개인 특성을 나타내는 신체어 관용구의 비유적 의미에 대한 인지의미론적 연구

Abstract

In this study, the figurative meaning of some idioms representing personal characteristics was studied from a cognitive semantic perspective. The focus was on the kind of physical experiences the metaphorical concepts of those abstract concepts could be traced back to and their structures. For example, an analysis of the Korean somatic idioms with ‘눈’ and ‘눈물’ using the analytical tools of metaphorical mapping and image schema revealed that the idioms with ‘눈’ conceptualize mental ability and the idioms with ‘눈물’ conceptualize emotional competence. In detail, starting with ‘human is the body’ as the highest level of metaphor, it turned out that the concept of mental ability is traced back to the bodily experience of ‘brightening’, ‘opening’, and ‘broadening’, and that emotional competence, which is divided into ‘sensitivity’ and ‘emotional empathy’, is conceptualized by the presence and the amount of tears.