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(i) Concretizing metaphors, which codify the representation of abstract entities as objects or cloth/clothes (first row).
(ii) Orientational metaphors, i.e. equations linked to the notion of place/space (second row).
(iii) Metaphors related to the notion of orientation. Abstract concepts such as health, pitch, happiness, amount and rank are seen as entities on a vertical axis (up/down)5.
The last set of equations codify the personification of abstract entities.
Note that some verbs codify several metaphors, e.g. rise, fall, sink, lower. In this regard, we may affirm that the intrafield membership correlates with the interfield double membership.
Movement and change
The projection of MOVEMENT onto CHANGE touches upon verbs denoting an increase or decrease in amount or degree, thus linking MOVEMENT to CHANGE, since the semantic parameters of amount and degree traverse the domain of CHANGE. The connection between both semantic fields obtains from a set of orientational metaphors (cf. above):
(24) He has risen to the position of manager.
(25) Share prices have plunged.
Movement and feeling
MOVEMENT verbs also extend to FEELING. This extension results from the codification of several metaphorical processes:
- the metaphorical representation of a feeling (happiness) on an up/down scale:
(26) Whenever I feel down, Martha lifts my spirits.
(27) Peter’s face fell when I broke the news to him.
- the personification of body parts. This metaphor interacts with the previous one (cf. example above).
- the metaphorical structuring of emotions as sense expressions. The verbs shake, tremble,shiver, shudder and quiver describe body movement as expression of an internal emotional state (anxiety, fear, disgust). This metaphorical process can be explained by the fact that emotions have corresponding physical effects on the experiencer, and these effects have come to represent the emotion that caused them:
(28) He trembled like a leaf at the sight of the tiger.
Movement and cognition
The metaphorical projection of MOVEMENT into COGNITION results from a process of reification or personification of abstract entities. On the one hand, ideas can be metaphorized as objects moving in/into (revolve, penetrate) or out of somebody’s mind (slip, escape):6
(29) The importance of her decision did not penetrate at first.
(30) His surname has slipped my mind.
(31) There is a major point which seems to have escaped you.
To use Halliday’s terminology (1994:117), the last examples are instances of the please-type metaphorical structuring of mental processes. Mental processes can be represented either as like-types or please-types. This means that I like X is equivalent to X pleases me. Then, It has slipped my mind/It has escaped me has the same meaning as I have forgotten it.
Ideas can also be seen as objects which are pushed into someone’s mind:
(32) He stuffed my head full of strange ideas.
Following Reddy (1993), the verbs stuff, cram and shove lexicalize an aspect of the conduit metaphor, which explains the conceptualization of communication as the transfer of thoughts bodily from one person to another.
MOVEMENT AND SPEECH
The verbs raise, drop, pass, spin and weave show the extension of MOVEMENT to SPEECH. Ideas can be communicated like objects being moved: raise (a subject, an objection), drop7 (a hint, remark), pass (a sentence, remark):
(33) You shouldn’t drop hints about promotion to your boss.
Words can also be metaphorically seen as strands of thread that the speaker puts together to produce a coherent message:
(34) The old sea captain sat by the fire spinning yawns.
Movement and action
The connection of MOVEMENT with ACTION is established though the metaphorization of activities as places. Activities can be described as if they were linear motion. It is then possible to move into (rush) or away from an activity (leave, quit, abandon):
(35) They abandoned the game because of the rain.
On the other hand, causing an activity is causing movement forward:
(36) She pushed me into taking the job.
Conclusion
The semantic analysis of the field of MOVEMENT has shown that words are embedded in a set of rich semantic relations. The focalization of a meaning component and the genus of the lexeme account for the extension of a few MOVEMENT verbs to other subdomains within the domain (intrafield extensions). On the other hand, the metaphorical processes encoded in the semantic domain of MOVEMENT account for the projection of many verbs onto other semantic fields (interfield extensions), thus giving proof of the linguistic significance of metaphor.a
Notes
1 This assumption is found in some semantic theories (i.e. prototype semantics).
2 By working upwards from the definitional structure of primary lexemes, Faber and Mairal (1997) have identified eleven semantic domains corresponding to basic conceptual categories: EXISTENCE, MOVEMENT, POSITION, CHANGE, PERCEPTION, FEELING, COGNITION, POSSESSION, SPEECH, SOUND, and GENERAL ACTION.
3 The concept of subdomain is based on Geckeler´s (1971) concept of lexical dimension.
4 See appendix for the configuration of the paradigmatic axis of the semantic domain of MOVEMENT.
5 Lakoff and Johnson’s Experiential Hypothesis (1980: 267-268) postulates that most abstract concepts arise from our preconceptual bodily experiences as infants —like the experience of up and down— by metaphorical projection.
6 Note the conceptualization of the mind as a place. As Romelhart (1993:89) points out: “We use a spatial world to talk about the mind”.
7 This verb codifies the conduit metaphor (cf. above).
8 The verbs in brackets are an example of the type of verbs falling in each subdomain.
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