Cognitive Semantic Aspects of Animal Similes in English

Stamenkovic, Dusan

Cognitive Semantic Aspects of Animal Similes in English

Savremena Proučavanja Jezika I Književnosti – Godina II/Knjiga I – Zbornik Radova sa II Naučnog Skupa Mladih Filologa Srbije: pp. 187-197, Kovačević, M. et al. (ur.). Kragujevac: Filološko-Umetnički Fakultet

7 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2011 Last revised: 13 Oct 2015

See all articles by Dusan Stamenkovic

Dusan Stamenkovic

Södertörn University

Date Written: March 14, 2011

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to attempt to apply some of the key constructs of cognitive semantics to the analysis of conventionalized English animal similes. It will combine Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the Theory of Conceptual Blending (BT) in the analysis of 48 examples (similes or groups of similes) from English, belonging to the corpus compiled from the major dictionaries of idioms. The examples will be divided into three main groups, based on their sources, motivation and the level of objectivity and the analysis will try to prove that the understanding of each of these groups will employ a different set-up of cognitive mechanisms.

Keywords: cognitive semantics, simile, animals, conceptual metaphor, conceptual blending

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Stamenković, Dušan, Cognitive Semantic Aspects of Animal Similes in English (March 14, 2011). Savremena Proučavanja Jezika I Književnosti – Godina II/Knjiga I – Zbornik Radova sa II Naučnog Skupa Mladih Filologa Srbije: pp. 187-197, Kovačević, M. et al. (ur.). Kragujevac: Filološko-Umetnički Fakultet, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1785661