University of Osijek
Time metaphors in English and Croatian. A corpus-based
case study
1. Introduction
Since the publication of the theory of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff &
Johnson 1980), many researchers have devoted themselves to exploring various
aspects of metaphor, such as poetic metaphor (Lakof & Johnson 1989), bodily
basis of metaphor (Kvecses 2000), cultural and cross-linguistic aspects of
metaphor (Kvecses 2004), or translational aspects of metaphor (Schffner
2004). The majority of these studies rely on a procedure where the researcher
carefully reads through the corpus, extracting all the metaphors he or she comes
across, i.e. the procedure of manual searching. However, corpus 1-based
methods have over past fifteen years established themselves as a major
empirical paradigm in linguistics. The research on metaphor is somewhat
lagging behind with respect to this development, but recently, a number of
scholars have made attempts to remedy the situation (see Stefanowitch 2006a).
One of the great resource books on the corpus-based methods in metaphor (and
metonymy) research is the recently published collection of essays entitled
Corpus-Based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy, edited by Anatol
Stefanowitsch and Stefan Th. Gries (Stefanowitsch & Gries 2006).
Corpus-based approaches to metaphor have many comparative advantages
over manual searching, and a few problems. One of the major problem is that
of identifying and extracting the relevant data from the corpus. This is not an
easy task because conceptual mappings are not linked to particular word forms.
Stefanowitch (2006a) suggests several strategies for searching the corpus, such
as searching for SD (source domain) vocabulary, searching for TD (target
domain) vocabulary, searching for SD + TD vocabulary, searching for 'markers
of metaphor' (metaphorically speaking, so to speak etc.), as well as
searching of annotated corpora. In any case, the results of a corpus-based
approach are exhaustive and systematic, in contrast to the introspective and
opportunistic nature of manual searching. Using corpus-based methods makes
it possible to investigate the linguistic nature of metaphor. The richness of data
can lead to reanalysis (e.g. ARGUMENT IS WAR in Stefanowitsch (2006a) is
1
2. Analysis
With the use of electronic corpora we will extract the metaphorical
expressions, which we will analyze for metaphorical patterns. A metaphorical
pattern is a metaphorical expression containing both SD and TD lexemes, and as
such it is a perfect basis for TD oriented studies, such as this (Stefanowitsch
2006b). The metaphorical patterns will then be grouped into general mappings,
whose frequency of occurence will be calculated. This procedure, called
metaphorical pattern analysis (MPA) allows us to systematically characterize
the TD TIME in English and Croatian, and to compare the two systems.
Obviously, MPA will capture only a subset of metaphorical expressions,
since many metaphorical expressions do not contain TD lexical items, but
Stefanowitch (ibid.) shows that this potential drawback is outweighed by the
advantages this method offers:
First, MPA allows us to quantify the importance of any given
metaphorical pattern for particular lexical items, as well as make
generalizations concerning the importance of the conceptual metaphors
underlying these patterns. Metaphorical patterns are also more explicit than
metaphorical expressions not containing the TD lexemes, since it is often
difficult to determine which precise TD we are dealing with (e.g. He is slowly
gaining ground with her. Is the target domain love or is it DESIRE, LUST,
ADORATION?).
Second, metaphorical patterns establish specific paradigmatic relations
betwen TD lexical items and SD items that would be expected in their place in a
non-metaphorical use (He shot down all of my arguments/planes/missiles;
specific relation: argument plane/missile). Thus, we get not only the general
mappings (DISCUSSION IS WAR), but also more specific ones ( ARGUMENTS ARE
MISSILES).
lexeme 'time'. Then we took 500 random hits (= 0.323 % of all solutions) as a
sample.2
2) Identify all metaphorical patterns that the search word is part of and
group them into general mappings. This part is the tedious one because of all
hits containing the lexical item 'time' you have to single out just the
metaphorical uses and then group them according to the underlying conceptual
metaphor. In this manual post-editing you have to rely on your judgment when
it comes to the question of which metaphorical pattern represents which
conceptual mapping. In the sample, there were 312 metaphorical uses (= 62.4
% of the sample). This result clearly shows that the word 'time' is more often
used metaphorically than literally.
3) Quantify the frequency of occurrence of metaphorical mappings.
The results of the analysis are shown in Table 1a below. In the first column
there are the identified metaphorical patterns, grouped under general conceptual
mappings. For example, under the general conceptual mapping TIME IS A
BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER you can find metaphorical patterns such as in time,
in [...] time (the square brackets indicate that there are one or more words in
between, e.g. in no time, in less time, in ten years time), in (...) time (of) (the
round brackets indicate that there is an optional element, e.g. in all that time, in
the time of, etc.), X place themselves in time (here X stands for a subject, e.g.
Young children have a very real need to place themselves in time) etc. On the
right side, N signifies the raw frequency of a particular conceptual mapping.
For example, in our sample there are 27 metaphorical patterns manifesting the
general conceptual mapping TIME IS A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER.
Table 1a. Metaphorical patterns manifesting TIME metaphors identified via
metaphorical pattern analysis
TIME IS
A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER
in time, in [...] time, , in (...) time (of), within [...] time, X place themselves in
time, in [...] short space of time, full time
27
14
length of time, a (...) long time, a short time, time be extended, over [...] time
A POINT IN SPACE
127
This is of course a very small sample, but we had to limit the number of hits because it
would take too much time to go through more solutions, and there is no other way but to
do it manually, by carefully reading all the solutions. We feel, though, that the results are
indicative. By selecting a larger sample we would get more mappings, but the
underlying conceptual metaphors would probably be the same.
time on, from time to time, from the time [...] to the time [...], X come to an
end of time
A SUBSTANCE
30
amount of time, plenty of time, some time, all (the/this) time, less time, a lot of
the time, most of the time, time scale
AN OBJECT
22
11
39
waste (...) time, allow time, X run out of time, time run out, X find time, X get
the time, (X) give (Y) (...) time, X devote (...) time (...) to, X's spare time, X
allot time for, X's gifts of time , the time allocated, X take time, Y take (up) (X)
[...] time, the time taken, time saver, X leave [...] time, use X's [...] time
profitably
A THING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED
11
the requisite time, need for [...] time, X need (...) time, time pressure, [...] time
[...] be a valuable commodity, time constraints, be time enough, there be [...]
time, X want [...] time [...]
SOMETHING HAVING CONTROL OVER US
time permit,
SOMETHING WE CAN CONTROL
time controller
A STRUCTURED THING
course of time
SOMETHING MOVING AND BRINGING CHANGES
circles of time
OUR OPPONENT IN A RACE
FUTURE IS FORWARD
high time
2
A FRUIT
312
53.84%
TIME IS A SUBSTANCE
TIME IS A WHOLE THAT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO PARTS
TIME IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE QUANTIFIED
TIME IS AN OBJECT
TIME IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE POSSESSED
TIME IS MONEY
TIME IS A LIMITED RESOURCE
TIME IS A THING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED
39.42%
4.48%
TOTAL
97.74%
You will notice that the total percentage is less than 100, and the reason is
that some of the mappings found in the sample could not be grouped under any
of these three abstract-level mappings, e.g. TIME IS SOMETHING HAVING
CONTROL OVER US. TIME IS SPACE is by far the most frequent abstract level
mapping in the sample (53.84% of all identified metaphorical expressions),
particularly the specific mapping TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE, which covers
40.7% of all metaphorical expressions with TD TIME. This result does not come
as a surprise because in the world of science it is well known that time and
space are interrelated concepts, so much that they are considered to be one
entity, called space-time in terms of Einstein's relativity theory. If space and
time are just two sides of the same coin, it may be possible that people
intuitively use space to conceptualize time. This only works in one direction,
i.e. people do not use time to conceptualize space, which is understandable
since space is one of the most basic concepts in human life, and we are able to
experience it direclty, e.g. we can move through space in various directions, we
can see it, we can measure it easily etc., so there is really no need to
conceptualize it via another concrete concept.
TIME IS A SUBSTANCE takes the second place with a bit smaller percentage,
39.42%. In order to measure time, we need to think of it as if it were a
substance, something solid. This in turn allows us to think of time as a
possession, something we can own, need or lack. This is very important
because people feel that they are given a certain, limited, amount of time that's
all theirs to spend as they wish. TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING covers only
4.48%, which comes as a big surprise, since that particular abstract level
mapping is very-well elaborated on in literature (Lakof & Johnson 1980,
Kvecses 2004, among others)3.
Although Stefanowitch (2006b) gives fairly strong evidence that metaphorical patterns
(patterns containing both TD and SD vocabulary) are indeed representative of the whole
TD, in more complex domains such as TIME that may not be the case. They are thousands
of examples where we talk of time as something moving without actually mentioning
the word 'time': Christmas is approaching; that's all behind us now; we look forward to
the future; who knows what the future will bring etc. Nevertheless, we must not take this
as evidence that the method we are using is wrong. It merely indicates that the numbers
may not be representative, but we still get indicative dana on all the general mappings
that characterize the TD under investigation.
puno radno vrijeme, u (...) vrijeme, unutar [...] vremena, izvan [...]
vremena, iz (...) vremena
PROSTOR ODREENE DULJINE (SPACE OF A CERTAIN LENGTH)
kratko /krae/najkrae vrijeme, skraeno radno vrijeme,
dugo/due/dulje/najdue vrijeme, produljiti/produiti vrijeme
PROSTOR KROZ KOJI SE KREEMO (SPACE WE ARE MOVING THROUGH)
kroz (to) vrijeme
PLOHA (A SURFACE)
na vrijeme, na (ne)odreeno/neko vrijeme, bulevar vremena
TOKA U PROSTORU (POINT IN SPACE)
od (toga) vremena
NETO TO SE KREE PREMA NAMA I PROLAZI PORED NAS I ODMIE OD NAS
(SOMETHING MOVING TOWARDS US AND COMING TO US AND PASSING US)
N
109
25
5
26
3
15
1
5
7
23
1
1
9
31
1
16
22
12
4
3
1
1
4
333
50.45%
28.82%
18.1%
TOTAL
97.28%
Not only are these mappings the same as in Croatian, but their order is also
the same. TIME IS SPACE is the most frequent in both languages, although it is
slightly less represented in the Croatian sample. One striking difference is that
in English the most metaphorical patterns of that type instantiate the more
specific type TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE (e.g. at the time), while in Croatian the
most common subtype is TIME IS A BOUNDED SPACE/ CONTAINER (e.g. u
vrijeme). This difference is probably linguistic by nature, it is a result of
entrenchment, and it shows the asymmetry of the two linguistic systems. On the
second place it is again TIME IS A SUBSTANCE metaphor, although it is
considerably less represented in the Croatian sample. The finding that it is less
represented in the Croatian sample may indicate a cultural difference. Since
most of the patterns under this heading instantiate the TIME IS A LIMITED
RESOURCE metaphor, we may hypothesize that this difference is due to the fact
that Angloamerican cultures set more store by material values than a culture
like ours. If this is true than it's not surprising that they think of time in terms of
resource, possession, valuable commodity etc. more than we do. But with the
world becoming a global village and the consumerist philosophy becoming the
predominant one we should expect this to be reflected in language, too, so that
the difference found here may vanish eventually. TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING
takes the third place, and is more frequent in the Croatian sample. The only
way to account for this difference is to say that this is due to a more
representative sample in Croatian, or it is a pure coincidence, since samples
were picked at random, because it is hard to imagine that Croatians should have
a more dynamic understanding of time than Angloamericans.
4. Concluding remarks
The time metaphor systems in English and Croatian are very similar.
There is a larger number of identified mappings in Croatian (probably due
to a slightly more representative sample), but they can be grouped under
the same three abstract-level mappings as in English:
1) TIME IS SPACE
2) TIME IS A SUBSTANCE
3) TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING
References
Kvecses, Zoltn. 2000. Metaphor and Emotion. Language, Culture, and Body in
Human Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-. 2004. Metaphor in Culture. Universality and Variation. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. (+ Afterword,
2003). Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.
-. 1989. More than Cool Reason. A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago,
London: The University of Chicago Press.
Schffner, Christina. 2004. Metaphor and translation: some implications of a
cognitive approach. Journal of Pragmatics 36, 1253-1269.
Stefanowitsch, Anatol, and Stefan Th. Gries (eds.). 2006. Corpus-Based Approaches
to Metaphor and Metonymy. Berlin, New York : Mouton de Gruyter
Stefanowitsch, Anatol. 2006a. Corpus-based approaches to metaphor and metonymy.
In Corpus-Based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy, edited by Anatol
Stefanowitsch and Stefan Th. Gries
-. 2006b. Words and their metaphors: A corpus-based approach. In Corpus-Based
Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy, edited by Anatol Stefanowitsch and
Stefan Th. Gries