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OVER THE MOON: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND CZECH METAPHORS FOR HAPPINESS

Abstract

El presente estudio examinae las similitudes y las diferencias entre las metáforas utilizadas para hablar de la felicidad en el inglés y el checo. A nivel básico se encontraronó muchas similitudes, pero a los sub niveles existen diferencias importantes en la conceptualización de la felicidad.

A traditional view of metaphor is that it is a poetic embellishment which does not add

information (Gibbs, 1994 in El-Haq and El-Shairf, 2008). In this view metaphor is not

necessary “it is just nice” (Yu, 1995: 60). Others regard it as a sort of special language

which does have a basic meaning (Slingerland, 2004 in El-Haq and El-Shairf, 2008).

However, contemporary approaches to metaphor follow the highly influencialinfluential

work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) who claim that metaphor is “a means of understanding

and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980: 42), that

is they are not just lyrical embellishments, as an Aristotelian perspective would have it, but

serve an important function in cognitive organization and conceptualization of events.

One argument is that metaphor is not just a figure of speech, it is a figure of thought and “is

a process by which we understand and structure one domain of experience in terms of

another domain of a different kind” (Johnson, 1987: 15). Metaphor is central to the

understanding of cognition in as much as it reflects cognitive organisational structure.

One claim is that metaphor is central to the conceptualization of emotions. This is supposed

to be a universal concept central to the cognitive structure of all languages. However, such

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is the hegemonic dominance of the English language; the vast majority of studies of

metaphor are derived from English.

In a previous cross-cultural investigation I examined Coleman and Kay´s (1981) semantic

definition of a lie, which has largely been accepted as universal. I applied their criteria to a

Spanish speaking community and found that there were significant differences in how lie

was defined. To be able to claim universality, a concept has to be applicable to languages

other than English. More scrutiny needs to be placed on concepts and definitions which

claim universality and cross-cultural investigation is one way of achieving this.

The study of metaphor has increased but there is still a dearth of cross-cultural evidence to

support claims of universality. This area still needs further investigation. Cross-cultural

investigation is important because language reflects cultural particularities; cross-cultural

studies of metaphor should reveal similarities and differences between linguistic

conceptualization of emotions.

Previous Studies

Yu (1995) demonstrates that there are common central metaphors for the conceptualization

of happiness and anger between English and Chinese. However, these central

conceptualizations differ at a sub level where “English has selected “FIRE” AND “FLUID”

metaphors, Chinese uses “FIRE” and “GAS” for the same purpose” (capitals and quotation

marks in original) (p.1). The two languages, according to Yu share the same metonymic

pattern which is that they talk express about these two emotions in terms of the

physiological effects, yet they differ in that Chinese uses more body parts than English

when conceptualizing happiness and anger.

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A comparative linguistic examination of anger and happiness in both English and Arabic

was undertaken by El-Haq and El-Sharif (2008) in which they discovered that the two

languages “share some basic-level metaphors” (p.1) such as orientational metaphors and

light metaphors. They found that the metaphor “happiness is coldness” is culturally specific

to Arabic and is not found in English.

Li (2010) found similarities between the metaphors used for happiness in English and

Chinese. The differences were that Chinese used more body parts in the metaphors for

happiness, while English refers to the whole body. She concludes that this is because

“English people are more extroverted in character in contrast with introverted Chinese. So,

when the body is the container in English, the fluid of happiness that overflows is more

readily seen.” (p. 476). It would seem a little rash to arrive at such a large generalisation,

but the point that metaphors reflect cultural differences is certainly valid.

Objectives

The objective of this study is to ascertain whether the conceptual groupings of happiness

which exist for English also apply to other languages, in this case Czech, through a

comparative analysis of the two languages. It aims at testing the cultural particularity of the

linguistic conceptualization of happiness in English.

Theoretical Framework

Contemporary study of metaphor supposes that concepts fundamental to human

understanding are universal and mapped on to metaphorical expressions in all languages.

For example Lakoff and Johnson (1980) conceptualized the idea of more as an upward

direction: More is up. Conceptual mapping is believed to give abstract notions a more

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concrete presence (Al-Haq & El-Sharif, 2008), for example the abstract concept anger is

understood in more concrete terms as heat, reflected in phrases such as she was boiling mad

in English.

The work of Lakoff (1980) and Köveceses Kövecses (1991) has had an enormous impact

on the study of metaphor, particularly on the study of how happiness and anger are

conceptualized. All three of the above mentioned studies use a conceptual organisation

based on their work and this is what will be used in the present study.

The expressions are categorized according to the type of metaphor they deploy. These

categories are based on the work of Lakoff (1980) and Köveceses Kövecses (1991) and

are orientational metaphors, light metaphors, container metaphors. The orientational

metaphor is usually conceptualized as happiness is up and the sense of being off the ground

is also related to happiness. This can be seen in English in phrases such as she was over the

moon, she was on cloud nine and so on. Happiness is also associated with light; her face

beamed; she was radiant with joy. The container metaphor is commonly used to describe

the body as a container of emotion and the emotion is often described as a liquid in English,

for example happiness welled up inside her.

Methodology

Methodological challenges

Using corpus- based what? methods? at first seems to be the most logical way to proceed

with metaphorical analysis as the orthographic word plays such an important role; in

corpus-based studies the word is the focal point around which observations are made

(Stefanowitsch, 2004). However many metaphorical mappings cannot be identified by

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particular words. For example the metaphor I am over the moon, which is used to describe a

state of extreme happiness does not include any words from the target domain. The

expression does not contain any linguistic clues to happiness and therefore would be

impossible to retrieve it automatically.

Stefanowitsch (2004) discusses the problems of the systematic characterization of linguistic

expression of mental organisation. If metaphors are collected from introspective data or

“more or less systematically collected citations” (p.138) there is no way of knowing

whether all metaphors have been exhaustively charted, quantifying results is problematic

and applying standards for cross linguistic comparison is difficult. However, when looking

for evidence of the existence of certain metaphors, using introspective methods is useful.

In their study of metaphorical mappings of anger and happiness in Arabic and English Al-

Haq and El-Sharif (2008) collected a set of metaphorical expressions from the work of

Lakoff (1980) and Kövecses (1991), dictionaries and literary works which they classified

into metaphorical groups. Then they regrouped the expressions into major and minor

categories which revealed shared cross-cultural mappings in the two languages. In his

analysis of anger and happiness in English and Chinese Yu used a similar methodology,

based on Lakoff and Johnson´s (1980) categorization of happiness. By the same vein,

Xiuzhi Li (2010) compared Chinese and English idioms using the categories established by

Lakoff and Johnson (1980).

Theis present study uses introspective data to investigate the existence in Czech of

metaphorical structures which have been evidenced in English, which will provide evidence

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for or against large scale mappings rather than an exhaustive account of the linguistic

mappings in one language.

Data Collection Process

A list of expressions of happiness in English was drawn up. This was based on the study by

Xiuzhi Li (year) in which a comprehensive list of phrases was identified. This list was

presented to a native speaker of Czech who was instructed to give equivalent phrases for

each of the phrases in the list (see Appendix A). It was important that they the informant

did not simply give a literal translation, but looked for phrases which they would really use.

Despite the low number of results for processing, the study can be seen as a case study

which provides a basis for further investigation.

The expressions in the list given to the subjects informant were randomly ordered so as to

avoid that the subjects detected a pattern and tried to respond to it.

Findings and discussion

The results show that there are remarkable similarities between the two languages at basic-

level. Each metaphor group will be discussed in turn. The transcriptions are given first as

the original English followed by the Czech and then a gloss showing the literal translation

of the Czech back into English. Attention has been paid to the transcription of the lexical

items, as this is the focus of the study. For this reason grammatical inflections have not

been transcribed except in the case of the reflexive pronouns (ref.pron.) so that the reader

can more easily follow the transcription.

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Orientational Metaphors

The expressions given in English to represent this conceptual mapping were

1. We had to cheer him up.

2. He´s been in high spirits all day.

3. Edward is not very cheerful; he needs a holiday to boost him up.

4. I feel elated at beating him.

5. The old woman was in the seventh heaven at meeting her long-lost son.

6. Mary was up in the air because John asked her to the party.

7. Hearing the news that he had passed the exam, he walked on air.

8. She was on cloud nine.

9. At present everything is going smoothly and I feel on top of the world.

10. They were riding high.

11. They were in the clouds.

12. I left the island with a light heart.

Likewise Czech has many expressions which use the same concept, such as:

1. He´s been in high spirits all day.

1 a. Byl v povznešené náladě celý den.

1 b. He-was-above the thing-mood-all-day

2. The old woman was in seventh heaven at meeting her long-lost son.

2 a. Stará paní byla v sedmém nebi při setkání se svým dávno ztraceným synem.

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2 b. Old-woman-was-in-seventh-heaven-upon-meeting-ref.pron.-his/her-long ago-lost -

son.

3. Mary was up in the air because John asked her to the party.

3 a. Mary se vznášela protože ji John pozval na party.

3 b. Mary- ref.pron.-hovered-because-she-John-invited-to-party

4. Hearing the news that he passed the exam, he walked on air.

4 a. Slyšel, že složil zkoušku a vznášel se štěstím

Heard-that-passed-exam-and-hovered-ref. pron.-happiness.

4 b. Heard-that-passed-exam-and-hovered-ref. pron.-happiness.

Slyšel, že složil zkoušku a vznášel se štěstím

5. They were in the clouds.

5 a. Byli v oblacích.

5 b. They were – in - clouds

6. I left the island with a light heart

6 a. Opouštěla jsem ostrov s lehkým srdcem.

6 b. Left-I-island-with-light-heart.

The concept of happiness is up seems to be represented most strongly by happiness is being

off the ground in Czech. Words such as cloud and heaven are used in the same way as in

English however Czech uses the concept of hovering and being up above, which is not seen

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in these examples in English. The Czech conceptualization seems to be conceptualized in

relation to the ground rather than being in the world of the gods. Being off the ground or

floating, then seems to be the central conceptualization in Czech.

Light Metaphors

The following sentences were used to represent the conceptualization of happiness is light

in English:

13. Her face lit up when she received the letter from her boyfriend.

14. I left the island with a light heart.

15. His eyes gleamed with pleasure.

16. The child has brought sunshine into the old couple's life.

17. She brightened up seeing her lost child.

18. She was radiant with joy.

6. Her face lit up when she received the letter from her boyfriend.

6 a. Její obličej se rozzářil, když obdržela dopis od svého milého.

6 b. Her-face-ref. pron- shined-when- received-letter-from-her-boyfriend

7. His eyes gleamed with pleasure.

7 a. Jeho oči se leskly potěšením.

7 b. His- eyes – ref. pron.-gleamed- pleasure

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8. The child has brought sunshine into the old couple´s life.

8 a. Díte přineslo štěstí do života starého páru.

8 b. Child- brought –happiness- into – life – old – couple

9. She brightened up seeing her lost child.

9 a. Rozzářila se pohledem na jeho ztracené dítě .

9 b. Brighten up-ref.pron.-look-on-his-lost-child

10. She was radiant with joy.

10 a. Zářila štěstím.

10 b. Shined-happiness

Again, there are striking similarities in the use of light to describe happiness in Czech and

English. Perhaps the most interesting difference is that English uses the concept of

sunshine, whereas Czech uses the word ´štěstí´ which is the word for happiness. This

provides evidence that the concept happiness is light is applicable in both languages.

Container Metaphors

The following expressions were used in the questionnaire to represent the concept

happiness is fluid in a container:

19. Seeing his funny look, all of the students burst into laughter.

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20. Joy welled up inside him.

21. The good news filled him with joy.

22. We were full of joy.

23. He brimmed over with happiness.

11. Seeing his funny look, all of the students burst into laughter.

11 a. Když viděli jak legračně vypadá, vypukli student

11 b. when-saw-how-funny-look-erupted-students-laugh.

12. Joy welled up inside him

12 a. Tryskalo z něj štěstí

12 b. spouted-from-him-happiness

13. The good news filled him with joy.

13 a. Dobrá zpráva ho naplnila štěstím.

13 b. good-news-him-complete –happiness

14. We were full of joy.

14 a. Byli jsme plní štěstí.

14 b. we were – ref.pron. –full- happiness

15. He brimmed over with happiness.

15 a. Přetékal štěstím.

15 b. He overflowed-happiness

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The concept of a container is apparent in Czech as it is in English. However, in English it is

possible to detect the idea that happiness is a liquid in expressions such as joy welled up

inside him, whereas this metaphor does not seem to be present in Czech. This is further

enunciated in English as it is possible to denote the body as a container which slowly fills

up; welled up; brimmed over, yet in Czech these expressions are translated with the idea of

complete fullness or of the emotion already bursting out. This distinction could come from

the fact that in Czech there is no continuous tense,tense; however it is still possible to

represent actions that are in process. Native speaker reactions suggest that the emotion is

not envisioned as something which gradually fills the body, but that it an instantaneous

action.

Conclusions

This short case study provides some evidence that there are similarities between Czech and

English in how they conceptualize happiness. At a basic level??, they share the same three

conceptual metaphors; happiness is up; happiness is light; happiness is a substance

contained within the body.

Regarding the orientational metaphor, Czech seems to favour the idea of hovering just

above the ground, which is different from English that conceptualizes happiness as being

further away from the earth. Despite this, the central metaphor seems to be the same similar

in both languages.

Czech represents happiness using light, just as English does. It was shown that English

uses sunlight as a metaphor, but in Czech this was simply translated as happiness. Further

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investigation might reveal if this is a feature of the metaphorical structure of Czech.

Concepts such as gleam, shine, and bright which are to do with reflected light are present in

both languages.

The container metaphor works in both languages, yet in this study no evidence was found

that the emotion happiness is conceptualized as a liquid. This particular conceptualization

may be particular to English, as AL-Haq & El-Sharif (2008) demonstrated that in Arabic

happiness is ´coldness´. This brings to light the point that English should not be taken as the

default language against which all other are judged.

The information gathered here represents a preliminary study and cannot be generalized to

tendencies in Czech. As mentioned in the methodological section, it is difficult to know

using introspective methods whether a study is exhaustive or not as there may always be

expressions which have been left out because the informants didn´t remember them. The

results here provide promising evidence that further studies could be undertaken which may

provide evidence for the universality of the conceptualization of happiness.

The data collected here are suggestive of a descriptive difference between the two

languages in that emotion is seen as a liquid which can slowly fill the body, whereas in

Czech it seems that the body fills up straightaway with the emotion.

Finally, it should be mentioned that this methodology will not account for metaphors that

exist in Czech but are not known in English. By asking the subjects informant to translate

English phrases in to their Czech equivalents the possibility for discovering metaphors

unique to Czech is eliminated. This is a strong argument for studying Czech (indeed any

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language) in its own right so that the hegemonic dominance of English might also be

challenged.

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Appendix A

The following questionnaire was used to collect the data which were used in this study.

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Universidad Autónoma del Estado de MéxicoFacultad de Lenguas

Data collection for investigation into cross-cultural metaphors

The objective of this study is to obtain cross-cultural information about linguistic metaphors of happiness.

Thank you for agreeing to participate.

INSTRUCTIONS: Please give an equivalent phrase in Czech for each of the following phrases. The objective is to find phrases in Czech which express the same degree of emotion; therefore literal (word-for-word) translation is not necessary. Please do not use any translation software. Where more than one translation may be possible, please indicate all possibilities. Where no translation is possible, please write “no translation”.

1. Her face lit up when she received the letter from her boyfriend.

2. He´s been in high spirits all day.

3. The old woman was in the seventh heaven at meeting her long-lost son.

4. Mary was up in the air because John asked her to the party.

5. I left the island with a light heart

6. Hearing the news that he had passed the exam, he walked on air.

7. She was on cloud nine (seven).

8. She was radiant with joy.

9. At present everything is going smoothly and I feel on top of the world.

10. They were riding high.

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11. They were in the clouds.

12. The child has brought sunshine into the old couple's life.

13. Edward is not very cheerful; he needs a holiday to boost him up.

14. I feel elated at beating him.

15. His eyes gleamed with pleasure.

16. Seeing his funny look, all of the students burst into laughter.

17. Joy welled up inside him.

18. The good news filled him with joy.

19. We were full of joy.

20. He brimmed over with happiness.

21. His heart is overflowing with joy.

22. She brightened up seeing his lost child.

This space is for you to add any comments or observations you might have:

Where there any comments?

Thank you for your participation

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References

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Johnson, M. (1987) The body in the mind: The bodily basis of reason and imagination.

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KövecesesKövecses, Z. (1991) Happiness: A definitional effort. In Metaphor and

symbolic activity. 6 29 -– 46.

Li, X. (2010). A comparative analysis of English and Chinese idioms – from the

perspective of conceptual metaphor of “happiness”. In Journal of Language

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Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press.

Stefanowitsch, A. (2004) Happiness in English and German: A metaphorical-pattern

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Yu, N. (1995). MetphoricalMetaphorical expressions. In Metaphor and symbolic activity 10

(2) 59 – 92.