A look at respect: Investigating metonymies in Earle Modern English

This paper analyses the occurrences of the verb and noun respect in the EModE period of the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, and in the Corpus of Early English Correspondence Sampler, with respect to their conceptual metonymies and metaphors, and to which other words they combine with. The paper suggests the term ‘emotion word bundle’ for recurrent phrases with emotion words. It emphasises the role of the concept of vision in the conceptualisation of respect, both metonymically and metaphorically. This has been downplayed in earlier cognitive linguistic research, but becomes particularly clear in a historical study, which shows respect being used for physical, metaphysical and metatextual attention. Coupling eyesight and intellect with emotion and interpersonal communication also makes sense in a wider scientific perspective.