Metaphor and Emotion: Language, Culture, and Body in Human Feeling

242 Pages·2004·0.76 MB·English

by  Zoltan Kovecses

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Metaphor and Emotion
Are human emotions best characterized as biological, psychological, or
cultural entities? Many researchers claim that emotions arise either from
human biology (i.e., biological reductionism) or as products of culture
(i.e., social constructionism). This book challenges thissimplisticdivision
betweenthe bodyand culture byshowinghowhumanemotionsaretoa
largeextent‘‘constructed’’fromindividuals’embodiedexperiencesindif-
ferentculturalsettings.Zolta´nKo¨vecsesillustratesthroughdetailedcross-
linguistic analyses how many emotionconceptsreflectwidespreadmeta-
phorical patterns of thought. These emotion metaphors arise from recur-
ringembodiedexperiences,onereasonwhyhumanemotionsacrossmany
culturesconformtocertainbasicbiological-physiologicalprocessesinthe
human body and of the body interacting with the external world. More-
over, there are different cultural models for emotions that arise from
uniquepatternsofbothmetaphoricalandmetonymicthinkinginvarying
cultural contexts. The view proposed here demonstrateshowculturalas-
pectsofemotions,metaphoricallanguageabouttheemotions,andhuman
physiologyinemotionareallpartofanintegratedsystem.Ko¨vecsescon-
vincinglyshowshowthisintegratedsystempointstothereconciliationof
the seemingly contradictory views of biological reductionism and social
constructionismincontemporarydebatesabouthumanemotion.
Zolta´nKo¨vecsesisProfessorofLinguisticsintheDepartmentofAmerican
StudiesatEo¨tvo¨sLora´ndUniversity.

STUDIES IN EMOTION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
Second Series
SeriesEditors
KeithOatley
UniversityofToronto
AntonyManstead
UniversityofAmsterdam
ThisseriesisjointlypublishedbytheCambridgeUniversityPressand
theEditionsdelaMaisondesSciencesdel’Homme,aspartofthejoint
publishingagreementestablishedin1977betweentheFondationdela
MaisondesSciencesdel’HommeandtheSyndicsoftheCambridge
UniversityPress.
Cetecollectionestpublie´eco-e´ditionparCambridgeUniversityPresset
lesEditionsdelaMaisondesSciencesdel’Homme.Elles’inte`gredans
leprogrammedeco-e´ditione´tablien1977parlaFondationdela
MaisondesSciencesdel’HommeetlesSyndicsdeCambridge
UniversityPress.
TitlespublishedintheSecondSeries:
ThePsychologyofFacialExpression
EditedbyJamesA.RussellandJose´ MiguelFerna´ndez-Dols
Emotions,theSocialBond,andHumanReality:Part/WholeAnalysis
ThomasJ.Scheff
IntersubjectiveCommunicationandEmotioninEarlyOntogeny
SteinBra˚ten
TheSocialContextofNonverbalBehavior
EditedbyPierrePhilippot,RobertS.Feldman,andErikJ.Coats
CommunicatingEmotion
SallyPlanalp
FeelingandThinking
EditedbyJosephP.Forgas
ForalistoftitlesintheFirstSeriesofStudiesinEmotionandSocialInterac-
tion,seethepagefollowingtheindex.

Metaphor and Emotion
Language, Culture, and Body in Human
Feeling
Zolta´n Ko¨vecses
Eo¨tvo¨sLora´ndUniversity
&EditionsdelaMaisondesSciencesdel’Homme
Paris
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©Maison des Sciences de l’Homme and Cambridge University Press 2004
First published in printed format 2000
ISBN 0-511-03637-X eBook(Adobe Reader)
ISBN 0-521-64163-2 hardback
ISBN 0-521-54146-8 paperback
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