Contouring Emotion Dynamics Through Metaphor
A Related-Event Approach to Emotion Nouns in Japanese and English
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21129705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yiting Chen (0000-0002-4003-4796, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, corresponding author), Yoshihiro Matsunaka (Tokyo Polytechnic University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 260-284 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-03 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Metaphor and Symbol (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1092-6488 • E-ISSN: 1532-7868 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10926488.2025.2603216 |
| OpenAlex | W7166841931 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 76 |
Emotions are inherently dynamic processes, often conceptualized through metaphors that convey movement and transformation, such as “anger rose” or “love blossomed.” Previous research has centered on metaphorical cross-domain mappings of emotion nouns, but how those mappings differ across successive phases of an emotional experience remains largely unexplored. This study addresses this gap by analyzing metaphorical expressions in corpora to reveal the dynamic nature of emotional conceptualization. Adopting a “related-event approach,” we investigate emotion nouns in Japanese and English corresponding to nine emotions (LOVE, FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, HAPPINESS, PRIDE, SURPRISE, LUST, and SHAME). Examining metaphorical expressions that depict a sequence of mental movements – emergence, existence, intensification, and revelation – as well as their source concepts, we show that emotion metaphors differ significantly across these phases: Japanese tends to emphasize emergence and revelation, whereas English favors existence and intensification. Our findings shed light on the interaction of typological, cognitive, and cultural factors in shaping emotion concepts and provide a more fine-grained understanding of emotion dynamics across different languages. Future research could further illuminate other dynamic aspects of emotion, such as duration and variability, by using time-series data on emotion expressions
Dynamics (music) · Embodied cognition · Emotion classification · Emotional expression · Metaphor · Noun · Transition (genetics) · Action Observation and Synchronization · Categorization, perception, and language · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
Observations and speculations on subjectivity
Metaphors of Anger, Pride and Love
Affective Neuroscience
Cognitive Grammar
VerbsAspect and Causal Structure
Embodied Cognition
Emotion And Adaptation
Emotion Concepts
The Grammar Network
Emotion dynamics
The dynamic architecture of emotion
Explaining Embodied Cognition Results
The emotional dog and its rational tail
Perceptual symbol systems
Metaphoric Competence, Second Language Learning, and Communicative Language Ability
Are metaphors embodied? The neural evidence
Developing L2 learners’ metaphoric competence
Body and emotion
Color Metaphor Mappings for Love Concepts
Mip
The Discourse Dynamics Approach to Metaphor and Metaphor-Led Discourse Analysis
Msdip
Emotion as a Huge Mass of Moving Water
Metaphorizing Violence in the UK and Brazil
Situated simulation in the human conceptual system
Metaphor and the Expression of Emotion
Metaphorical Expressions of Anger and Happiness in English and Chinese
A Frame-Semantic Approach to Verb-Verb Compound Verbs in Japanese
Metaphor comprehension
Dispersions and adjusted frequencies in corpora
Conceptualisation of event roles in L1 and L2 by Japanese learners of English
Using corpus methodology for semantic and pragmatic analyses
Subjectification
A related-event approach to event integration in Japanese complex predicates
Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things
Exploring metaphorical conceptualizations of Envy in English and Chinese
The Embodied Mind
Language and Emotion
The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior
Distributional Structure
A Linguist's Quest for Love
Everyday Metaphors of Lust and Sex in Chagga
Pollution in the Folk Belief System
| Highly cited | No |
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