Conceptual metaphors of fear and sadness in Thai and Korean

Abstract

Underpinned by a cognitive linguistic perspective, the current study aims to account for the conceptualization systems of Korean and Thai speakers with respect to the expression of sadness and fear. Guided by the theoretical framework of conceptual metaphor, the analysis identifies common metaphorical expressions of these emotional concepts, drawing from a set of data that consists of diverse genres of translated texts. The findings reveal that the emotions of fear and sadness are conceptualized via eleven source domains. These source domains appear to overlap with those found in non-emotional contexts. Additionally, it is found that these source domains are drawn from by the speakers of the two languages under study. The findings, thus, provide empirical support to the theoretical argument that certain conceptual metaphors are potentially universal, and they are based on embodied experiences similarly encountered by speakers in the two cultures.