"Corpo", "spazio", "movimento", nella concettualizzazione della "meditazione" nella lingua italiana

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the concept of meditation (meditazione) in the Italian language, with special emphasis on the role of body, movement and space in the conceptualization process. The research presented is based on the following theories: Idealized Cognitive Models by G. L a kof f (1987) and thematic proto-roles by D.R. D ow t y (1991). Three basic cognitive models for meditation have been extracted as part of the analysis: the metaphor of journey (viaggio), container (posto chiuso) and water (acqua). These models sprout from Kinesthetic Image Schemas of: source — path — goal, up — down, front — back, and inside — outside. I also trace the directions of the metaphoric movement of the meditating individual both during the very meditation process and as a shift in consciousness level occurs, depending on the cognitive model researched, and the thematic role of the meditating individual. In order to demonstrate the current view of meditation in Italian, the examples constituting the analyzed language content were culled from selected web pages available between 2007 and 2008.