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Review of Cognitive Linguistics: Online-First Articles

Frames and semantic roles in metaphorical mappings

A contrastive study of English boil and Spanish hervir

| Universitat Jaume I | Institut Interuniversitari de Llengües Modernes Aplicades
| Universitat Jaume I | Institut Interuniversitari de Llengües Modernes Aplicades
Conceptual Metaphor Theory describes metaphorical mappings as correspondences between domains. Nevertheless, the interrelations of the mapped elements still need to be characterised. This study analyses metaphorical mappings from one situational frame in the cooking domain in American English and Peninsular Spanish. The aims are to elucidate to what extent each language primes particular semantic roles in the boiling frame for metaphorisation and explore the possible cultural implications of these cross-linguistic differences. The qualitative analysis reveals the contrastive relevance of semantic roles in frame mappings. In addition, the frequencies of boil and hervir metaphorical senses determine the degree of entrenchment and salience of metaphors cross-linguistically. The results suggest that the English boiling frame has a considerably broader scope as a source than the Spanish hervir frame. Additionally, the paper contrasts the relative saliency of the semantic roles mapped in those metaphors shared by both languages. Finally, cultural implications are discussed.
Keywords: conceptual metaphor, frames, semantic roles, contrastive semantics, metaphor variation
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cross-linguistic metaphor variation
  • 3.Frames, domains and metaphorical mappings
  • 4.Method
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1 boiling/hervir as a source frame
    • 5.2English target frames
      • 5.2.1 synthesising information
      • 5.2.2 social action
      • 5.2.3 skin abscess
      • 5.2.4 storm clouds
      • 5.2.5 emerging entities
      • 5.2.6 keeping interest
      • 5.2.7 psychological toughness
      • 5.2.8 sexual arousal
    • 5.3Spanish target frames
      • 5.3.1 mental exhaustion
    • 5.4Target frames shared by English and Spanish
      • 5.4.1 feeling anger/enfado
      • 5.4.2 calor ambiental extremo/extreme environmental heat
      • 5.4.3 intense mental activity/actividad mental intensa
      • 5.4.4 bustling with people/activity
      • 5.4.5 rough sea/mar gruesa
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Dictionary entries
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 29 April 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00180.nav
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