• Metaphors are central to the social construction of safety. • Eight different categories of metaphor of safety were identified in corporate reports. • Use of metaphor was greater in reports from high hazard than low hazard sectors. • Metaphors used in safety reports are different from those in other forms of reporting. Organisations are increasingly required to publicly disclose their safety performance through their corporate reports. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) reporting is an essential element of corporate transparency and responsibility, enabling investors and other stakeholders to understand a firm’s management of its significant risks. The language used in these reports shapes the meaning that may be inferred. Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory was applied to the publicly available safety reports of 23 firms operating within high and low hazard sectors to examine how metaphors were used to signal their safety performance. Across sectors eight different categories of metaphor were identified which have different implications for interpretation. Half of these categories of metaphor were different to those used in financial reporting. The findings show that metaphors were used similarly between sectors but were more frequently used in reports from organisations operating in high hazard than low hazard settings. Building on the existing understanding of the use of numbers as a form of impression management, we argue that language is also used within corporate reporting to construct an epistemology of safety that is performative and overly optimistic. This presents challenges for external stakeholders relying on an organisation’s reporting as an indication of their safety performance and could present significant ethical and integrity dilemmas for Occupational Health and Safety practitioners.

Conceptual metaphor theory supposes that metaphor underlies much of human understanding. The implicit association test (IAT) has recently been used to quantify metaphoric alignments, like black and white, that may also be associated with racial bias. Here, in six experiments, we studied the extent to which performance on the controversial race IAT might be attributed to metaphoric alignments of white and black, such as with good and evil. Experiment 1 replicates a prior report that IAT scores for black-white color alone are as strong as those associated with race. Experiment 2 shows that, for White participants, measured biases are just as strongly correlated between race and color IATs as between two different instances of the race IAT. Experiment 3 shows that metaphor-based color biases measured by IATs are just as strong among people who identify as Black as those who identify as White. Experiments 4 and 6 show that correlations between race and color IAT scores extend to Black participants. Experiment 5 shows that white-positive bias on a variety of color IATs is related to the figurative affective meanings of colors, not to literal color preferences or to explicit racial bias. Experiment 6 showed that variations in the figurative affective meanings of colors predicts within-group variation in scores on the race IAT. Across all experiments that tested both color and race IATs, variation in performance on a black-white color IAT (but not a blue-gray color IAT) was the strongest predictor of variation in performance on the Black-White race IAT.

This article examines cultural and idiomatic narratives in South African Indigenous music, with specific reference to Johnny Dimba’s “Dear Msakazi” and Buselaphi’s “Umendo.” The analysis is informed by conceptual metaphor theory (CMT), which conceptualises metaphor not merely as a stylistic or rhetorical device but as a fundamental cognitive and cultural mechanism through which individuals and communities structure experience and produce meaning. This theoretical perspective is particularly suited to analysing isiZulu song texts, where metaphor functions as a culturally embedded resource for articulating communal values, identity, and socio-political critique. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative research design grounded in close textual and thematic analysis of selected song lyrics, focusing on cultural codes, implicit meanings, and the negotiation of social realities embedded in musical expression. The findings indicate that the songs function as archives of cultural memory and collective identity, employ metaphorical and idiomatic language to convey emotional depth and social commentary, and reflect ongoing tensions between tradition and modernity within urban African contexts. The article concludes that Indigenous African music constitutes a dynamic cultural arena in which communities negotiate identity, validate lived experiences, and engage critically with socio-political realities, thereby contributing to both cultural continuity and broader public discourse.

IntroductionThis study investigates how multimodal metaphors convey two core Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) concepts— “Yin Xu” (Yin deficiency) and “Yang Xu” (Yang deficiency)—in short science communication videos on Douyin. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Multimodal Metaphor Theory, and Visual Grammar Theory, this research examines the effectiveness of multimodal representation of TCM concepts in digital health communication.MethodsThis study adopts a quantitative multimodal discourse analysis approach to analyze 15 short videos on Yin Xu and Yang Xu published on Douyin between 2023 and 2024. Using ELAN software, 89 metaphorical units were annotated across four semiotic modes (written signs, pictorial signs, sound, and gesture) to evaluate their performance, distribution, and cross-modal coordination.ResultsFindings indicate that 43.8% of metaphorical mappings exhibit source-target domain inconsistencies, accompanied by insufficient cross-modal coordination and minimal dynamic narrative elements. Written text overwhelmingly dominates the modal distribution at 67.4%, while visual elements remain notably underrepresented at 21.3%. These findings suggest that multimodal inconsistency and visual underutilization may compromise the conceptual coherence of TCM metaphorical communication.DiscussionIn response to these identified shortcomings, this paper presents optimization strategies focused on color-based coding systems, dynamic narrative construction, and enhanced cross-modal integration. By developing a systematic framework for enhancing the precision and coherence of TCM metaphor representation in digital media, this research contributes to the convergence of semiotic analysis, science communication, and cognitive linguistics.

In the present paper, I will analyze conceptual metaphors and image schemas in seven chosen sayings in Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyya through the concept of cognitive semantics and especially the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1987). The research has answers to the question below: How do the conceptual metaphors and image schemas arrange abstract spiritual ideas in these supplications? The metaphors discovered in the analysis include GUIDANCE IS A PATH, SIN IS A BURDEN, and KNOWLEDGE/FAITH IS LIGHT, and recurring image schema (PATH, CONTAINER, FORCE) to help the readers to identify abstract spiritual notions like divine orientation and moral struggle with the help of tangible and embodied experience. These findings suggest that these tendencies do not merely transform abstract concepts like mercy and repentance into real experience but also into personal and familiar experience. The study testifies the fact that Al-Sahifa employs a sophisticated cognitive system that integrates spirituality and morality that are employed to conceptualize the literature of Islamic devotions and demonstrates universal cognitive processes organizing the abstract thinking with assistance of metaphors.

This study investigates how metaphorical framing shapes public reasoning about drug addiction in Thai society. Specifically, it examines how presenting drug users as criminals versus patients influences perceptions of responsibility and preferred solutions. The research objectives are 1) to assess the impact of different metaphors related to the debate on the elimination of drug problems in Thai society, and; 2) to elucidate the degree of conscious awareness of the use of metaphors in this debate. Data were collected from two questionnaires administered to 384 Thai participants aged 18–24. Each questionnaire consisted of three parts: general information; a passage about drug consisting of metaphors ‘drug users as criminals’ or ‘drug users as patients’; and open-ended questions on opinions about drug problems. The findings reveal that the “criminal” frame elicited stronger support for law enforcement measures, while the “patient” frame promoted healthcare-oriented responses. These results highlight the subtle yet powerful effects of metaphorical framing, even when participants are not consciously aware of its influence. This study underscores context sensitivity and cultural resistance, which lend support to Kövecses’s (2020) cultural extensions of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and suggesting dynamic mappings between the conceptual domains of criminals and patients. By demonstrating how figurative language directs social attitudes and proposed policies, this research contributes to understanding the role of metaphor in shaping public discourse and advancing social equity, while offering insights relevant to health communication and social policy debates.

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of a Cognitive Linguistic analysis of metaphors used in a series of interviews by a single healthy volunteer following four moderate-to-high dosing sessions with psilocybin. The interviews were conducted by members of a human psychedelic research lab in a deep-sampling fMRI and EEG brain imaging study, allowing the participant to recount experiences under the effects of the compound. The goal of this case analysis is to make theoretically informed inferences about the participant’s cognitive-phenomenal processes during the interviews and the psychedelic experiences. To this end, we use Conceptual Metaphor Theory to explain how the participant consistently uses metaphors that frame abstract introspective events in terms of more concrete, visible and interpersonal events. This instantiates a cognitive frame that is known as the Observer’s Model. The metaphor themes we identify also imply a recurring sense of cognitive defusion and heightened metacognitive awareness during the psilocybin sessions. Moreover, we find that literal descriptions of hallucinatory visual experiences correlate semantically with metaphorical expressions, suggesting that metaphorical thinking plays a role in motivating those experiences. We link these linguistic-analytical results to neuroscientific findings about psychedelics and explore psychological and therapeutic implications.

This study examines the role of conceptual metaphors in Uzbek poetry, focusing on the conceptualization of homeland, friendship, and world. Drawing on cognitive-linguistic frameworks, particularly the theory of conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and conceptual integration theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002), it investigates how abstract concepts are structured through mappings from concrete experiential domains. The analysis identifies source and target domains, classifies metaphors into structural, orientational, and ontological types, and explores their semantic, cognitive, cultural, and emotional dimensions. Frame-slot structures are applied to model metaphorical cognition systematically. The findings demonstrate that metaphors function as a cognitive mechanism for conceptualizing abstract thought, mediating both linguistic expression and cultural consciousness, and facilitating the organization of human experience and emotion in poetry.

ABSTRACT Research on Estonian, Turkish, and Swedish color idioms suggests a prevalence of similarities over differences in the figurative usage of colors in these languages. Previous studies have looked at data collected from dictionaries and web corpora. Grounded in conceptual metaphor theory, the current study extends these findings through an empirical approach, employing a free‐listing task where native speakers of Estonian, Swedish, and Turkish were asked to list color idioms in their language. This empirical approach provides nuanced insights into speakers' mental representations of the world. Directly engaging native speakers helps capture idioms that might be absent from dictionaries, revealing their cognitive salience. The results showed that Estonian and Swedish color idioms share significantly more similarities with each other than either does with Turkish. The finding reflects that while the human experience is largely universal, the cultural experience can be distinct and varied.

The author examines in detail the developed methodology of conceptual analysis of blog discourse as a tool for researching linguocultural models of representation of basic social concepts. The relevance of the work is determined by the increasing role of digital communication, in which the value orientations of modern society are transmitted and formed. Blog discourse is viewed as a space of natural, non-institutionalized communication that allows the identification of current ways of conceptualizing social reality. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on the principles of cognitive linguistics, linguoculturology, and the theory of conceptual metaphor. The focus is on the process of verbalizing concepts in texts of internet communication, as well as the identification of cognitive mechanisms through which users of blog discourse interpret significant social phenomena and form collective representations of them within the framework of modern digital culture and network communication. The research methodology is based on the conceptual analysis of discourse and includes the formation of a corpus of blog texts, identifying nominative representatives of the concept, reconstructing conceptual metaphors, modeling associative fields, and comparative interpretation of the obtained data. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the development and systematization of a step-by-step methodology for the conceptual analysis of blog discourse, aimed at identifying cognitive and linguocultural mechanisms for the representation of social concepts in digital communication. The proposed model combines tools from cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis and involves the sequential identification of nominative representatives of the concept, reconstruction of conceptual metaphors, modeling of associative fields, and interpretation of the obtained data. The developed analytical model can be used in further research on blog discourse and other forms of internet communication, providing a comprehensive approach to the study of the processes of conceptualization and linguistic representation of socially significant phenomena in various linguocultures, and creating a reliable theoretical and methodological basis for subsequent comparative analysis of concepts in the modern digital environment.

The article presents a cognitive-discursive analysis of intertextual and pragmatic mechanisms involved in constructing the archetypal image of Iran as an enemy in English-language digital discourse. The subject of the study is the intertextual and pragmatic mechanisms underlying enemy image formation in user comments on the Reddit platform. The aim is to identify and systematize these mechanisms and to describe their interaction. The relevance of the study is determined by the growing role of user-generated digital discourse in shaping public opinion on international conflicts, as well as by insufficient scholarly attention to the cognitive-discursive mechanisms of enemy image construction in online comments. The corpus comprises 300 comments published on Reddit during the US military operation "Epic Fury". The methodology includes cognitive-discursive analysis drawing on C. G. Jung's theory of archetypes, V. Ya. Propp's narrative morphology, G. Lakoff and M. Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory, E. W. Said's concept of Orientalism, J. Culpeper's impoliteness theory, and T. A. van Dijk's ideological square model. The analysis identified three archetypal enemy models: "absolute evil" (Iran as an existential threat), "enemy of the Christian world" (emphasis on religious confrontation), and "barbarian" (dehumanization through zoomorphic metaphors and markers of uncivilizedness). The findings demonstrate that these mechanisms operate in a mode of cognitive resonance, mutually reinforcing their impact on the reader. The novelty lies in applying an integrative cognitive-discursive model to user-generated digital discourse and in identifying the cognitive resonance mechanism. The results are applicable to developing digital political discourse models, media literacy education, and information-psychological countermeasures.

Within the framework of the ecological paradigm, stereotypes in collective folk consciousness focus on identifying human behaviors and beliefs toward animals. The gradual shift of anthropocentric data toward an eco-centric perspective over an extended course of time reflects the growing influence of zoo-folkloristic approaches. The domestication of donkeys six thousand years ago established a relationship primarily based on economy and transportation. However, the value attributed to them declined with the invention of motor vehicles. Despite this, donkeys are frequently encountered in various metaphorical uses within the oral culture. This study investigates the metaphorical representations of donkeys in oral traditions. The fact that donkeys still roam freely in Cyprus’s Karpaz region and attract tourists from many parts of the world further underscores the significance of this research. Donkey metaphors, which appear with notable frequency in the local oral linguistic expressions, serve as examples of both traditional and complex metaphors within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory classifications. It has been observed that representations of donkeys are shaped by their economic impact, their shared living practices with humans and their biological characteristics. In cognitive mappings, donkeys are predominantly associated with negative concepts; they are objectified and used to convey inferiority, expressions of anger, emotional mockery, othering and humiliation. Notable behaviors of the wild donkeys in Karpaz – such as opening water tanker valves with their mouths or digging into the ground to find water – suggest the need to question these negative attributions.

This study investigates conceptual metaphors involving the lexical item “treasure” in English within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Drawing on data from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), the British National Corpus (BNC), and selected literary texts, the study analyzes a dataset of 176 metaphorical instances of the lexical item “treasure,” identified through the Metaphor Identification Procedure (Pragglejaz Group, 2007). The findings reveal systematic metaphorical mappings, including love is treasure, memory is treasure, time is treasure, and knowledge is treasure. These mappings are structured around semantic features such as value, rarity, emotional attachment, and preservation. The study argues that “treasure” constitutes a distinct value-based source domain that differs from related metaphors such as time is money by foregrounding affective rather than transactional meanings. The results contribute to cognitive linguistic research by refining our understanding of value metaphors and highlighting the role of culturally embedded schemas in shaping metaphorical conceptualization [6; 4; 9].

Abstract Three Germanic verbs with the meanings ‘to know’, ‘to teach’, and ‘to learn’ can all be traced back to the same PIE root * lei̯s - ‘to follow a track’. While evidence for all three verbs is recoverable from Gothic, only two verbal derivates passed down into the West Germanic languages, and none survived into North Germanic (although there was later reborrowing from Old English). This article charts these developments as well as subsequent ones, including the emergence of new verbs that came to express these key concepts in West and North Germanic up to present times. This etymological trail is guided by insights from Conceptual Metaphor Theory, which seeks to understand how more familiar concrete concepts (e.g. ‘to follow a track’, ‘to grasp’, ‘to see’) capture more abstract ones like ‘to know’, ‘to teach’, and ‘to learn’ in language. The main findings are: (i) that the original system “stative ∼ causative ∼ present” reconstructible for Proto-Germanic on the PIE root * lei̯s - is best continued today in German, whereas English already refashioned it early on in its history. North Germanic does not directly continue any verbal formation on that root, whereas Gothic displays a “perfect” system; (ii) formations on PIE * ǵneh 3 - ‘to recognize’ and * u̯ei̯d - ‘to see’ are of common Indo-European heritage, whereas those on * lei̯s -, also found in nominal formations in Italic, may have arisen polygenetically in the two branches, as also possibly those on PIE * teng -. Finally, (iii) only one conceptual metaphor among those found can be said to be of common Indo-European descent, namely to know is to recognize/have recognized .*

Abstract The experience of “Ostarbeiter” – forced laborers primarily from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union during their time in Nazi Germany 1939-45 – was marked by immense hardship and trauma. The study explores the cultural, and individual factors that shape the resilience strategies employed by the subjects; thus, it shows how these strategies are expressed through metaphorical concepts with an emotional orientation. The research evaluates the resilience strategies employed by the subjects, which are drawn from their metaphorical concepts, according to the following models: Adler’s (role of self-efficacy), Cyrulnik’s (role of community), and Frankl’s (role of sense in life). The metaphor analysis is based on the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) proposed by Lakoff and Johnson. The present study explores the notion of resilience and coping strategies among former Ukrainian and Russian “Ostarbeiter” in Muenster through published in-depth interviews conducted 60 years later. The analysis of these interviews reveals the sustainability of these strategies, thus providing a compelling argument for incorporating resilience training in contemporary war and conflict contexts.

Temperature is a physical quantity in nature that represents the degree of heat and cold of an object. It is a basic and important human experience of the external environment, and plays a key role in our construction of cognitive schemas. Chinese temperature words are divided into “re”, “wen”, “liang” and “han”, and it is believed that these four basic temperature words can reflect people’s basic understanding of temperature category (Luan shange, 2020:10). The same division of temperature exists in English: “hot, warm, cool, cold”. From the perspective of conceptual metaphor theory, this paper systematically analyzes the metaphorical meaning of the temperature term “cool/liang” in English and Chinese languages. Through research, it was found that the concepts of “cool/liang” are based on the physical experience and extend more abstract concepts both in English and Chinese. The metaphorical meanings of “cool/liang” are affected by factors such as regional and cultural background and presents different characteristics. Through the English-Chinese comparison of “cool/liang”, it is found that Westerners will pay more attention to rationality, while Chinese will pay more attention to sensibility as well as people’s emotional significance.

This study offers a cognitive and discourse analysis of W. H. Auden's "Funeral Blues," examining how linguistic form, conceptual metaphor, and discourse structure converge to construct an experiential representation of grief. Drawing on cognitive poetics, conceptual metaphor theory, and critical discourse analysis, the paper explores how the poem's linguistic patterns evoke embodied emotions and social meanings. Through systematic analysis of directive speech acts, including imperatives such as "Stop all the clocks" and "Prevent the dog from barking," the study demonstrates how Auden transforms private sorrow into a collective ritual of silence. Cognitive mechanisms—particularly image schemas of motion, orientation, and containment—organize the reader's mental simulation of stillness, disorientation, and dissolution, thereby enacting the cognitive structure of bereavement. Discourse analysis further reveals the poem's progression from individual to communal and ultimately cosmic domains, tracing the socialization of grief into public performance and universal negation. The findings suggest that "Funeral Blues" exemplifies how poetic language functions as both a cognitive act and a social discourse, bridging emotional experience with cultural expression. By integrating cognitive and discourse perspectives and engaging with recent scholarship, this study advances understanding of how poetry embodies and communicates human emotion through patterned linguistic organization. Received: 17 December 2026 / Revised: 13 January 2026 / Accepted: 10 March 2026 / Published: 25 March 2026

Abstract This study investigates the cross linguistic transmission and semantic development of death related proverbs in English, focusing on expressions with counterparts in Latin, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese. Drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and cognitive semantic approaches, the analysis examines whether the metaphorical frameworks embedded in foreign originated proverbs are retained, partially shifted, or reinterpreted in English. A three level analytical scale is employed to assess degrees of semantic continuity between donor language proverbs and their English counterparts. A dataset of 44 death related proverbs was compiled from the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs and supplemented with etymological information. Contemporary usage was examined through corpus analysis of newspaper data from NexisUni , providing empirical evidence of how these proverbs function in modern discourse. The findings reveal patterns of metaphorical persistence and transformation, illustrating how linguistic borrowing and cultural exchange shape the evolution of figurative meaning. Beyond linguistic comparison, the study contributes to broader discussions of cultural transmission and metaphorical universality, showing how proverb adaptation reflects both shared cognitive structures and culture specific reinterpretations.

ABSTRACT The study examines the semantics of Kiswahili slang and casual expressions among university students, as well as the cognitive motivations behind their formation. It is guided by Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The sample comprised 150 second- and third-year students pursuing Education and Linguistics courses at the University of Dar es Salaam. Data were collected through a questionnaire administered to 150 participants, non-participant observation, and focus group discussions involving 18 participants. The results indicate the impact of cultural contact (i.e. between English and Kiswahili) on the expression of metaphorical meanings. The findings reveal metaphorical expressions connected to various image schemata such as food, force, machine, unity, among others. It was found that most slang expressions referring to sexuality, are gendered; women are often objectified and regarded as objects of pleasure, recipients of gifts/money, and victims of sexual exploitation, while men are perceived as active participants during sex, providers, and caretakers of women. Other slang and casual expressions pertain to diverse areas such as education, social relations, food and teachers’ behaviours. The study concludes that Kiswahili slang terms and casual expressions used by university students are not randomly selected but rather involve cognitive processes.

This article focuses on the ways of representing metaphorical transfers and the features of metaphor formation. The purpose of this study is to identify these mechanisms for temporal metaphors in Italian fiction. In accordance with the conceptual metaphor theory the ways of metaphorical representation of the temporal concepts are considered using the material of Dino Buzzati’s novels and short stories. The article describes the main metaphorical models in the texts of the Italian writer, identifies source domains and features underlying metaphorical transfer, and describes the semantics and syntax of metaphorical expressions, it also outlines the methods by which the described metaphors were transformed from conventional ones. At the first stage, the research procedure included the selection of contexts for the metaphorical representation of the concept of “time” (only verbal and phrase metaphors were considered); source domains were identified using the method of component analysis, and then combined into metaphorical models through systematization; the tools and methods for transforming conventional metaphors into author’s metaphors were described using structural and semantic analysis methods. The scientific novelty of this study is determined by the selected material, as the specifics of Dino Buzzati’s authorial conceptosphere are analyzed for the first time. The study establishes the closeness of the defined conceptual metaphors to archetypal ideas about time, since the most productive models in the studied texts are “time is a moving object,” “time is a natural phenomenon,” “time is a being,” and “time is a resource.” The semantic feature underlying the transfer can belong to both the semantic core and the periphery of the concept serving as the source domain. Linguistic representations of the metaphorical models in the texts are based on methods of extension, elaboration, and combining of conventional metaphors.