The TIME AS SPACE Metaphor in English and in French: A Cognitive Analysis

Abstract

Metaphors were conceived of as a figure of speech whose role consisted in merely ornamenting the language. However, with their seminal book Metaphors we live by (1980), Lakoff and Johnson have revolutionized the conception of metaphors by placing them as central to human language, thought and action. Cognitive linguists argue that humans tend to conceptualize abstract concepts, such as time, through more experiential and tangible concepts. For instance, it has been observed that the abstract concept of time is conceptualized as space in several unrelated languages. According to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), TIME AS SPACE metaphor covers two more specific metaphors: (1) The MOVING TIME metaphor wherein the observer is conceived as a stationary entity, as in The end of the academic year is getting closer, and (2)The TIME AS A LOCATION metaphor wherein times are conceived as stationary points and the observer is conceived as moving relative to these locations, as in We are first approaching the end of the year. This paper aims at probing the validity of the CMT representations of time on the basis of an analysis of time metaphors in two languages: English and French. This analysis is conducted within the framework of CMT. The results corroborate the CMT representations of time, suggesting that in both languages the abstract concept of time is expressed in spatial terms. In English, as in French, time is conceptualized as a moving entity and as having extension in space. In both languages, time can be seen as bounded; therefore, one can perform actions within defined limits of time.