Contrastive Linguistic Analysis of Love Metaphors in English and in Turkish

Dilek Kantar - Yeşim Aksan
Mersin University, Dept. of English Language and Literature

According to cognitive semantics meaning arises out of conventional conceptual structures. Conceptual structures are the reflections of mental categories, which are formed through the experience of conventionalized linguistic patterns of speech and thought. Metaphor is an important conceptual structure studied by cognitive semanticians. In Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) conceptual metaphor theory, metaphor is an essential element in our categorization of the world and our thinking processes. Our paper questions the systematic links between the “source domains” and the “target domains” of love metaphors in English and in Turkish. Our first aim is to describe the metaphorical structuring of the domain of love in Turkish, which has not been analyzed up to date. Our second aim is to compare Turkish metaphorical structuring of love with that in English identified in the work of researchers like Lakoff & Johnson (1980, 1999), Baxter (1992) and Kövecses (2000). Our data for Turkish metaphors of love comes from different types of dictionaries, internet resources, and literary texts.
Our analysis shows that the conceptual metaphors used for love are similar in Turkish and in English for the most part (1 below), whereas metaphors used for the description of the object of love and of the love relationship itself differ (2, 3 below). An analysis of the metaphors of love in Turkish (language spoken in a secular Islamic country) will throw a new light upon the West’s structuring of the conceptual domain of love.

(1) Love is hot and love burns
English: I am burning with love
Turkish: Aflk-ım-dan yan-ıyor-um.
Love-POSS-ABL burn-PRO-1sg
‘ I am burning with love.’
(2) The rejected lover is rubbish
English verbs for ending a relationship: chuck, drop, ditch, dump.
Turkish verb for ending a relationship: bırakmak ‘leave’.
(3) Relationships are fragile
English: Couples bust, split or break up.
Turkish: Çift-ler ayrıl-ır.
Couple-PL separate-AOR
‘Couples separate.’

References

Baxter, L. A. (1992). Root metaphors in accounts of developing romantic relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 9, 253– 275.
Driven, R. and Pörings, R. (eds.) (2003). Metaphor and metonymy in comparison and contrast. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kövecses, Z. (2000). Metaphor & emotion: Language, culture & the body in human feeling. New York: Cambridge University Pres.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh. New York: Basic Books.

Abbreviations: ABL-ablative, AOR-aorist, PL-plural, POSS-possessive, PRO-progressive, 1sg-first person singular.