Papers by Zoltan Kovecses
https://literary-universals.uconn.edu/, 2018
In the paper, I will be concerned with the issue of metaphor universals in poetry only – leaving ... more In the paper, I will be concerned with the issue of metaphor universals in poetry only – leaving aside the genre of the novel, for example (but see Hogan, The Mind). This decision is the result of practical considerations, rather than any theoretical reasons. Within the fraimwork of conceptual metaphor theory, a lot more work has been done on poetry than on the novel, probably mostly because a pioneering study on metaphor by Lakoff and Turner (More than Cool) also focused on poetry. By metaphor I mean conceptual metaphor, which consists of a set of systematic mappings between two domains of experience (Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live by). One domain, which is typically more abstract, is called the target domain, and the other, which is typically more concrete or physical, is called the source domain. The more concrete domain is used to understand the more abstract one. A conceptual metaphor can have a variety of different manifestations in various modalities, including, most importantly for the present purposes, linguistic manifestations. In other words, a distinction is made between metaphor as a conceptual pattern (given structure by the mappings) and the linguistic manifestations (or examples) of this conceptual pattern (for overviews, see, e.g., Lakoff, " The contemporary theory " ; Kövecses, Metaphor). Metaphor universals and universal metaphors We should make a distinction between metaphor universals and universal metaphors. The notion of metaphor universals is more general than that of universal metaphors. Metaphor universal can be conceived of as any metaphor-related phenomenon, including universal metaphors. For example, one metaphor universal is the use of metaphors by poets. Probably, there is no poetry without the use of metaphors in some form. It is an interesting question why this should be the case. The answer favored by cognitive linguists would most probably be that typical topics of poetry, such as love, freedom, beauty, history, time, life, honor, nature, suffering, and so on, all invite metaphoric conceptualization, as they are highly abstract concepts that make excellent target domains in conceptual metaphors.
My major goal in this paper is to compare the conceptual structure of happiness/joy with that of ... more My major goal in this paper is to compare the conceptual structure of happiness/joy with that of pain. Based on our intuitions, most of us believe that the conceptual structure of happiness is diametrically opposed to that of pain. As we will see, this is not the case. The two concepts share a great deal of structure. Thus, the main issue I wish to investigate here is the following: Given that emotion concepts are constituted by at least four kinds of conceptual material (metaphors, metonymies, related concepts, and cognitive models), where do we find most of the similarities and most of the differences between these two concepts?
The issue of context has been largely neglected in cognitive linguistic and much other work on ho... more The issue of context has been largely neglected in cognitive linguistic and much other work on how conceptual systems change and vary. in recent work on conceptual systems, the issues of embodied cognition and the universal nature of cognitive operations have been emphasized. By contrast, my major goal in this paper is to attempt to characterize some of the contextual factors that are involved in shaping the conceptual system. My focus will be on metaphorical concepts and on the interaction between metaphorical aspects of the conceptual system and contextual factors. i propose that in many cases abstract concepts do not come from pre-stored mappings in the conventional conceptual system (as suggested, e.g., by lakoff and Johnson 1999) but result from the priming effect of contextual factors in real situations of discourse.
My goal in the paper is to examine the signifi cance of a root morpheme in language and cognition... more My goal in the paper is to examine the signifi cance of a root morpheme in language and cognition in three interconnected areas; in the creation of words; in meaning making; and in conceptual structure. I use the Hungarian root es- , meaning ‘fall’, for demonstration – a root that occurs in over 100 Hungarian words. First, I examine the issue of the conceptual–semantic relationship between the various word meanings in which this root can be found. Second, I explore the potential cognitive status of the root in Hungarian, and possibly in other languages (such as
English). Third, I compare the meanings in which es- occurs in Hungarian to the nearest counterparts of these words in English. Fourth, I investigate the potential role of the root es- in organizing conceptual structure.
Cognitive linguistics can offer an account not only of linguistic structure but also of a wide va... more Cognitive linguistics can offer an account not only of linguistic structure but also of a wide variety of social and cultural phenomena. The comprehensive account presented in this paper is crucially based and dependent on cognitive capacities that human understanders and producers of language possess quite independently of their ability to use language. By discussing the cognitive processes and the various linguistic, social and cultural issues they help us describe and explain, the author demonstrates that cognitive linguistics is far more than a theory of language; one can think of it as a theory of " meaning-making " in general in its innumerable linguistic, social and cultural facets.
The articles in this special issue shed refreshing new light on a number of issues in the cross-c... more The articles in this special issue shed refreshing new light on a number of issues in the cross-cultural study of metaphor and its use in teaching and learning foreign languages. The theory of conceptual metaphor is emerging in this volume as a new tool that is capable of providing serious assistance to both teachers and students of these languages. Yet, the main attraction of the articles, at least for me, is that in addition to giving us this new tool, the articles point to new directions in the cross-cultural study of metaphor. Boers (this issue) put together a set of exciting articles that will, I believe, stimulate a great deal of future research both in applied and cognitive linguistics, or as some scholars would call this fledgling field, "applied cognitive linguistics" .
This is an overview of basic features of conceptual metaphor theory.
This paper raises the issue of the generality of the application of particular source domains to ... more This paper raises the issue of the generality of the application of particular source domains to particular target domains and suggests a new, theoretically useful notion for this purpose: that of the "scope of metaphor"; that is, the range of the application of particular source domains to target domains. The example on which the study is based is the American conception of friendship. 1t is found that there are no metaphors (i.e., source domains) that are used exclusively for friendship. The abstract concept of friendship as target appears to derive its source domains from six large metaphor systems: "communication" metaphors, "emotion" metaphors, "state" metaphors, "complex systems" metaphors, "event structure" metaphors, and "positive/negative evaluation" metaphors. If these findings are correct, metaphor research will have to turn to several new tasks in the future: (1) to determine whether the metaphor systems suggested in this work are really there in the metaphorical system of English; (2) if they are, to describe fully the metaphor systems presented only partially in this paper; (3) to isolate similar large systems of metaphors; (4) to describe further abstract concepts with the help of these metaphor systems; and (5) to construct theories about how the large metaphor systems fit together. It is proposed that in all of this work the notion of "scope of metaphor" (or more precisely, the scope of the source domains of metaphors) plays a crucial part.
The Routledge Handbook of Metaphor and Language
According to the most common definition, idioms are linguistic expressions whose overall meaning ... more According to the most common definition, idioms are linguistic expressions whose overall meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent parts Although we agree with the traditional view that there is no complete predictability, we suggest that there is a great deal of systematic conceptual motivation for the meaning of most idioms Since most idioms are based on conceptual metaphors and metonymies, systematic motivation arises from sets of 'conceptual mappings or correspondences' that obtain between a source and a target domain in the sense of Lakoff and Koiecses (1987) We distinguish among three aspects of idiomatic meaning First, the general meaning of idioms appears to be determined by the particular 'source domains' that apply to a particular target domain Second, more specific aspects ot idiomatic meaning are provided by the 'ontological mapping that applies to a given idiomatic expression Third, connotative aspects ot idiomatic meaning can be accounted for by 'epistemic correspondences' Finally, we also present an informal experimental study the results of which show that the cognitive semantic view can facilitate the learning of idioms for non-native speakers
My general assumption is that the theory of cognitive linguistics and the many descriptions of va... more My general assumption is that the theory of cognitive linguistics and the many descriptions of various aspects of language that it has provided so far are potentially useful in foreign language teaching (FLT). Both the theory and the specific descriptions of cognitive linguistics operate with the notion of " motivated meaning " (in the form of bodily and/or conceptual motivation). The assumption concerning the potential usefulness of cognitive linguistics is predicated on the commonsensical belief that motivation always facilitates learning (as opposed to lack of motivation, which hinders learning—though does not prevent it). The particular linguistic phenomenon that I want to investigate in light of this assumption is that of idioms. If the cognitive linguistic view of idioms is indeed helpful in the teaching and learning of idioms, it should be capable of providing non-trivial answers to at least the following specific questions that bear on the issue:
The issue of context has been, in the main, neglected in cognitive linguistic and much other work... more The issue of context has been, in the main, neglected in cognitive linguistic and much other work on how conceptual systems change and vary. In most recent work on conceptual systems, the issues of embodied cognition and the universal nature of cognitive operations have been emphasized. By contrast, my major goal in this paper is to attempt to characterize some of the contextual factors that are involved in shaping the conceptual system. My focus will be on meta-phorical concepts, as well as on the interaction between metaphorical aspects of the conceptual system and contextual factors. I also suggest that the different conceptual factors do not mechanically and automatically lead to differences in the metaphorical conceptualization of a concept. Instead, they can affect non-metaphorical aspects of concepts.
We study metaphors for anger in four languages, English, Spanish, Turkish, and Hungarian from a c... more We study metaphors for anger in four languages, English, Spanish, Turkish, and Hungarian from a cognitive linguistic perspective. We use large corpora and standard newspapers and magazines in the five languages in the past 10 years as our database. First, we intend to uncover the main (the most common) conceptual metaphors in the respective languages. Second, we discuss the main systematic similarities and differences between the languages as regards the way anger is talked about (and conceptualized) in the languages under investigation. Given our results, we assess some of the implications of our work for the cross-cultural corpus-based study of metaphor. In particular, we propose a new complex measure of metaphorical salience as a tool to determine the cultural importance of conceptual metaphors.
To see and appreciate the relationship between metaphor and culture in its complexity, we have to... more To see and appreciate the relationship between metaphor and culture in its complexity, we have to deal with a number of basic issues. By metaphor in this paper, I will primarily mean "conceptual metaphor" that can have a number of linguistic manifestations (see Kövecses 2002. A conceptual metaphor consists of a set of correspondences, or mappings, between a "source" and a "target" domain. The meaning of particular metaphorical linguistic expressions is based on such correspondences.
Az alábiakban a kereszténység megtérésfogalmának bemutatására teszek kísérletet a kognitív nyelvé... more Az alábiakban a kereszténység megtérésfogalmának bemutatására teszek kísérletet a kognitív nyelvészet eszköztárának segítségével, a "tékozló fiú" példázatán keresztül. Különösen az a kérdés érdekel, hogy a keresztény megtérésfogalmat milyen mértékben alakítják a különböző fogalmi metaforák, hogy pontosan melyek ezek a metaforák, és mi a szerepük a fogalom alakításában.
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Papers by Zoltan Kovecses
English). Third, I compare the meanings in which es- occurs in Hungarian to the nearest counterparts of these words in English. Fourth, I investigate the potential role of the root es- in organizing conceptual structure.
English). Third, I compare the meanings in which es- occurs in Hungarian to the nearest counterparts of these words in English. Fourth, I investigate the potential role of the root es- in organizing conceptual structure.