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In:Studies in Figurative Thought and Language
Edited by Angeliki Athanasiadou
[Human Cognitive Processing 56] 2017
► pp. 231–249

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Chapter 9
Metaphor, conceptual archetypes and subjectification

The case of completion is up and the polysemy of shàng in Chinese

 | Masaryk University
Published online: 26 April 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.56.09lu
Abstract
This chapter addresses the relation between conceptual metaphor, conceptual archetype and subjectivity. I start by examining the polysemy of shàng in Chinese, given the working of completion is up on its semantics. In this chapter, I sketch a possible route of semantic extension of shàng and argue that its synchronic distribution is symptomatic of semantic attenuation and subjectification. I also propose an image-schematic structure for each of the relevant senses of shàng identified. With such analysis, I identify vertical elevation and contact as two important conceptual archetypes that may help understand the semantic extension and how completion is up is actually at work on the semantics of shàng.
Article outline
  • 1.Metaphor, polysemy and the semantics of shàng
  • 2.Senses of shàng relevant to completion is up
    • 2.1The sense ‘vertically higher’
    • 2.2The sense ‘vertically attained’
    • 2.3The sense ‘attached’
    • 2.4The sense ‘completive’
    • 2.5Interim summary
  • 3.Subjectivity, subjectification and conceptual archetypes in the semantics of shàng
  • 4.Concluding remarks: Image schemas, conceptual archetypes and metaphors
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Database consulted
References (30)
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Database consulted
Sinica Corpus of Modern Chinese ([URL]), accessed 10 December, 2015.
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