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The Concept of Domain in the Cognitive Theory of Metaphor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
Affiliation:
Department of General and Applied Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, Njalsgade 80, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

In cognitive semantics metaphors are cross-domain mappings in the conceptual system. Thus the notion of domain plays a crucial role in the theory. However, domain is never defined, but taken for granted. By means of data from language acquisition and language production and comprehension I question the cognitive status of the notion of domain. Furthermore, I demonstrate that both linguistic and nonlinguistic evidence indicate that space and time are cognitively linked in a way that makes it problematic to claim that space is mapped onto time in the development of grammatical temporal markers.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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References

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