A Contrastive Analysis of Food Metaphors in English and Croatian

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Kontrastivna analiza metafora vezanih uz hranu u engleskom i hrvatskom jeziku
• Author: Maja Antolković
• Mentor: Janja Čulig Suknaić (mentor)
• Committee member: Anđel Starčević (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Marina Zubak Pivarski (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2024-09-25, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

This study analyzes six Croatian and six English verbs related to food and eating: swallow and devour, as verbs of food intake, chew and digest, as verbs of food processing, and regurgitate and spit, as verbs of food outtake. The aim of the research is to observe the similarities and differences in the way these verbs convey metaphorical meanings in Croatian and English, what affects the creation of these metaphorical meanings, and how syntax, specifically the transitivity of the verbs and types of objects they take, affects metaphoricity. The analysis was carried out on the basis of examples of the metaphorical use of verbs extracted from the Croatian Web corpus hrWaC and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). As for the theoretical part of the work, the key terms relevant to the research are presented. The concept of metaphor is viewed from two different perspectives, the concept of conceptual metaphor is presented, as well as the process of creating metaphors related to food. The research showed that there are indeed numerous similarities in the ways of creating and using metaphors related to food in Croatian and English, but also that there are some differences. It was established that in certain cases the transitivity of the verb and the objects it takes influence the metaphorical meaning. Also, the creation of metaphorical meanings is significantly influenced by the main determinants of the literal meaning of these verbs in the context of the eating process; in other words, the concepts of internalization, processing and outtake are the main determinants of the construction of metaphorical meanings.

Abstract (croatian)

U ovom radu analizira se šest hrvatskih i šest engleskih glagola povezanih s hranom, odnosno jedenjem: gutati i proždirati, kao glagoli unosa hrane, žvakati i probaviti, kao glagoli procesuiranja, te ispovraćati i pljuvati, kao glagoli izbacivanja hrane. Cilj istraživanja je provjeriti sličnosti i razlike u načinu na koji ovi glagoli prenose metaforička značenja u hrvatskom i engleskom jeziku, što utječe na stvaranje tih metaforičkih značenja, te na koji način sintaksa, konkretno tranzitivnost glagola i vrste objekata, utječe na metaforičnost. Analiza je provedena na primjerima metaforičke upotrebe glagola izvučenim iz korpusa hrwac za hrvatski jezik, te korpusa suvremenog engleskog jezika (COCA) za engleski jezik. Što se tiče teorijskog dijela rada, predstavljeni su ključni pojmovi relevantni za istraživanje. Sagledan je pojam metafore iz dviju različitih perspektiva, predstavljen je pojam konceptualne metafore, te proces stvaranja metafora veznih uz hranu. Istraživanje je pokazalo da uistinu postoje brojne sličnosti u načinima stvaranja i korištenja metafora vezanih uz hranu u hrvatkom i engleskom jeziku, ali također da postoje i neke različitosti. Utvrđeno je da u određenim slučajevima tranzitivnost glagola i njegovi objekti utječu na metaforičko značenje. Također, stvaranje metaforičkih značenja pod značajnim je utjecajem glavnih odrednica doslovnog značenja ovih glagola u kontekstu procesa jedenja; drugim riječima, pojmovi internalizacije, procesuiranja i izbacivanja, glavne su odrednice stvaranja metaforičkih značenja.

• Keywords: cognitive linguistics; conceptual metaphor; food metaphors
• Keywords (croatian): kognitivna lingvistika; konceptualna metafora; metafore vezane uz hranu
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:843338
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: Linguistics; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2024-09-26 10:02:00