Naslov
Lexical Synaesthesia in Metaphorical Collocations: Cross-modal Mappings of Gustatory Adjectives in English

Autori
Jurčević, Jana

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
JEZIK I MIGRACIJE, XXXVII. međunarodni znanstveni skup Hrvatskog društva za primijenjenu lingvistiku

Mjesto i datum
Osijek, Hrvatska, 15.06.2023. - 17.06.2023

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
lexical synaesthesia ; metaphorical collocations ; metonymy ; cross-modal mapping ; embodiment

Sažetak
When talking about perception and the senses, people often employ metaphorical language. Speakers, for instance, talk about sweet voices, sour scents, and spicy undertones. This study aims to clarify the nature of these cross-modal mappings, also known as lexical synaesthesia (LS), by focusing on the aforementioned metaphorical collocations containing gustatory adjectives. Considering the attributes of the phenomenon, we have opted for an eclectic theoretical frame combining two different fields: Cognitive linguistics and its Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1980), tightly connected to the Theory of Embodied Cognition (Johnson 2018), with Sensory Linguistics (Winter 2019). Three main questions arose in previous research on lexical synaesthesia that also defined this study. They are the question of the directionality of cross-modal mappings in LS, the existence of a specific mechanism that enables this type of mapping, and whether LS is a subtype of conceptual metaphor. Those problems and preliminary English web corpus analysis gave rise to the following hypothesis: H1 LS originates in metonymy (Kövecses 2013) just as well as in metaphor. Which mechanism will be chosen depends on the communicative function of an expression. H2 LS does not coincide with neurobiological synaesthesia. H3 LS is bidirectional, with a tendency to map from touch through taste and smell, finishing with vision and hearing. Methodologically we have opted for a usage-based approach rooted in English web corpus (enTenTen20) analysis. The corpus was analysed with a software Sketch Engine which provided contextualised examples and frequencies of metaphorical collocations with gustatory adjectives. The study's main results proved to be the following: a) metonymy bears equal importance as metaphor in the human conceptualization of the senses, b) embodiment of the senses, the emotional valence of lexemes and pragmatics predetermine directionality of cross-modal mappings. General contributions of this research presented themselves in shedding more light onto the complex relationship between human perception and conceptualization, in pointing to the relevance of embodiment and praxis for meaning formation in natural language, and in reconciling semantics with pragmatics through lexicology and corpus analysis, which demonstrated the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in contemporary science.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Informacijske i komunikacijske znanosti, Filozofija, Filologija, Interdisciplinarne humanističke znanosti, Kognitivna znanost (prirodne, tehničke, biomedicina i zdravstvo, društvene i humanističke znanosti)

POVEZANOST RADA