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Moving along paths in space and time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2017

TUOMAS HUUMO
TUOMAS HUUMO*
Affiliation:
University of Turku & University of Tartu
*
Author’s address: Hämeenkatu 1, Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Languages, School of Languages and Translation Studies, 20014 University of Turku, Finlandthuumo@utu.fi
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Abstract

In cognitive linguistics, motion metaphors of time (e.g. Christmas is approaching, We left the crisis behind) have been actively studied during the last decades. In addition to motion verbs, prepositional expressions are an important element in such metaphors. This work combines insights from Cognitive Grammar and Conceptual Metaphor Theory to account for uses of English path prepositions in motion metaphors of time. It is argued that such expressions conceptualize time as a path where a mover is advancing. The nature of the mover varies: it can be an individual entity metaphorically in motion (e.g. We wentTHROUGHa hard winter), an extended period of time (e.g. The period of Daylight Saving Time goes onPASTSeptember), or the temporal profile of a process (e.g. I sleptTHROUGHthe afternoon). The nature of the mover correlates with the grammatical function of the path expression, which alternates between a complement of a motion verb and a free modifier. Accordingly, the time path can relate with figurative (motion-related) or veridical (duration-related) conceptualizations of time. While a spatial path is direction-neutral, a time path can, with few exceptions, only be scrutinized in the earlier $\rightarrow$ later direction.

Keywords

cognitive linguisticsEnglishmetaphormotionpathprepositiontime
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , 01 November 2018 , pp. 721 - 751
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

[1]

This research was funded by the Academy of Finland (Project 285739) and the Finnish Cultural Foundation (Grant 152335). I thank the three anonymous referees of Journal of Linguistics for their invaluable feedback on earlier versions of this work. I also thank Ellen Valle for correcting my English.

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