Motion-emotion metaphors in English, Swedish and Spanish: a cross-linguistic comparison

Abstract: In cognitive linguistics there are three prevalent theoretical perspectives on metaphor: (universal) conceptual metaphors, discourse metaphors and language-consciousness interactionism. This thesis looked for evidence of support for these positions by conducting an empirical study comparing motion-emotion metaphors in English, Spanish and Swedish, focusing on the source domain MOTION. Following the approach of an earlier study by Zlatev, Blomberg and Magnusson (2012) this study used a more systematic method with a clearer procedure improving comparison between the languages by using a Meta-Language Scheme, as well as attesting the metaphors in corpora and dictionaries. The results showed some support for all three perspectives. A considerable degree of similarities supported the universalism of conceptual metaphor theory. On the other hand, clear differences supported a more culturist approach to metaphor and emotion and thus a discourse perspective on metaphor. Weighing together all results gave support for the interactionist view. These varying views can be brought together applying a consciousness-language-culture interactionist model showing a way to resolve opposite views on metaphor and language and rather pointing to their mutual interdependence and influence. Key words: metaphor, motion, emotion, English, Swedish, Spanish, interactionism, integral linguistics, conceptual metaphor, discourse metaphor.