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Article published In:
Review of Cognitive Linguistics
Vol. 20:2 (2022) ► pp.305–329

From usage patterns to meaning construction

Evidence from ear and eye figurative constructions

ORCID logo | University of Crete
| University of Crete

The present study investigates the meaning construction emerging from figurative constructions involving ear and eye in Modern Greek. The study concerns authentic language data retrieved from a corpus search. Analysis takes into consideration the embodiment hypothesis, the development of chained metonymies and the interaction of metaphor and metonymy as the motivation for the usage patterns under investigation. The constructions analyzed reveal that the sense of vision is prioritized over hearing. Furthermore, constructional parameters of meaning show how ears and eyes are perceived in MG language and culture. Eye is attributed the agent role in the constructions, while ear is the entity acted upon. Moreover, eyes are mainly perceived as reflections of different dimensions of the selfhood, while ears are perceived as containers. A broader polysemy thus emerges for the eye than for the ear.

Keywords: corpus-based study, usage pattern, construction, ear, eye, metaphor, metonymy, embodiment, polysemy, culture, Greek
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction and background
    • 1.1Metaphor and metonymy and their interaction in figurative language
    • 1.2Experiential basis of metaphor and metonymy and their interaction in figurative language
      • 1.2.1Body parts and chained metonymies
  • 2.Corpus studies and methodology
    • 2.1Methodology
  • 3.Meaning construction in usage patterns with body part terms
    • 3.1Metaphor-metonymy and their interaction in ear usage patterns
      • 3.1.1Constructional parameters of meaning in ear usage patterns
    • 3.2Metaphor-metonymy and their interaction in eye usage patterns
      • 3.2.1Constructional parameters of meaning in eye usage patterns
    • 3.3Overall discussion and comparison
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 8 December 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00113.tho
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