Goran Schmidt & Marija Omazić,
University of Osijek
Time metaphors in English and Croatian. A corpus-based
case study
1. Introduction
Since the publication of the theory of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff &
Johnson 1980), many researchers have devoted themselves to exploring various
aspects of metaphor, such as poetic metaphor (Lakof & Johnson 1989), bodily
basis of metaphor (Kövecses 2000), cultural and cross-linguistic aspects of
metaphor (Kövecses 2004), or translational aspects of metaphor (Schäffner
2004). The majority of these studies rely on a procedure where the researcher
carefully reads through the corpus, extracting all the metaphors he or she comes
across, i.e. the procedure of manual searching. However, corpus 1-based
methods have over past fifteen years established themselves as a major
empirical paradigm in linguistics. The research on metaphor is somewhat
lagging behind with respect to this development, but recently, a number of
scholars have made attempts to remedy the situation (see Stefanowitch 2006a).
One of the great resource books on the corpus-based methods in metaphor (and
metonymy) research is the recently published collection of essays entitled
Corpus-Based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy, edited by Anatol
Stefanowitsch and Stefan Th. Gries (Stefanowitsch & Gries 2006).
Corpus-based approaches to metaphor have many comparative advantages
over manual searching, and a few problems. One of the major problem is that
of identifying and extracting the relevant data from the corpus. This is not an
easy task because conceptual mappings are not linked to particular word forms.
Stefanowitch (2006a) suggests several strategies for searching the corpus, such
as searching for SD (source domain) vocabulary, searching for TD (target
domain) vocabulary, searching for SD + TD vocabulary, searching for 'markers
of metaphor' („metaphorically speaking“, „so to speak“ etc.), as well as
searching of annotated corpora. In any case, the results of a corpus-based
approach are exhaustive and systematic, in contrast to the introspective and
opportunistic nature of manual searching. Using corpus-based methods makes
it possible to investigate the linguistic nature of metaphor. The richness of data
1
Corpus is here meant in the sense of a large electronic database, searchable by a
computer.
can lead to reanalysis (e.g. ARGUMENT IS WAR in Stefanowitsch (2006a) is
reanalysed as ANTAGONIST COMMUNICATION IS PHYSICAL CONFLICT) or to
distinguishing between different degrees of metaphoricity. The nature of corpus
data is inherently quantitative, and the frequencies that we get as results of
studies make it possible to assess the systematicity of conceptual mappings.
Among other advantages over manual searching, there is the use of corpus data
with the view to uncover cross-linguistic and diachronic differences across
speech communities, which is impossible to do based only on introspection.
With these comparative advantages of the corpus-based methods in mind,
we set out to do a contrastive case study of TIME metaphors in English and
Croatian, the details of which can be found in the following chapters.
2. Analysis
With the use of electronic corpora we will extract the metaphorical
expressions, which we will analyze for metaphorical patterns. A metaphorical
pattern is a metaphorical expression containing both SD and TD lexemes, and as
such it is a perfect basis for TD oriented studies, such as this (Stefanowitsch
2006b). The metaphorical patterns will then be grouped into general mappings,
whose frequency of occurence will be calculated. This procedure, called
metaphorical pattern analysis (MPA) allows us to systematically characterize
the TD TIME in English and Croatian, and to compare the two systems.
Obviously, MPA will capture only a subset of metaphorical expressions,
since many metaphorical expressions do not contain TD lexical items, but
Stefanowitch (ibid.) shows that this potential drawback is outweighed by the
advantages this method offers:
First, MPA allows us to quantify the importance of any given
metaphorical pattern for particular lexical items, as well as make
generalizations concerning the importance of the conceptual metaphors
underlying these patterns. Metaphorical patterns are also more explicit than
metaphorical expressions not containing the TD lexemes, since it is often
difficult to determine which precise TD we are dealing with (e.g. He is slowly
gaining ground with her. Is the target domain love or is it DESIRE, LUST,
ADORATION?).
Second, metaphorical patterns establish specific paradigmatic relations
betwen TD lexical items and SD items that would be expected in their place in a
non-metaphorical use (He shot down all of my arguments/planes/missiles;
specific relation: argument ≈ plane/missile). Thus, we get not only the general
mappings (DISCUSSION IS WAR), but also more specific ones (ARGUMENTS ARE
MISSILES).
Third, metaphorical patterns may have different degrees of
conventionality – there are cases, where a TD item is much more likely to occur
than SD items (e.g. wealth of ideas is more common than wealth of money), and
in very conventionalized cases, it may be almost impossible to insert a source
domain item into the pattern (elucidate your remarks vs, ???sunlight elucidated
the room). The relative frequency of source and target domain items in a
coherent set of metaphorical patterns may be used to assess the degree to which
the metaphorical mapping underlying them can be regarded as productive, i.e.
as a candidate for a truly conceptual metaphor.
Fourth, there may be more than two domains involved in a metaphorical
pattern (Her eyes were filled with anger. TD1 anger, TD2 eyes; specific relations:
anger ≈ liquid, eye ≈ container). The investigation of metaphorical patterns that
simultaneously instantiate two mappings could uncover the principles
determining their combinability.
Finally, metaphorical pattern analysis provides us with a standard of
comparison for cross-linguistic research, which is otherwise difficult to
establish.
Stefanowitsch (ibid.) shows that MPA is far more efficient than the
introspective method by comparing the results of his case studies on the domain
of BASIC EMOTIONS (anger, joy etc.) to the results arrived at by Kövecses, who
used the introspective method for the same purpose.
The present analysis seeks to uncover general conceptual mappings for the
TD TIME in English and Croatian. It will allow us to systematically characterize
the target domain TIME in the two languages, as well as to compare the TIME
metaphor systems in the two languages. Instead of using translation equivalents
as tertium comparationis, as proposed by Stefanowitsch (ibid.), we used
corpora taken to be representative of English and Croatian languages on the
whole. In the next two subchapters we will explicitate the mechanics of the
analysis and the results for each of the languages individually, as well as do a
cross-linguistic comparison of TD TIME in the two languages.
2.1 Time metaphors in English
For an English corpus we used the BNC (British National Corpus). We
followed the four-step methodology proposed by Stefanowitsch (2006b):
1) Choose a lexical item – TD and extract a sample of its occurences in the
corpus. Here we took just the lexem 'time' which we consider as representative
of the whole domain. The BNC search extracted 154480 solutions for the
lexeme 'time'. Then we took 500 random hits (= 0.323 % of all solutions) as a
sample.2
2) Identify all metaphorical patterns that the search word is part of and
group them into general mappings. This part is the tedious one because of all
hits containing the lexical item 'time' you have to single out just the
metaphorical uses and then group them according to the underlying conceptual
metaphor. In this manual post-editing you have to rely on your judgment when
it comes to the question of which metaphorical pattern represents which
conceptual mapping. In the sample, there were 312 metaphorical uses (= 62.4
% of the sample). This result clearly shows that the word 'time' is more often
used metaphorically than literally.
3) Quantify the frequency of occurrence of metaphorical mappings.
The results of the analysis are shown in Table 1a below. In the first column
there are the identified metaphorical patterns, grouped under general conceptual
mappings. For example, under the general conceptual mapping TIME IS A
BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER you can find metaphorical patterns such as in
time, in [...] time (the square brackets indicate that there are one or more words
in between, e.g. in no time, in less time, in ten years time), in (...) time (of) (the
round brackets indicate that there is an optional element, e.g. in all that time, in
the time of, etc.), X place themselves in time (here X stands for a subject, e.g.
Young children have a very real need to place themselves in time) etc. On the
right side, N signifies the raw frequency of a particular conceptual mapping.
For example, in our sample there are 27 metaphorical patterns manifesting the
general conceptual mapping TIME IS A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER.
Table 1a. Metaphorical patterns manifesting TIME metaphors identified via
metaphorical pattern analysis
TIME IS
N
A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER
in time, in [...] time, , in (...) time (of), within [...] time, X place themselves in
time, in [...] short space of time, full time
27
SPACE OF A CERTAIN LENGTH
14
length of time, a (...) long time, a short time, time be extended, over [...] time
A POINT IN SPACE
2
127
This is of course a very small sample, but we had to limit the number of hits because it
would take too much time to go through more solutions, and there is no other way but to
do it manually, by carefully reading all the solutions. We feel, though, that the results
are indicative. By selecting a larger sample we would get more mappings, but the
underlying conceptual metaphors would probably be the same.
at [a /one/the/that/this...] time, about (...) time, by [the/this/...] time, from that
time on, from time to time, from the time [...] to the time [...], X come to an end
of time
A SUBSTANCE
1
the time contained in an event
A WHOLE THAT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO PARTS
3
fraction of time, half (the) time
SOMETHING THAT CAN BE QUANTIFIED
30
amount of time, plenty of time, some time, all (the/this) time, less time, a lot of
the time, most of the time, time scale
AN OBJECT
3
big time, the immensity of [...] time, time warp
SOMETHING THAT CAN BE POSSESSED
22
his/our/their/X's time, have (got) (the) time, spend [...] time
MONEY
11
spend [...] time
A LIMITED RESOURCE
39
waste (...) time, allow time, X run out of time, time run out, X find time, X get
the time, (X) give (Y) (...) time, X devote (...) time (...) to, X's spare time, X allot
time for, X's gifts of time , the time allocated, X take time, Y take (up) (X) [...]
time, the time taken, time saver, X leave [...] time, use X's [...] time profitably
A THING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED
11
the requisite time, need for [...] time, X need (...) time, time pressure, [...] time
[...] be a valuable commodity, time constraints, be time enough, there be [...]
time, X want [...] time [...]
SOMETHING HAVING CONTROL OVER US
1
time permit,
SOMETHING WE CAN CONTROL
1
time controller
A STRUCTURED THING
1
X structure X's time
A MOVING/ FLYING OBJECT
time fly
1
SOMETHING MOVING TOWARDS US (coming
to us, passing us)
time come, time pass, passage of time, X pass [...] time
9
SOMETHING MOVING ALONG A ROUTE
1
course of time
SOMETHING MOVING AND BRINGING CHANGES
2
changes with time, improve with time
A CIRCLE
1
circles of time
OUR OPPONENT IN A RACE (<- LIFE IS A RACE)
3
race against time, time push, time lags
FUTURE IS FORWARD
1
X look forward to the next time
TIME IS VERTICAL
1
high time
2
A FRUIT
time seem/be ripe
TOTAL
312
After sorting the metaphorical patterns under general conceptual mappings
and calculating their frequency of occurence, we were able to abstract a little
more and to group all these mappings into three abstract level mappings,
namely TIME IS SPACE, TIME IS A SUBSTANCE, and TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING.
This is shown in Table 1b.
Table 1b. The main metaphorical mappings with the target domain TIME
TIME IS SPACE
TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE 40.7% !
TIME IS SPACE OF A CERTAIN LENGTH
TIME IS A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER
53.84%
TIME IS A SUBSTANCE
TIME IS A WHOLE THAT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO PARTS
TIME IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE QUANTIFIED
TIME IS AN OBJECT
TIME IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE POSSESSED
TIME IS MONEY
TIME IS A LIMITED RESOURCE
TIME IS A THING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED
39.42%
TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING
TIME IS A MOVING/ FLYING OBJECT
TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING TOWARDS US
4.48%
TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING ALONG A ROUTE
TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING AND BRINGING CHANGES
TOTAL
97.74%
You will notice that the total percentage is less than 100, and the reason is
that some of the mappings found in the sample could not be grouped under any
of these three abstract-level mappings, e.g. TIME IS SOMETHING HAVING
CONTROL OVER US. TIME IS SPACE is by far the most frequent abstract level
mapping in the sample (53.84% of all identified metaphorical expressions),
particularly the specific mapping TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE, which covers 40.7%
of all metaphorical expressions with TD TIME. This result does not come as a
surprise because in the world of science it is well known that time and space are
interrelated concepts, so much that they are considered to be one entity, called
space-time in terms of Einstein's relativity theory. If space and time are just two
sides of the same coin, it may be possible that people intuitively use space to
conceptualize time. This only works in one direction, i.e. people do not use
time to conceptualize space, which is understandable since space is one of the
most basic concepts in human life, and we are able to experience it direclty, e.g.
we can move through space in various directions, we can see it, we can
measure it easily etc., so there is really no need to conceptualize it via another
concrete concept.
TIME IS A SUBSTANCE takes the second place with a bit smaller percentage,
39.42%. In order to measure time, we need to think of it as if it were a
substance, something solid. This in turn allows us to think of time as a
possession, something we can own, need or lack. This is very important
because people feel that they are given a certain, limited, amount of time that's
all theirs to spend as they wish. TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING covers only 4.48%,
which comes as a big surprise, since that particular abstract level mapping is
very-well elaborated on in literature (Lakof & Johnson 1980, Kövecses 2004,
among others)3.
4) Compare the results for the two languages.
Before we go on to this last step as proposed by Stefanowitsch (2006b), let
us present the results of the paralel analysis for Croatian.
2.2 Time metaphors in Crotian
Here we used the HNK (Hrvatski nacionalni korpus) to extract the data. We
followed the same four-step methodology as we did for English.
3
Although Stefanowitch (2006b) gives fairly strong evidence that metaphorical patterns
(patterns containing both TD and SD vocabulary) are indeed representative of the whole
TD, in more complex domains such as TIME that may not be the case. They are thousands
of examples where we talk of time as something moving without actually mentioning
the word 'time': Christmas is approaching; that's all behind us now; we look forward to
the future; who knows what the future will bring etc. Nevertheless, we must not take this
as evidence that the method we are using is wrong. It merely indicates that the numbers
may not be representative, but we still get indicative dana on all the general mappings
that characterize the TD under investigation.
1. We chose the lexical item 'vrijeme' as the representative of the domain.
Since Croatian nouns are inflected, we also looked for the inflected forms
'vremena' (genitive), 'vremenu' (dative) and 'vremenom' (instrumental). There
were 99228 solutions. We took 500 random hits (= 0.5 % of all solutions) as a
sample. The size of the sample is the same as the English sample because the
BNC and HNK are of the same size (approx. 100 million words each). With 5%
‘noise’ (one of the meanings of 'vrijeme' is 'weather', and the form 'vremena'
can also be nominative, genitive, accusative, or vocative plural, which was
discarded because we decided to look only for singular in English and
Croatian) the number of hits was reduced to 475 hits (=> 0.47 % of all
solutions). Since for Croatian the total number of solutions was considerably
smaller (99228 vs. 154480 for English), the Croatian sample even after
discarding the 'noise' turned out to be more representative than the English
sample (0.47% vs. 0.32% of all solutions, respectively).
2. In the Croatian sample there were 333 metaphorical uses = 70.1 % of the
sample, which is a slightly more than in the English sample (312 hits or 62.4
%) . This is probably a consequence of the fact that the Croatian sample is more
representative than the English sample. In any case, it reinforces our claim that
time/vrijeme is more often used metaphorically than literally.
3. The results of a metaphorical pattern analysis are shown in Table 2a
below:
Table 2a. Metaphorical patterns manifesting VRIJEME (TIME) metaphors
identified via metaphorical pattern analysis
VRIJEME JE/TIME IS
OMEĐEN PROSTOR/SPREMNIK (A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER)
puno radno vrijeme, u (...) vrijeme, unutar [...] vremena, izvan [...]
vremena, iz (...) vremena
PROSTOR ODREĐENE DULJINE (SPACE OF A CERTAIN LENGTH)
kratko /kraće/najkraće vrijeme, skraćeno radno vrijeme,
dugo/duže/dulje/najduže vrijeme, produljiti/produžiti vrijeme
PROSTOR KROZ KOJI SE KREĆEMO (SPACE WE ARE MOVING THROUGH)
kroz (to) vrijeme
PLOHA (A SURFACE)
na vrijeme, na (ne)određeno/neko vrijeme, „bulevar vremena“
TOČKA U PROSTORU (POINT IN SPACE)
od (toga) vremena
NEŠTO ŠTO SE KREĆE PREMA NAMA I PROLAZI PORED NAS I ODMIČE OD NAS
(SOMETHING MOVING TOWARDS US AND COMING TO US AND PASSING US)
vrijeme doći/dolaziti, vrijeme (...) proći, vrijeme odmicati
NEŠTO ŠTO SE KREĆE ODREĐENOM BRZINOM (SOMETHING MOVING AT A CERTAIN
N
109
25
5
26
3
15
1
SPEED)
usporeno vrijeme
NEŠTO ŠTO SE KREĆE I SA SOBOM NOSI PROMJENE (SOMETHING MOVING AND
BRINGING CHANGES )
8
s vremenom (X) postati/se dogoditi/biti bolje/ izabrati, vrijeme donositi
PROMJENA
TEKUĆINA (A LIQUID)
vrijeme proteći, istek (...) vremena, protok vremena
NEŠTO ŠTO MI VODIMO KROZ PROSTOR (SOMETHING WE ARE LEADING THROUGH
SPACE)
X provesti/provoditi vrijeme
NEŠTO ŠTO SE KREĆE USMJERENO (OD PROŠLOSTI PREMA
BUDUĆNOSTI)/SOMETHING MOVING IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION (PAST TO FUTURE)
u prvo vrijeme, u posljednje/zadnje vrijeme
KRUG (A CIRCLE)
vrijeme biti zaokruženo
SUPSTANCA (A SUBSTANCE)
„prljavo“ vrijeme
CJELINA KOJA SE MOŽE DIJELITI (A WHOLE THAT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO PARTS)
cijelo (to) vrijeme, čitavo vrijeme, veći dio vremena
NEŠTO ŠTO SE MOŽE KVANTIFICIRATI (SOMETHING THAT CAN BE QUANTIFIED)
neko vrijeme, nešto vremena, određeno vrijeme, jedno vrijeme, manje vremena,
sve/svo (ovo) vrijeme, N posto vremena,
PREDMET (AN OBJECT)
vrijeme se stavlja pod povećalo
NEŠTO ŠTO SE MOŽE POSJEDOVATI (SOMETHING THAT CAN BE POSSESSED)
njegovo/naše/svoje/X-ovo vrijeme, X imati (dovoljno/puno/...) vremena
(OGRANIČEN) RESURS/ A (LIMITED) RESOURCE
imati (...) vremena, vrijeme dopušteno, X iskoristiti (ovo) vrijeme, X uzeti puno
vremena, preostalo vrijeme, izgubljeno vrijeme, X gubiti vrijeme, X dati (neko)
vrijeme Y-u, X kupiti vrijeme, kupnja vremena, uštediti vrijeme, Y stajati
vremena, preraspodijeliti vrijeme
NEŠTO ZA ČIM POSTOJI POTREBA (A THING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED)
X-u biti potrebno vrijeme, trebati (...) vremena, vrijeme potrebno za, (...)
vrijeme biti nužno, nedostatak vremena, X zahtijeva vrijeme
NOVAC (MONEY)
X uložiti (...) vremena, X potrošiti (...) vremena, vrijeme potrošeno za
ŽIVO BIĆE (A LIVING BEING)
X ubiti vrijeme, duh (X-ovog) vremena
NEŠTO ŠTO RADI ZA NAS (SOMETHING WORKING FOR US)
vrijeme radi za X (=osoba)
DIKTATOR (A DICTATOR)
diktat vremena
NEŠTO ŠTO IMA ODGOVORE (SOMETHING THAT HAS THE ANSWERS)
vrijeme pokazati
TOTAL
5
7
23
1
1
9
31
1
16
22
12
4
3
1
1
4
333
As can be seen from Table 2a, there is a larger number of identified
mappings in Croatian, which we take to be the consequence of a slightly more
representative sample. The mappings that were not found in the English sample
are TIME IS A SURFACE, TIME IS SPACE WE ARE MOVING THROUGH, TIME IS
SOMETHING MOVING AT A CERTAIN SPEED, TIME IS A LIQUID, etc. We know from
experience that these concepts are also common in English. The only
metaphorical mapping that seems to be specific for Croatian is TIME IS
SOMETHING WE ARE LEADING THROUGH SPACE (provoditi vrijeme; 'provoditi' =
to show the way, lead someone through something or past something 4). It could
be rewarding to explore the etymology of that particular expression. On the
other hand, there are also some mappings in the English sample that do not
come up in the Croatian sample, such as TIME IS OUR OPPONENT IN A RACE (LIFE
IS A RACE), FUTURE IS FORWARD, TIME IS VERTICAL, TIME IS A FRUIT. All of
these are also well-entrenched in Croatian, except for TIME IS VERTICAL, which
in this case seems to be specific for English.
As another proof that these additional mappings that we find in the
Croatian sample are not much different from the mappings in the English
sample, we were able to group them into the same three abstract level mappings
as we did for English, which is shown in Table 2b below:
Table 2b. The main metaphorical mappings with the target domain VRIJEME
VRIJEME JE PROSTOR/TIME IS SPACE
TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE
TIME IS SPACE OF A CERTAIN LENGTH
TIME IS SPACE WE ARE MOVING THROUGH
TIME IS A SURFACE
TIME IS A BOUNDED SPACE/CONTAINER ! 32.73%
50.45%
VRIJEME JE SUPSTANCA/TIME IS A SUBSTANCE
TIME IS A WHOLE THAT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO PARTS
TIME IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE QUANTIFIED
28.82%
TIME IS AN OBJECT
TIME IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE POSSESSED
TIME IS A (LIMITED) RESOURCE
TIME IS A THING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED
TIME IS MONEY
VRIJEME JE NEŠTO ŠTO SE KREĆE/TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING
SOMETHING MOVING TOWARDS US AND COMING TO US AND PASSING US
4
1
Anić, Vladimir (2007). Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika. Zagreb: Novi liber
18.1%
SOMETHING MOVING AT A CERTAIN SPEED
SOMETHING MOVING AND BRINGING CHANGES
A LIQUID
SOMETHING WE ARE LEADING THROUGH SPACE
SOMETHING MOVING IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION (PAST TO FUTURE)
TOTAL
97.28%
Not only are these mappings the same as in Croatian, but their order is also
the same. TIME IS SPACE is the most frequent in both languages, although it is
slightly less represented in the Croatian sample. One striking difference is that
in English the most metaphorical patterns of that type instantiate the more
specific type TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE (e.g. at the time), while in Croatian the
most common subtype is TIME IS A BOUNDED SPACE/ CONTAINER (e.g. u
vrijeme). This difference is probably linguistic by nature, it is a result of
entrenchment, and it shows the asymmetry of the two linguistic systems. On the
second place it is again TIME IS A SUBSTANCE metaphor, although it is
considerably less represented in the Croatian sample. The finding that it is less
represented in the Croatian sample may indicate a cultural difference. Since
most of the patterns under this heading instantiate the TIME IS A LIMITED
RESOURCE metaphor, we may hypothesize that this difference is due to the fact
that Angloamerican cultures set more store by material values than a culture
like ours. If this is true than it's not surprising that they think of time in terms of
resource, possession, valuable commodity etc. more than we do. But with the
world becoming a global village and the consumerist philosophy becoming the
predominant one we should expect this to be reflected in language, too, so that
the difference found here may vanish eventually. TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING
takes the third place, and is more frequent in the Croatian sample. The only
way to account for this difference is to say that this is due to a more
representative sample in Croatian, or it is a pure coincidence, since samples
were picked at random, because it is hard to imagine that Croatians should have
a more dynamic understanding of time than Angloamericans.
4. Concluding remarks


The time metaphor systems in English and Croatian are very similar.
There is a larger number of identified mappings in Croatian (probably due
to a slightly more representative sample), but they can be grouped under
the same three abstract-level mappings as in English:
1) TIME IS SPACE
2) TIME IS A SUBSTANCE
3) TIME IS SOMETHING MOVING




However, there are some differences in their distribution:
In Croatian, the moving time metaphor is more represented than in
English (18.1% vs. 4.48%).
In English, the time-as-substance metaphor is slightly more represented
than in Croatian
( 39.42. % vs 28.82%).
The time-as-space metaphor is the most frequent one in both languages.
One striking difference is that in English the most metaphorical patterns
of that type instantiate the more specific type TIME IS A POINT IN SPACE
(e.g. at the time), while in Croatian the most common subtype is TIME IS A
BOUNDED SPACE/ CONTAINER (e.g. u vrijeme).
Data Sources
BNC British National Corpus, World Edition.
HNK Hrvatski nacionalni korpus, available online at www.hnk.ffzg.hr/
References
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Human Feeling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. (+ Afterword,
2003). Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.
-. 1989. More than Cool Reason. A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago,
London: The University of Chicago Press.
Schäffner, Christina. 2004. Metaphor and translation: some implications of a
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to Metaphor and Metonymy. Berlin, New York : Mouton de Gruyter
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edited by Anatol Stefanowitsch and Stefan Th. Gries
-. 2006b. Words and their metaphors: A corpus-based approach. In Corpus-Based
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and Stefan Th. Gries