Computers are humans: on conceptual metaphors in the semantic field of computers and the Internet in Polish

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to explore metaphorical expressions used in informal Polish in the area of computers and the Internet. The study is based on a corpus, compiled and analyzed by the present author; the corpus consists of short informal texts (entries) taken from Polish Internet message boards devoted to computers and the Internet. Altogether, the corpus comprises around 1,500,000 words. The metaphors found in the corpus will be discussed within the cognitive framework. Special attention will be devoted to one of the most frequent conceptual metaphors found in the corpus, namely COMPUTERS ARE HUMANS, or, to be more precise, BADLY WORKING COMPUTER IS A SICK PERSON. Some place will also be devoted to the infl uence of English on metaphorical expressions (in the domain of computers and the Internet) in Polish.