ABSTRACT - Italiano. La polisemia dei termini cromatici nel linguaggio è antagonista e opponente, come è, di conseguenza, l’utilizzo nelle metafore e metonimie concettuali. Il colore è luce ed è sostanza; è antagonista nella sua realizzazione nel mondo esterno e nell’elaborazione “corporea” umana del colore. La tesi di questo saggio è che l'esperienza percettiva del colore “embodied” attiva lo sviluppo di meccanismi di metafora concettuale e la creazione di un processo di mappatura tra i domini di colore come oggetto di luce e colore come oggetto di sostanza. Il colore rappresenta un riferimento cognitivo nel linguaggio, un focus, che a sua volta innesca una associazione positiva o negativa a seconda del contesto. Ciò avviene attraverso l'elaborazione parallela del segnale colore e il simbolo. ABSTRACT - English. The polysemy of colour terms in language is antagonistic and opponent, as is its consequential use in conceptual colour metaphor and metonymy. Colour is both light and substance. It is antagonistic in its realisation in the external world and in human embodiment of colour processing. The thesis of this paper is that the perceptual embodied experience of colour activates the development of conceptual metaphor mechanisms and the establishment of a mapping process between the domains of colour as a light object and colour as a substance object. Colour represents a cognitive focus in language, which in turn triggers a positive or negative association depending on the context. This happens through the parallel processing of the colour signal and symbol. After introducing the objective, this article outlines specific aspects of embodiment and experiential motivation of colour term realisation, the psychophysics and physiology of colour categorisation, the colour terms treated, and parallel processing (§2); all aspects that contribute to the polysemic network of colour terms. It then specifies the conceptual colour metaphor mapping and the proposed four types: primary metaphor, complex metaphor, subsystemic metaphor, and specific-level metaphor (§3). The last part presents conclusions and highlights future research (§4). What often seems to be an isolated manifestation of colour term meaning is instead a systematic realisation of these conceptual metaphor types, which in turn reflect aspects of our embodied comprehension of things - COLOURS ARE ENTITIES and relations - GOOD IS COLOUR, SEEING IS COLOUR, and COLOURS ARE LOCATIONS, COLOURS ARE POSSESSIONS. Colour is emblematic of the passage from perception, through cognition to linguistic elaboration. Embodiment Theory and Conceptual Metaphor Theory are relevant paradigms for the analysis of how humans create a polysemic network of word senses. Colour terms are used to imply: ‘I know what I mean, I have seen it, and I can tell you what colour it is.’
I Can Tell You What Colour It Is
SANDFORD, Jodi Louise
2010
Abstract
ABSTRACT - Italiano. La polisemia dei termini cromatici nel linguaggio è antagonista e opponente, come è, di conseguenza, l’utilizzo nelle metafore e metonimie concettuali. Il colore è luce ed è sostanza; è antagonista nella sua realizzazione nel mondo esterno e nell’elaborazione “corporea” umana del colore. La tesi di questo saggio è che l'esperienza percettiva del colore “embodied” attiva lo sviluppo di meccanismi di metafora concettuale e la creazione di un processo di mappatura tra i domini di colore come oggetto di luce e colore come oggetto di sostanza. Il colore rappresenta un riferimento cognitivo nel linguaggio, un focus, che a sua volta innesca una associazione positiva o negativa a seconda del contesto. Ciò avviene attraverso l'elaborazione parallela del segnale colore e il simbolo. ABSTRACT - English. The polysemy of colour terms in language is antagonistic and opponent, as is its consequential use in conceptual colour metaphor and metonymy. Colour is both light and substance. It is antagonistic in its realisation in the external world and in human embodiment of colour processing. The thesis of this paper is that the perceptual embodied experience of colour activates the development of conceptual metaphor mechanisms and the establishment of a mapping process between the domains of colour as a light object and colour as a substance object. Colour represents a cognitive focus in language, which in turn triggers a positive or negative association depending on the context. This happens through the parallel processing of the colour signal and symbol. After introducing the objective, this article outlines specific aspects of embodiment and experiential motivation of colour term realisation, the psychophysics and physiology of colour categorisation, the colour terms treated, and parallel processing (§2); all aspects that contribute to the polysemic network of colour terms. It then specifies the conceptual colour metaphor mapping and the proposed four types: primary metaphor, complex metaphor, subsystemic metaphor, and specific-level metaphor (§3). The last part presents conclusions and highlights future research (§4). What often seems to be an isolated manifestation of colour term meaning is instead a systematic realisation of these conceptual metaphor types, which in turn reflect aspects of our embodied comprehension of things - COLOURS ARE ENTITIES and relations - GOOD IS COLOUR, SEEING IS COLOUR, and COLOURS ARE LOCATIONS, COLOURS ARE POSSESSIONS. Colour is emblematic of the passage from perception, through cognition to linguistic elaboration. Embodiment Theory and Conceptual Metaphor Theory are relevant paradigms for the analysis of how humans create a polysemic network of word senses. Colour terms are used to imply: ‘I know what I mean, I have seen it, and I can tell you what colour it is.’I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
