An Analysis of Spatial Antonyms in Idiomatic Expressions

master's thesis

• Author: Monika Mitrović
• Mentor: Irena Zovko Dinković (mentor)
• Mentor: Janja Čulig (komentor)
• Committee member: Marina Grubišić (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Irena Zovko Dinković (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Janja Čulig (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2022-05-18, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

Humans are beings that move, feel, and experience the passage of time in a three-dimensional space. We stand upright, we are symmetrical, and our canonical direction of motion is forward. Our bodily movements belong to the physical space around us while our feelings and emotions belong to the abstract and non-palpable space. To better understand the abstract world around us we lean on our body and our bodily experience in the world. Since they are more understandable to us and more familiar to us because they belong to the physical world, we use them to explain the abstract world of our feelings and emotions. Use of spatial orientation to better understand abstract concepts is called orientational metaphor. Since orientational metaphor offers a wide area of research, this thesis puts focus on only three pairs of spatial antonyms: LEFT-RIGHT, UP-DOWN, and FRONT-BACK. The analysis of the antonyms in the thesis is based on their use and representation in idiomatic expressions in three languages: English, Croatian, and Polish. The goal of this thesis is to compare the use of spatial antonyms in idiomatic expressions in all three languages, and to see whether our universal bodily experience is translated in the same way into idiomatic expressions in all three languages and whether one half of each spatial antonymic pair always represents negative values and the other half positive values.

• Keywords: idiomatic expressions; spatial antonyms; orientational metaphor; conceptual metaphor; spatial metaphor
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:421787
• 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: 2022-05-21 07:40:16