The metaphorical use of "on"

Authors

  • Ignasi Navarro Ferrando University Jaume I

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.47

Abstract

An attempt is made at refuting the idea that figurative uses of prepositions are chaotic. Figurative uses of the preposition on are explained as the result of metaphorical mappings from the physical domain onto abstract domains. The semantic structure of this preposition in the source domain is explained as a conceptual schema (support), which is formed as a combination of three more basic image schemas, namely, the contact schema, the control schema, and the force downwards schema. The Invariance Principle guarantees the preservation of the logic of these image schemas in target domains. The selection of a particular target domain is, therefore, motivated.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Brugman, C. M. 1990. “What is the Invariance Hypothesis?”. Cognitive Linguistics 1-2: 257-266.

Clark, H. H. 1973. “Space, time, semantics and the child”. Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language. Ed. T. E. Moore. London: Academic Press. 27-64.

Deane, P. D. 1993. “At, by, to, and past: An Essay in Multimodal Image Theory”. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 19: 112- 124.

Francis, W. N. & H. Kucera 1961. A Standard Corpus of Present-Day Edited American English. Providence, Rhode Island: Brown University.

Johnson, M. 1987. The Body in the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, G. 1987. Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, G. 1990. “The Invariance Hypothesis: Is abstract reason based on image-schemas?”. Cognitive Linguistics 1-1: 39-74.

Lakoff, G. 1993. “Contemporary theory of metaphor”. Metaphor & Thought. Ed. A. Ortony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 202-251.

Lakoff, G. & M. Johnson 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, G. & M. Turner 1989. More than Cool Reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Langacker, R. W. 1987. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Volume I: Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Navarro, I. 1998 “A multimodal system for spatial semantics: the preposition on”. Estudios de Lingüística Cognitiva. Ed. J.L. Cifuentes. Alicante: Universitat d’Alacant. 767-788.

Reddy, M. 1993 (1978). “The conduit metaphor. A case of frame conflict in our language about language”. Metaphor & Thought. Ed. A. Ortony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 164-201.

Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J. 1998. “On the nature of blending as a cognitive phenomenon”. Journal of Pragmatics 30: 259-274.

Taylor, J. R. 1989. Linguistic Categorization. Prototypes in Linguistic Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Turner, M. 1990. “Aspects of the Invariance Hypothesis”. Cognitive Linguistics 1-2: 247-255.

Wierzbicka, A. 1993. “Why do we say in April, on Thursday, at 10 o’clock? In search of an explanation”. Studies in Language 17-2: 437-454.

Journal of English Studies, 1 (1999): Cognitive Linguistics

Downloads

Published

29-05-1999

How to Cite

Navarro Ferrando, I. (1999). The metaphorical use of "on". Journal of English Studies, 1, 145–164. https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.47

Issue

Vol. 1 (1999): Special issue: Cognitive Linguistics

Section

Articles

License

The authors retain copyright of articles and authorize Journal of English Studies the first publication. They are free to share, redistribute, and/or reprint the article without obtaining permission from the publisher as long as they give appropriate credit to the editor and the journal.

Self-archiving is allowed too. In fact, it is recommendable to deposit a PDF version of the paper in academic and/or institutional repositories.

It is recommended to include the DOI number.

This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License