Building bridges between conceptual metaphor theory, L2 speakers’ perception, and pedagogical practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within Cognitive Linguistics, Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) has focused on conceptual representation and has been applied to the study of emotion since the 1980s. Since the study of language is a powerful asset for understanding how speakers conceptualize emotions, examining frequent yet difficult linguistic constructions to express one’s emotions in the L2 seems, therefore, a relevant task, especially for the L2 teaching-learning process. By looking at the description of the semantic relation between the literal and figurative meaning of the Spanish change-of-state construction ‘ponerse + adjective’, the present study aims to offer a CMT-based analysis of two rather neglected metaphors in the CMT literature: EMOTIONS ARE CLOTHES and A SPONTANEOUS AND TEMPORARY CHANGE OF STATE IS A SPONTANEOUS AND TEMPORARY CHANGE OF LOCATION. Along with the CMT analysis, empirical data seeking evidence of the psychological reality of metaphorical thoughts were collected from two surveys. Participants were 36 intermediate Spanish/L2 students from a US-based college. In light of our findings, we designed a cognitive linguistics-informed pedagogical proposal that has been implemented in a follow-up study. This research corroborates the idea that building bridges between theoretical and applied disciplines is paramount for investigations in both fields to evolve.