Estudio contrastivo entre las metáforas conceptuales en el español, el árabe y el inglés

Abstract

The Conceptual Metaphor Theory was laid down by Lakoff and Johnson in the 1970s and saw light in their 1980 Metaphors We Live By.The theory depends on human beings' subconscious tendency to embody abstract concepts and utilize cognitive projections that later become part of language.These projections arise due to linking concrete and abstract similarities between the source and target fields.The present paper investigates conceptual metaphor origins and theories and opens a new field of contrastive studies across Arabic, English, and Spanish.This is achieved by analyzing conceptual metaphors fields and expressions in the three languages along with exploring 1) the reasons for regarding these expressions as conceptual metaphors, 2) the similarities and differences between metaphors in the three languages, and 3) the reasons for linking the source and target in each metaphor.