Emotion Metaphors and Cross-Linguistic Conceptualization of Emotions

Abstract

While there exists plenty of research on emotion metaphors, monolingual, as well as cross-linguistic, there is still no answer to the question: why is it that cenain emotion metaphors are the same across languages, while others display significant cross-linguistic variance? What triggers the conceptualization of emotions in language? In this paper, I propose a tentative answer to this problem. On the basis of Russian and English data, I suggest that different emotions are linguistically conceptualized through different metaphorization rnecanism, and that linguistic and cross-linguistic behavior of an emotion metaphor depends on the metaphorization mecanism employed in its formation.