrates that these metaphors activate mental imagery (as previously assumed) but due to the constructional pattern of equations they also directly evoke the source of the metaphorical mapping. This posits a challenge for their understanding, which I argue to tap into a process of mental simulation along the lines of embodied semantics.

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on poetic metaphors of time that appear in so-called equations, that is, copula constructions of the form ‘NP be NP’. While metaphorical creativity of time has been extensively and thoroughly studied, research on such metaphors is rather limited and mostly associated with image metaphors. Based on data from the English PoetiCog corpus, this chapter demonstrates that these metaphors activate mental imagery (as previously assumed) but due to the constructional pattern of equations they also directly evoke the source of the metaphorical mapping. This posits a challenge for their understanding, which I argue to tap into a process of mental simulation along the lines of embodied semantics.

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.75.03pia

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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