Dimensions of coupling source and target domains in multimodality-based and orientational metaphors

Abstract

Embodied Metaphor Theory (EMT) resides in the premise that source and target domains become coupled in our conceptual system inasmuch as we don’t reason about the target without our understanding of the source domain (e.g. Lakoff and Johnson 1980). However, there has been no study to explore the dimensions of this coupling process in different types of conceptual metaphor. This paper is based on an experiment wherein 30 subjects are required to draw conceptual mappings across the domains Life and Journey (multimodality-based metaphor) and across Verticality and Quantity (orientational metaphor). Our main goal is to assess whether these participants can draw conceptual mappings across these phenomena without being told the underlying metaphor in each case.