1. 1st Symposium on figurative thought and language
Time conceptualization in everyday and poetic discourse: From metaphor and beyond
Dr. Anna Piata
1st Symposium on figurative thought and language
Thessaloniki, April 2014

2. Time conceptualization in cognitive linguistics
Time is metaphorically structured in terms of space and motion
This is evidenced in everyday metaphorical expressions of time across languages, including Modern Greek
e.g., πέρασε χρόνια σε φυλακές ‘he passed (many) years in jail’
The Ego moving metaphor of time
e.g., όσο περνάει ο χρόνος πλησιάζουμε τον στόχο ‘as time goes by we get closer to the target’
The Time moving metaphor
A metaphorical mapping between time and space/ motion
Space/ motion is the source domain and time is the target domain
Such conceptual mappings constitute so-called conceptual metaphors
Conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1980, 1999, Lakoff 1993)

3. From conceptual metaphors to conceptual blends
More recently, the conceptualization of time has been recast in terms of Conceptual integration, or blending, theory (Fauconnier & Turner 2002, 2008)
Unlike conceptual metaphors, conceptual blends arise from integrating conceptual elements from both input spaces
Thus, inputs are selectively projected onto the blended space
The blended space may contain emergent structure
Conceptual structure not present in either of the inputs
All the spaces constitute a conceptual integration network
Along these lines, it has been suggested that the conceptual structure of time arises in a generalized conceptual integration network of time
An entrenched blend that is evidenced in everyday linguistic expressions

4. The generalized conceptual integration network of time
The generalized conceptual integration network of time emerges from two input spaces:
A blend of events and experienced motion (e.g., The lecture went by quickly; cf. the Event structure metaphor)
Varied among experiencers
Subjective time
Clock time, based on solar time and measured by time telling devices
Uniform among experiencers
Social time
The generalized conceptual integration network of time contains conceptual elements from both time and space/ motion
In this way, it accounts for the fact that time is not entirely understood in terms of space/ motion but has conceptual structure of its own (e.g., time goes away)
Also, it explains construals of subjective time (e.g., time went by slowly/ quickly during the lecture)
Protracted and compressed time (see Flaherty 1999)

6. Aims of the study
To explore how time is conceptualized in poetic discourse;
To investigate how non-conventional construals of time relate to conventional ones (i.e., everyday metaphors of time) and also to each other;
To propose an empirically grounded and theoretically informed account of time conceptualization;
To tackle the relationship between the two main theories of metaphor in cognitive linguistics
Conceptual metaphor theory vs. Conceptual integration theory

7. The corpus of Modern Greek poetry
The corpus of MG poetry that was constructed for the needs of this study is:
small; approximately 8,000 words
specialized; a specific genre (poetry)
monolingual; MG (no translations)
synchronic
Sources of data
on-line literary anthologies; Center of Neo-Hellenic studies, National Book Centre of Greece, Cultural Thesaurus of the Greek Language, etc.
literary e-journals; etc.
The findings of the data collection belong to the literary production of the 20th century, especially to post-war poetry, with a preference for the work of specific poets

8. Linguistic expressions of time in the corpus of MG poetry
Category
Percentage
Creative metaphors of time
65.7 %
Highly creative metaphors of time
15.6 %
Non-metaphorical expressions of time
18.7 %

9. Creative metaphors of time
Non-entrenched metaphorical construals of time that are grounded in the conceptual structure of time (i.e., time conceptualized in terms of motion)
The Ego moving metaphor
The Time moving metaphor
Base level of figurative creativity
Time is construed in motional terms but in non-conventional ways
Motional frames not conventionally associated with time or related to time in non-conventional ways
Mechanisms of figurative creativity (Lakoff & Turner 1989)
Extension, elaboration, questioning, composition
Such metaphors call for a CIT analysis that refines and complements CMT
They elaborate conventional metaphors but give rise to novel meanings

10. The Ego moving metaphor
(1) Όσοι στέκονταν κάποτε στις όχθες φύγανε.
Άλλοι έρχονται, θα φύγουν κι αυτοί, για τη θάλασσα της λησμονιάς.
Ταξιδιώτες είμαστε όλοι του άπειρου χρόνου. Ταξιδιώτες για λιμάνια-φαντάσματα. [G. Pappas]
‘We are all travellers in infinite time.
Travellers to ghost-harbours.’
The conventional metaphor ταξίδι/ ταξιδεύω στον χρόνο ‘travelling in time’ is elaborated
The experiencer of time is fulfilled in an unusual, creative way as a traveller
Here travelling in time refers to infinite time
Also, it concerns a particular kind of journey, namely a journey along a river as suggested by όχθες ‘banks’ and λιμάνια-φαντάσματα ‘ghost-harbours’

12. The Time moving metaphor
(2) Τι μένει τώρα να πούμε, τι μένει να κάνουμε.
Σ’ αυτά τα άθλια σπίτια που κυλάμε τις μέρες μας. Ξανα-/ ζώντας ‘we roll our days’
το ναυάγιο της φωτιάς. Ακούγοντας, πάλι, στις πλάκες
τα προδομένα της βήματα.
Μέρες και νύχτες/ αγρύπνιας και μοναξιάς. [Th. Kostavaras]
Κυλάω ‘to flow/ to roll’ is conventionally associated with time but in the intransitive construction that has the meaning of flowing, e.g. οι μέρες κυλούσαν μονότονα ‘the days were flowing monotonously’
Here it is creatively used in a transitive construction that evokes a different meaning, that of rolling
Days are therefore construed as being caused to move
The passage of time is not easy, regular and natural but rather strenuous, requiring effort on the part of the agent/experiencer

14. Highly creative metaphors of time
Non-entrenched, metaphorical but non-motional construals of time
The personification of time
Non-motional metaphors of time
High level of figurative creativity
Time is construed in terms of conventionally incompatible frames (i.e., non-motional)
Such metaphors call for a CIT analysis
Our folk understanding of time is also involved
They may involve both imagistic and conceptual structure

15. The personification of time
(3) Άκουσε ο λόγος είναι των στερνών η φρόνηση  Κι ο χρόνος γλύπτης των ανθρώπων παράφορος  Κι ο ήλιος στέκεται από πάνω του θηρίο ελπίδας [O. Elytis]
‘time is an uncontrollable sculptor of humans
while the sun stands over him like a beast of hope’
In (3) time is construed as a sculptor (γλύπτης)
An instance of personification
It prompts for an understanding of time as transforming humans through its passage in a way that they can’t control or impede
The basic metaphor time is a changer (Lakoff & Turner 1989: 86) is combined with commonplace knowledge about sculpting
Conceptual structure from both domains is involved (cf. Conceptual metaphor theory)

17. Non-motional metaphors of time
(4) Του μέλλοντος οι μέρες στέκοντ’ εμπροστά μας
Σα μια σειρά κεράκια αναμμένα –
χρυσά, ζεστά, και ζωηρά κεράκια.
‘Days to come stand in front of us/ like a row of lighted candles—
golden, warm, and vivid candles’
Οι περασμένες μέρες πίσω μένουν,
μια θλιβερή γραμμή κεριών σβησμένων·
τα πιο κοντά βγάζουν καπνόν ακόμη,
κρύα κεριά, λιωμένα, και κυρτά.
‘Days gone by fall behind us,/ a gloomy line of snuffed-out candles;
the nearest are smoking still,/ cold, melted, and bent.’
(…)
Δεν θέλω να γυρίσω να μη διω και φρίξω
τι γρήγορα που η σκοτεινή γραμμή μακραίνει,
τι γρήγορα που τα σβυστά κεριά πληθαίνουν. [C. Cavafy]
‘how quickly that dark line gets longer,
how quickly the snuffed-out candles proliferate.’

18. Non-motional metaphors of time
Future years are construed as lit candles in front of the poet whereas past years as blown out candles behind him with the latter proliferating quickly (see also Pagán Cánovas & Jensen 2013)
A construal of temporal compression
The end of life is about to come soon for the poet
Conceptual structure about candles is combined with conceptual structure about years to yield a novel conceptualization of time
The poet is emotionally involved in experiencing the passage of time
Sorrow at the view of blown out candles and nostalgia for their formerly shining light as well as fear for the rapid extinction of the candles still lit
Time felt as passing more quickly after middle age and fear for the upcoming end

20. Non-metaphorical expressions of time
Non-entrenched, non-metaphorical, non-motional construals of time where an interval is construed in terms of another interval of a shorter or longer duration
Non-metaphorical construals of compressed time
Non-metaphorical construals of protracted time
Maximum degree of creativity in the conceptualization of time
Beyond metaphorical creativity
Such construals make a case for CIT
They go beyond metaphor
Thus, they challenge what is generally assumed in cognitive linguistics

21. Non-metaphorical construals of compressed time
(5) Σαν το ’φεραν οι Χριστιανοί να το κρεμάσουν
το δεκαεφτά χρονώ αθώο παιδί ‘the 17-year old poor boy’
η μάνα του (…) πότε ούρλιαζε, και κραύγαζε σα λύκος, σα θηρίο
και πότε εξαντλημένη η μάρτυσσα μοιρολογούσε (…)
«Δεκαφτά μέρες μοναχά», μοιρολογούσε,
«δεκαφτά μέρες μοναχά σε χάρηκα παιδί μου». [C. Cavafy]
“Only seventeen days”, she mourned,
“I’ve enjoyed you for only seventeen years, my boy”
A mother mourning the death of her 17-year old son construes the duration of his life in subjective terms
17 years are compressed into 17 days
Hyperbole
The mother’s grief cues to a strong affective grounding of the construal

23. Non-metaphorical construals of protracted time
(6) Χωρίς πικρία, χωρίς ελπίδα, χωρίς φόβο
στη μέση του ταξιδιού,/ τριάντα χρόνια σκίζοντας
τις σάρκες μου μ’ αλύπητα μαχαίρια να σ’ εξευμενίσω,
στραγγίζοντας με λύσσα και την τελευταία
σταγόνα του αίματός μου για να ξεδιψάσεις,
τριάντα χρόνια-αιώνες, κάθε μέρα
‘thirty years-centuries’
τη ζωή μου καταστρέφοντας για ν’ αξιωθώ
χαρούμενη επιτέλους να σε δω [A. Evaggelou]
A protracted construal of the duration of the couple’s relationship
30 years construed as equal to the passage of centuries
Hyperbole
Protracted time here relates to the couple’s stormy relationship

25. Degrees of figurative creativity in the expression of time
Linguistic entrenchment
Motional frame
Metaphorical structure
Type of conceptualization
Conventionality +
Conventional metaphors
Base level of figurative creativity -
Creative metaphors
High degree of figurative creativity
Highly creative metaphors
Maximum degree of figurative creativity
Non-metaphorical conceptualization

26. Concluding remarks
Based on a corpus of MG poetry, the present study offers an empirically grounded analysis of time conceptualization in poetic discourse
In doing so, it revises the standard analysis of time conceptualization as solely metaphorical
At the same time, it proposes a categorization of non-conventional expressions of time on the basis of two criteria:
metaphorical structure
the type of the frame serving as input (motional)
The proposed categorization of degrees of creativity can serve as a testable hypothesis for the psycholinguistic investigation of figurative creativity

27. Concluding remarks
In theoretical terms, the proposed analysis puts forward a unified account of time conceptualization in terms of Conceptual integration theory
At the same time, it offers an ideal testing frame for two prominent theories in cognitive linguistics, namely Conceptual metaphor theory and Conceptual integration theory
It suggests that the two theories provide complementary insights in the sense that CIT complements and refines CMT
Finally, a more general conclusion to be drawn is that research on conceptualization can benefit a lot from combining cognitive linguistics with the study of literature

28. References
Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2002). The Way we Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books.
Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2008). “Rethinking Metaphor”. In Gibbs, R. W. (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
Flaherty, M. (1999). A Watched Pot. New York: New York University Press.
Lakoff, G. (1993). “The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor.” In Metaphor and Thought, edited by Andrew Ortony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh. New York: Basic Books.
Lakoff, G. & Turner, M. (1989). More Than Cool Reason. A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Pagán Cánovas, C. & Jensen, M. (2013). “Anchoring Time-Space Mappings and their Emotions: The Timeline Blend in Poetic Metaphors”. In Language and Literature 22 (1):

29. Thank you!