Precious possession, war or journey? : conceptual metaphors for "life" in American English, Hungarian, and Polish

Abstract

The present paper aims at analyzing the similarities and differences between the conceptualization of life in American English, Hungarian, and Polish. The concept of life belongs to abstract and fuzzy concepts, which are usually conceptualized by means of metaphor. The comparison of the conceptual metaphors for life in American English and Hungarian was presented in Kövecses (2005) on the basis of one of his students’ survey. The study revealed differences in the conceptualizations of life in the two languages, ascribed to the disparate cultural experiences of Americans and Hungarians. The questionnaire used in that research has been employed to study the metaphors for life used by a group of native speakers of Polish. The results allow us to compare the metaphorical conceptualizations of life in American English, Hungarian, and Polish.