CHAPTER 4 METAPHORS IN LANGUAGE AND GESTURE
4.4 Cross-Modal Manifestation of Source-Target Correspondences
metaphor. Also, a certain type of metaphor may be used to express various kinds of targets.
The findings indicate that metaphorical mapping between domains is not restricted to the
one-to-one correspondence. Section 4.4 will discuss the sources used to conceive several
targets and the targets conceptualized in terms of multiple sources.
4.4 Cross-Modal Manifestation of Source-Target Correspondences
In sections 4.2 and 4.3, we have seen different source-domain and target-domain
concepts involved in the daily metaphoric expressions. This section discusses the details
about conceptual correspondences between the two domains. As shown in Table 12, a single
source can be utilized to comprehend a single or multiple target(s). We can see that all kinds
of sources in the language-gesture group can be used to comprehend various targets.
Nonetheless, two kinds of sources in the gesture-only group just correspond to a single target:
ACTIVITY and FORCE. Physical ACTIVITY merely maps to MENTAL ACTIVITY (e.g.,
CHOOSING PASSENGERS IS PICKING OBJECTS in Example 18 in Section 4.1), and FORCE
which has only one token maps to MENTAL ACTIVITY (e.g., PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPELLING
IS PUSHING in Example 17 in Section 4.1) in the gesture-only group.
Table 12. Source-to-target correspondences in Mandarin conversations (based on the types of sources)
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The present study put emphasis on the correspondences from one source to many
targets. In the language-gesture group, 6 kinds of source-domain concepts are utilized to
conceive 52 kinds of target-domain concepts; all the sources can correspond to multiple
targets (see Table 13). In the gesture-only group, 26 kinds of targets are realized via 5 kinds
of sources; three kinds of sources can map to multiple targets (see Table 14).
Table 13. One-source-to-many-targets correspondences in metaphors in the language-gesture group* ability (1) advertisement (1) agreement (1) category (1) department (1) doctor degree (1) examination (1) experience (1) expression (1) feeling (1) function (1) growth (1)
fulfillment (1) living standard (1) relationship (1) status (1) fictive motion (3) number (1) speech content (1) time (1)
activity (2) communication (1) mental activity (1)
container (2) land (1) stock market (1)
path (2) career (1) preparation (1)
* The numbers in parentheses refer to the frequency
Table 14. One-source-to-many-targets correspondences in metaphors in the gesture-only group*
Source Target
object (113) state (32) activity (23) group (18)
mental activity (7) characteristic (2) color (2)
mind (2) number (2) beginning (1)
conference (1) feeling (1) occupation (1)
quantity (1) speech content (1) thought (1)
value (1) visual field (1) work (1)
space (12) sequence (4) time (4) degree (3)
path (7) procedure (3) career (2) time (2)
* The numbers in parentheses refer to the frequency
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Between the language-gesture and gesture-only groups, there is an overlap of the
sources which are used to conceive multiple targets. The present study then discusses the
one-source-to-many-targets correspondences in the two groups together; the sources involved
in such correspondences are: OBJECT, SPACE, FICTIVE MOTION, ACTIVITY, CONTAINER,
and PATH. The following discusses the metaphorical correspondences concerning each
source.
A great number of targets can be conceptualized via OBJECT. These targets include
both abstract concepts (e.g., time, knowledge, etc.) and concrete concepts (e.g., activity, color,
etc.). Notwithstanding the concreteness of the targets, these targets lack physical or artificial
boundary in nature. To comprehend these concepts in terms of OBJECT enables us to reason
about the targets with a different purpose: quantifying them, referring to them, identifying
them and so forth (Lakoff &Johnson 1980c: 26-27). Example 7 in Section 4.1 is an instance
of the metaphor SPEECH CONTENT IS AN OBJECT (
jiăng yìxiē shémo dōngxī ‘say something’)
that the speaker quantifies speech contents by metaphorically representing them as objects.
The targets that are more frequently conceived through OBJECT include STATE, TIME,
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, GROUP, SPEECH CONTENT, and MENTAL ACTIVITY.
SPACE can map to the targets having a physical or cultural correlation with spatial
orientations. These targets may have a normative character (e.g., living standard, status, and
value), continuative character (e.g., time, order, and term), or cumulative character (e.g.,
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degree). In Example 10 in Section 4.1, the metaphor HIGH TEMPERATURE IS UP (
wēndù shàngshēng ‘the temperature rises’) includes the target
DEGREE OF TEMPERATURE with acumulative character. If the temperature reaches forty degrees Celsius, it also reaches thirty
degrees Celsius. In Example 9 in Section 4.1, the metaphors MORNING IS UP and
AFTERNOON IS DOWN (
zăoshàng ‘morning’ and xiàwŭ ‘afternoon’) include the target
TIMEwith a continuative character. The common targets to be conceptualized via SPACE are TIME,
SEQUENCE, and DEGREE.
The targets which can be comprehended through FICTIVE MOTION are the abstract
concepts that cannot really move. In the current data, TIME (c.f., yìxuéqí jiù guò le ‘a
semester passes’ in Example 12 in Section 4.1), SPEECH CONTENT (c.f.,
zhèbiān jiăng tiào nàbiān ‘he talks about this and the speech content jumps there’ in Example 13 in Section 4.1),
and NUMBER can map to fictive motion. When we conceptualize a concept via FICTIVE
MOTION we can even profile the manner of the motion as shown in Example 13 (in which the
shift of speech content is represented by the verb tiào ‘jump’).
ACTIVITY can be used to realize MENTAL ACTIVITY or COMMUNICATION (which also
involves certain psychological interaction). In Example 19 in Section 4.1, the metaphor
PLANNING IS WEIGHING can be found in gesture. The target-domain concept PLANNING is a
mental activity relating to the process of comparing the importance of different factors.
Example 16 in Section 4.1 shows the metaphorPROVIDING KNOWLEDGE IS TRANSFERRING
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OBJECTS (y
ĭjīng guànshū wŏmen hěnduō le ‘they has transferring much knowledge to us’); in
this case, providing knowledge involves certain mental operation.
Like the targets mapping to OBJECT, the targets conceived through CONTAINER can be
abstract (c.f., STOCK MARKET in
jìnchăng in Example 14 in Section 4.1) or concrete (e.g.,
LAND AREA). These targets usually lack physical or artificial boundaries in nature. By
realizing the targets in terms of CONTAINER, we can provide a bounded surface to the targets
and even refer to their internal parts. In the metaphoric expression
péndì zhuāng shuĭ ‘the
basin is filled with water’ in Example 15 in Section 4.1, CONTAINER is employed to conceive
the land area TAIPEI BASIN.The basin is provided with an artificial boundary by the metaphor,
and the flood in the basin is then understood through the logic that a container holds liquid in
its interior.
PATH can be employed to conceive the targets involving the idea of progress (e.g.,
career, time, procedure). In Example 11 in Section 4.1, the means of preparing for an
examination is conceptualized in terms of PATH. The speaker uses the phrase
zhŭnbèi de fānxiàn ‘direction of the preparation’ to profiles the direction of
PATH.Preparation for anexaminationmay last for a period of time. As time passes, one may study more for the exam,
which involves the idea of progress.
On the other hand, a single target can be conceptualized through a single or many
source(s). As shown in Table 15, most of the targets merely map to a certain source (92.3% in
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the L-G group; 88.5% in the G-only group), yet there are still some targets which can be
realized through multiple sources. The present study focuses on the correspondences from
many sources to a single target. Among the 52 kinds of targets in the language-gesture group,
four kinds of them are found to be conceptualized through multiple sources (see Table 16).
Within the 26 targets of metaphors in gesture-only, three kinds of targets can be understood
through more than one source (see Table 17).
Table 15. Source-to-target correspondences in Mandarin conversations (based on the types of targets)
Source-to-Target Correspondence Language-Gesture Gesture-Only
Types of targets % Types of targets %
One source to one target 48 92.3 23 88.5
Many sources to one target 4 7.7 3 11.5
Total 52 100.0 26 100.0
Table 16. Many-sources-to-one-target correspondences in metaphors in the language-gesture group*
Source Target
space (8) object (7) fictive motion (1) time (16)
object (2) activity (1) mental activity (3)
object (12) fictive motion (1) speech content (13)
space (5) object (1) sequence (6)
* The numbers in parentheses refer to the frequency
Table 17. Many-sources-to-one-target correspondences in metaphors in the gesture-only group*
Source Target
object (10) space (4) path (2) time (16)
object (7) activity (4) force (1) mental activity (12)
space (3) object (2) degree (5)
* The numbers in parentheses refer to the frequency
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Between the two groups of metaphors, there is an overlap of the targets which can be
conceptualized via multiple sources. The present study then discusses the
many-sources-to-one-target correspondences in the two groups together. The targets are TIME,
MENTAL ACTIVITY, SPEECH CONTENT, SEQUENCE, and DEGREE; Table 18 presents the
examples of the sources map to each target.
Table 18. The many-sources-to-one-target correspondences and examples
Target Source Linguistic representation Gestural representation time space 早上有下午都是德國那一個嗎 The up-down gesture in Fig.7
fictive motion 一學期就過了 The sweeping gesture in Fig.10
object 她白天整天都在睡覺 The object gesture
(see Appendix 2 for the original screenshot)
path 最近在股市震盪期 The path gesture
(see Appendix 2 for the original screenshot)
mental activity
physical activity
他不是在規劃中嗎 The weighing gesture in Fig.17
force 那我就一直逼他 The pushing gesture in Fig.15
fictive motion 這邊講又跳那邊跳那邊跳那邊 The jumping gesture in Fig.11 sequence space 現在那個之前的男友 The front-orientation gesture in Fig.4
object 按照你抽到的那個順序 The object gesture (see Appendix 2 for the original screenshot)
degree space 溫度已經有在上升 The up-orientation gesture in Fig 8
object 燈光很暗 The object gesture
(see Appendix 2 for the original screenshot)
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Since a concept contains several aspects, we may employ different sources to profile
different aspects of the target-domain concepts. The following discusses the details about the
targets which map to multiple sources. TIME can be realized through SPACE, FICTIVE
MOTION, OBJECT and PATH. In the current data, OBJECT and SPACE are more likely to be
used to conceive TIME. If we consider the succession of time, SPACE would be used as the
source in a metaphor (c.f., MORNING IS UP and AFTERNOON IS DOWN in Example 9 in
Section 4.1). When we focus on the elapse of time, FICTIVEMOTION is utilized as the source
of a metaphor (c.f., THE PASSAGE OF A SEMESTER IS FICTIVE MOTION in Example 12 in
Section 4.1). When we are concerned about the time with start and end points, OBJECT is
employed as the source which applies a physical boundary to TIME. For instance, the word
zhěng ‘whole’ in the utterance báitiān zhěngtiān ‘the whole daytime’ represents the metaphor
DAYTIME IS AN OBJECT and shows that time is conceived as a unified object with a distinct
boundary. In gesture, the speaker’s hands move respectively to left and right to draw the
boundary for the daytime. When we focus on the progression of time, PATH is used as the
source. There is an instance when the metaphor THE UNSTABLE TERM OF STOCKS IS A PATH
is represented by the gesture imagery of a path. The speaker moves his hands forward to
show that the stocks rise and fall interchangeably for a period of time, which involves the
idea of time progression.
The sources that are employed to conceive MENTAL ACTIVITY are PHYSICAL
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ACTIVITY, FORCE,and OBJECT. This targetis more likely to be conceptualized via OBJECT
and PHYSICAL ACTIVITY in the current data. We can conceptualize the abstract MENTAL
ACTIVITY with dynamic concepts. The metaphor PLANNING IS WEIGHING (c.f., Example 19
in Section 4.1) is an instance where a psychological activity is conceived through the physical
activity we practice in everyday life. If we focus on the causation relating to a metal activity,
we may utilize FORCE to conceptualize MENTAL ACTIVITY. In the metaphor
PSYCHOLOGICAL COMPELLING IS PUSHING (c.f., Example 17 in Section 4.1), the
psychological force to cause a person to marry is profiled and conceived through a physical
force. When we conceive a target via OBJECT, we focus on the aspect that the concept is a
unified whole. Therefore, we can “refer to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify
them—and, by this means, reason about them” (Lakoff & Johnson 1980c: 25). In the
metaphor KNOWING IS AN OBJECT, the mental activity is represented by the gesture imagery
of holding an object in one’s hands. The object gesture lets the speaker refer to the abstract
concept of KNOWING in the conversation.
SPEECH CONTENT can be realized in terms of OBJECT and FICTIVE MOTION. The
current data shows SPEECH CONTENT is more often conceived in terms of OBJECT. Example
7 in Section 4.1 shows the metaphor SPEECH CONTENT IS AN OBJECT. The speaker then can
quantify the speech content while uttering
jiăng yìxiē shémo dōngxī ‘say something’. If we
consider the development of speech, the source FICTIVE MOTION is employed as shown in
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立 政 治 大 學
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Example 13 in Section 4.1 In this case, conceptualizing SPEECH CONTENTS via FICTIVE
MOTION helps us reason about the situation where the contents always change abruptly while
someone is developing an entire thought.
SEQUENCE can be conceived via SPACE and OBJECT. We find more cases where
SEQUENCE is conceptualized through SPACE in the current data. If we consider the
succession of SEQUENCE, SPACE is utilized as the source of the metaphor. In Example 6 in
Section 3.5, the metaphor THE FORMER IS THE FRONT is expressed. In this case, the
succession of the speaker’s boyfriends is profiled. To conceive SEQUENCE through OBJECT,
we are able to refer to and identify the concept of sequence. There is an instance where a
speaker utters nàge shùnxù ‘that order’ and makes an object gesture to manifest the metaphor
SEQUENCE IS AN OBJECT. The classifier ge shows that SEQUENCE is conceptualized as a
discrete object with a boundary. Meanwhile, the speaker can identify the order she draws by
lot as she uses the demonstrative nàge ‘that’.
The sources employed to conceive DEGREE are SPACE and OBJECT. When we focus on
the cumulative feature of DEGREE,we utilize SPACE as the source. Example 10 in Section 4.1
contains the metaphor HIGH TEMPERATURE IS UP. The word
shàngshēng ‘rise’ and the
upward movement of the speaker’s right hand imply that the temperature goes from a lower
degree to a higher degree. Thus, the accumulation of the degree of the temperature is profiled
in this metaphor. To conceptualize DEGREE via OBJECT enables us to refer to DEGREE and
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present this abstract concept to the listeners. In the current data, we can find the metaphor
LIGHT INTENSITY IS AN OBJECT in gesture exclusively. The speaker enacts the metaphor
with an object gesture. In this case, LIGHT INTENSITY is seen as a discrete object with a
boundary, so that the speaker can present the concept to the listeners by the object gesture.
In general, almost all the sources included in the current data can map to various targets.
These sources are OBJECT, SPACE, ACTIVITY, PATH, FICTIVE MOTION, and CONTAINER.
We use a small number of sources to comprehend and talk about a great variety of abstract
concepts in daily communication. On the other hand, the targets involved in the
many-source-to-one-target correspondence are TIME, MENTAL ACTIVITY, SPEECH CONTENT,
SEQUENCE, and DEGREE. When we employ different sources to conceptualize a
target-domain concept, different aspects of the target could be profiled.