What trajectors reveal about TIME metaphors

Abstract

This paper is an analysis of trajectors (i.e. located entities) in language about fixed durations of TIME. More specifically, trajectors in instances including the English prepositions in or on, or their Swedish equivalents i or på, are analyzed. On the structure of the inverse Moving Observer/Moving Time metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 1999) instances such as these should be construed relative to a Moving Observer, and trajectors people that move relative to fixed durations of TIME (as reflected in e.g. when we come to launching the 4th edition in early 1990). My analysis, however, suggests that our understanding of TIME through SPACE is more nuanced than suggested by these metaphors. In this specific context, trajectors are not typically people in motion, but rather events or processes located in, or on, unit of time landmarks. My study emphasizes the need to test the systematicity of the mappings proposed by Conceptual Metaphor Theory.