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The embodiment/culture continuum

A historical study of conceptual metaphor

Abstract

Cognitive Linguistics accepts as a fundamental principle that embodied experience and culture both influence the cognitive conceptualization of meaning in language; however, most studies focus on the influence of embodiment. Diachronic studies are useful to show the effect of cultural models on conceptualization. The current study collected samples of metaphors of the spleen (e.g., “He vented his spleen”) from 19th century English popular magazines to investigate the relative contributions of cognition and culture on metaphor instantiation. The results showed that culture was isomorphic with embodied experience in the data. Based on the results, an embodiment/culture continuum is proposed, within which different conceptualizations vary in their content on the two dimensions. Usagebased models of language provide an explanation for the study results.

Abstract

Cognitive Linguistics accepts as a fundamental principle that embodied experience and culture both influence the cognitive conceptualization of meaning in language; however, most studies focus on the influence of embodiment. Diachronic studies are useful to show the effect of cultural models on conceptualization. The current study collected samples of metaphors of the spleen (e.g., “He vented his spleen”) from 19th century English popular magazines to investigate the relative contributions of cognition and culture on metaphor instantiation. The results showed that culture was isomorphic with embodied experience in the data. Based on the results, an embodiment/culture continuum is proposed, within which different conceptualizations vary in their content on the two dimensions. Usagebased models of language provide an explanation for the study results.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Preface ix
  4. Introduction. Approaches to the study of formulae xi
  5. Part I. What is Formulaic Language
  6. Grammarians' languages versus humanists' languages and the place of speech act formulas in models of linguistic competence 3
  7. Identifying formulaic language 27
  8. Part II. Structure and distribution
  9. Formulaic tendencies of demonstrative clefts in spoken English 55
  10. Formulaic language and the relater category – the case of about 77
  11. The aim is to analyze NP 97
  12. Fixedness in Japanese adjectives in conversation 117
  13. Genre-controlled constructions in written language quotatives 147
  14. Some remarks on the evaluative connotations of toponymic idioms in a contrastive perspective 171
  15. Part III. Historical change
  16. The role of prefabs in grammaticization 187
  17. Formulaic models and formulaicity in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic 219
  18. A corpus study of lexicalized formulaic sequences with preposition + hand 239
  19. The embodiment/culture continuum 257
  20. From ‘remaining’ to ‘becoming’ in Spanish 273
  21. Author index 297
  22. Subject index 307
Formulaic Language
This chapter is in the book Formulaic Language
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.82.12the

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents vii
  3. Preface ix
  4. Introduction. Approaches to the study of formulae xi
  5. Part I. What is Formulaic Language
  6. Grammarians' languages versus humanists' languages and the place of speech act formulas in models of linguistic competence 3
  7. Identifying formulaic language 27
  8. Part II. Structure and distribution
  9. Formulaic tendencies of demonstrative clefts in spoken English 55
  10. Formulaic language and the relater category – the case of about 77
  11. The aim is to analyze NP 97
  12. Fixedness in Japanese adjectives in conversation 117
  13. Genre-controlled constructions in written language quotatives 147
  14. Some remarks on the evaluative connotations of toponymic idioms in a contrastive perspective 171
  15. Part III. Historical change
  16. The role of prefabs in grammaticization 187
  17. Formulaic models and formulaicity in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic 219
  18. A corpus study of lexicalized formulaic sequences with preposition + hand 239
  19. The embodiment/culture continuum 257
  20. From ‘remaining’ to ‘becoming’ in Spanish 273
  21. Author index 297
  22. Subject index 307
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