Get fulltext from our e-platform
Motion Metaphors in Music Criticism
An empirical investigation of their conceptual motivation and their metaphoricity
The book explores (1) the motivation of motion expressions in Western classical music criticism in terms of conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, 1999) in two corpus studies, and (2) their perceived degree of metaphoricity among musicians and non-musicians in a rating study. The results show that while fundamental embodied conceptual metaphors like TIME IS MOTION certainly play a part in explaining why we speak of Western classical music as motion, it is the specific communicative setting of music criticism that determines the particular use of motion metaphors.
Furthermore, the perceived metaphoricity of musical motion metaphors varies with participants’ musical background: musicians perceive musical motion expressions as more literal compared to non-musicians, showing that there are individual differences in the perception of metaphoricity.
Furthermore, the perceived metaphoricity of musical motion metaphors varies with participants’ musical background: musicians perceive musical motion expressions as more literal compared to non-musicians, showing that there are individual differences in the perception of metaphoricity.
[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication, 10] 2022. xiii, 247 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Published online on 1 November 2022
Published online on 1 November 2022
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements | pp. ix–x
- List of tables | pp. xi–xii
- List of figures | pp. xiii–xiv
- Chapter 1. Introduction: Western classical music and metaphor | pp. 1–20
- Chapter 2. The language of music criticism | pp. 21–40
- Chapter 3. The conceptual motivation of musical motion | pp. 41–88
- Chapter 4. Metaphoricity as a gradable phenomenon | pp. 89–98
- Chapter 5. Metaphors in music criticism | pp. 99–134
- Chapter 6. Key motion verbs in Western classical music criticism | pp. 135–166
- Chapter 7. The metaphoricity of musical motion expressions | pp. 167–204
- Chapter 8. Final discussion and conclusions | pp. 205–230
- References
- Index | pp. 245–247
“Overall, this book is a fascinating interdisciplinary study of cognitive linguistics and musicology and has made a particularly significant contribution to the conceptual-embodied as well as the socio-cultural and communicative aspects of language and thought that shape metaphor use in classical music criticism. It is fruitful in analyzing the use and potential conceptual basis of the metaphor, motion metaphors in particular, as well as in revealing the impact of genre features on its use.”
Longxing Li, Macao Polytechnic University, in Metaphor and the Social World 14:2 (2024)
Cited by (5)
Cited by five other publications
Huang, Jie
Wadley, Phillip, Thora Tenbrink & Alan Wallington
Julich-Warpakowski, Nina & Thomas Wiben Jensen
Julich-Warpakowski, Nina & Paula Pérez Sobrino
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 6 march 2026. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.