Metaphorical Extensions of Perception Verbs in English and Croatian: A Comparative Analysis

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Metaforičke ekstenzije glagola percepcije u engleskom i hrvatskom: Komparativna analiza
• Author: Leon Cvitić
• Mentor: Mateusz-Milan Stanojević (mentor)
• Committee member: Mateusz-Milan Stanojević (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Marina Grubišić (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Višnja Josipović-Smojver (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2021-07-07, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

In recent years, universalist claims regarding the proposed hierarchy of verbs of perception, which suggest the primacy of verbs of seeing in terms of assuming meanings from the conceptual domain of cognition, have been faced with strong criticism. Namely, while it can hardly be argued that our experiences differ on the level of the stimuli we are exposed to, the linguistic data from languages across the world indicate that the way in which we interpret these experiences is anything but universal. The reasons for this disparity, while still in need of further investigation, seem to stem from the fact that the differences in how experience is interpreted and, subsequently, lexicalised by speakers of different languages might significantly depend on the differences in the socio-cultural background of the speakers. It is therefore the aim of this thesis to look at different ways in which the speakers of Croatian, and those of English utilise their sensory apparatus in order to interpret the world around them. To do so, a corpus analysis of metaphorical extensions of Croatian "vidjeti" and "čuti", as opposed to English "see" and "hear", respectively, was conducted. The results obtained from the analysis indicate that Croatian and English are quite similar in this respect, although with a few significant differences. These findings should therefore prove helpful in shedding further light on the differences and similarities between the two languages, as well as in testing the validity of certain claims that have been made so far about the nature of verbs of perception.

Abstract (croatian)

Posljednjih godina, univerzalističke tvrdnje o pretpostavljenoj hijerarhiji glagola percepcije, koje predlažu prvenstvo glagola vizualne percepcije pri preuzimanju značenja iz konceptualne domene kognicije, naišle su na oštre kritike. Naime, premda se teško može tvrditi da su naša iskustva različita na razini podražaja kojima smo izloženi, lingvistički podaci iz jezikā širom svijeta ukazuju da je način na koji te podražaje tumačimo sve samo ne univerzalan. Čini se da razlozi za takvu nepodudarnost, iako još nedovoljno istraženi, proizlaze iz činjenice da razlike u načinu na koji se iskustvo tumači te, posljedično, leksikalizira od strane govornika različitih jezika uvelike ovise o razlikama u njihovoj socio-kulturnoj pozadini. Stoga je cilj ovoga rada istražiti različite načine na koje govornici hrvatskog i engleskog koriste svoj osjetilni aparat kako bi tumačili svijet oko sebe. Da bi se to postiglo, provedena je korpusna analiza glagolā "vidjeti" i "čuti" te glagolā "see" i "hear". Rezultati dobiveni analizom ukazuju da su hrvatski i engleski u tom pogledu izrazito slični, ali uz nekoliko važnih razlika. Ovi bi rezultati stoga trebali biti korisni u daljnjem rasvjetljavanju razlika i sličnosti između dvaju navedenih jezika, kao i u provjeravanju točnosti pojedinih teza o naravi glagolā percepcije koje su dosad iznesene.

• Keywords: verbs of perception; metaphor; language and cognition; structure and meaning; polysemy
• Keywords (croatian): glagoli percepcije; metafora; jezik i kognicija; struktura i značenje; polisemija
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:743435
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: TEFL; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra edukacije engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2021-07-07 12:47:33