Cover not available

Article published In: Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 12:1 (2022) ► pp.115–137

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

The affect bias in the metaphorical representation of anticipated events

The case of approach

 | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
 | Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva
Published online: 13 December 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.18034.pia
Abstract
When talking about anticipated events, speakers can conceptualize them either as destinations towards which they are moving or as entities moving towards them, which correspond to the Ego- and the Time-moving metaphors, respectively (cf. ‘We are approaching Christmas’ and ‘Christmas is approaching’). Research in psycholinguistics has shown affective valence, i.e. whether the conceptualized event is perceived as positive or negative, to be one of the factors that modulate metaphor choice; positive anticipation is preferentially associated with Ego-moving expressions, whereas negative anticipation is predominantly associated with Time-moving metaphors. This paper sets out to test if the time-affect association surfaces in naturally-occurring language use when both metaphorical patterns are available. By focusing on the temporal usage of the verb approach, we provide linguistic evidence in favor of such an affective bias in time representations. In addition, the language data point to a semantic preference for a particular type of event (i.e., personal vs social) under each metaphorical pattern. We interpret this finding as preliminary evidence for a possible semantic bias in time representations to be further investigated.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The affective bias in time representations
  • 3.The semantics of approach: A frame-semantic account
  • 4.Data collection and methods: The event collocates of approach
  • 5.Data annotation and results: The affective valence of approaching events
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Electronic resources accessed online
References (51)
References
Baker, C. (2014). FrameNet: A knowledge base for natural language processing. In Proceedings of frame semantics in NLP: A workshop in honor of Chuck Fillmore (1929-2014) (pp. 1–5). Available online at: [URL].
Bednarek, M. (2008). Semantic preference and semantic prosody re-examined. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 4(2), 119–139. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boroditsky, L. (2000). Metaphoric structuring: Understanding time through spatial metaphors. Cognition, 75(1), 1–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brdar, M., & Brdar-Szabó, R. (2017). Moving-Time and Moving-Ego metaphors from a translational and contrastive linguistic perspective. Research in Language, 15(2), 191–212. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casasanto, D., & Boroditsky, L. (2008). Time in the mind: Using space to think about time. Cognition, 1061, 579–593. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casasanto, D., Fotakopoulou, O., & Boroditsky, L. (2010). Space and time in the child’s mind: Evidence for a cross-dimensional asymmetry. Cognitive Science, 341, 387–405. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, H. H. (1973). Space, time, semantics, and the child. In Τ. Ε. Moore (Εd.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language (pp. 28–63). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duffy, S. (2014). The role of cultural artifacts in the interpretation of metaphorical expressions about time. Metaphor & Symbol, 29(2), 94–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duffy, S., & Feist, M. (2014). Individual differences in the interpretation of ambiguous statements about time. Cognitive Linguistics, 25(1), 29–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Power in time: The influence of power posing on metaphoric perspectives on time. Language & Cognition, 9(4), 1–11.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duffy, S., Feist, M., & McCarthy, S. (2014). Moving through time: The role of personality in three real life contexts. Cognitive Science, 38(8), 1662–1674. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, V. (2003). The structure of time: Language, meaning and temporal cognition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2008). Rethinking metaphor. In R. W. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 53–66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feist, M., & Duffy, S. (2020). On the path of time: Temporal motion in typological perspective. Language & Cognition, 121, 444–467. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. (1976). Frame semantics and the nature of language. In S. R. Harnad, H. D. Steklis, & J. Lancaster (Eds.), Origins and evolution of language and speech (pp. 20–32). New York: New York Academy of Sciences. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1977). Scenes-and-frame semantics. In A. Zampolli (Ed.), Linguistic structures processing (pp. 55–81). Dordrecht: North Holland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1982). Frame semantics. In Linguistic Society of Korea (Ed.), Linguistics in the morning calm (pp. 111–138). Seoul: Hanshin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1985). Frames and the semantics of understanding. Quaderni di Semantica, 61, 222–254.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C., & Baker, C. F. (2001). Frame semantics for text understanding. In Proceedings of WordNet and other lexical resources workshop. Pittsburgh: NAACL. Available online at: [URL]
(2010). A frames approach to semantic analysis. In H. Bernd, & H. Narrog (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of linguistic analysis (pp. 313–340). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fontaine, J., Scherer, K. R., & Soriano, C. (Eds.) (2013). Components of emotional meaning: A sourcebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Galati, D., Sini, B., Tinti, C., & Testa, S. (2008). The lexicon of emotion in the Neo-Latin languages. Social Science Information, 471, 205–220. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. (1997). From space to time: Temporal adverbials in the world’s languages. Munich: Lincom Europa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hauser, D. J., Carter, M. S., & Meier, B. P. (2009). Mellow Monday and furious Friday: The approach-related link between anger and time representation. Cognition and Emotion, 23(6), 1166–1180. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kilgarriff, A., Baisa, V., Bušta, J., Jakubíček, M., Kovář, V., Michelfeit, J., Rychlý, P., & Suchomel, V. (2014). The Sketch Engine: Ten years on. Lexicography, 11, 7–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed., pp. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Turner, M. (1989). More than cool reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, A., & Ji, L. (2014). Moving away from a bad past and toward a good future: Feelings influence the metaphorical understanding of time. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 143(1), 21–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Margolies, S. O., & Crawford, E. L. (2008). Event valence and spatial metaphors of time. Cognition and Emotion, 22(7), 1401–1414. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McGlone, M., & Pfiester, A. (2009). Does time fly when you’re having fun, or do you? Affect, agency, and embodiment in temporal communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 28(3), 3–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Elaborating time in space: The structure and function of space-motion metaphors of time. Language & Cognition, 1(2), 1–63.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Núñez, R. (1999). Could the future taste purple? In R. Núñez, & W. Freeman (Eds.), Reclaiming cognition: The primacy of action, intention, and emotion (pp. 41–60). Thorverton, UK: Imprint Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Núñez, R., & Cooperrider, K. (2013). The tangle of space and time in human cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(5), 220–229. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Núñez, R., & Sweetser, E. (2006). With the future behind them: Convergent evidence from Aymara language and gesture in the cross-linguistic comparison of spatial construals of time. Cognitive Science, 301, 401–450. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prosser, S. (2013). The passage of time. In A. Dyke, & H. Bardon (Eds.), A companion to the philosophy of time (pp. 315–327). New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Osgood, C. E., May, W. H., & Miron, M. S. (1975). Cross-cultural universals of affective meaning. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radden, G. (2006). The metaphor time as space across languages. In E. Górska & G. Radden (Eds.), Metonymy-metaphor collage (pp. 99–120). Warsaw: Warsaw University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Spatial time in the West and the East. In M. Brdar, M. Omazic, V. P. Takac, T. Gradecak-Erdeljic & G. Buljan (Eds.), Space and time in language (pp. 1–40). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richmond, J., Wilson, J. C., & Zinken, J. (2012). A feeling for the future: How does agency in time metaphors relate to feelings?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(7), 813–823. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Riskind, J. H., Williams, N. L., & Joiner, T. E. (2006). The looming cognitive style: A cognitive vulnerability for anxiety disorders. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25(7), 779–801. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rovelli, C. (2017). The order of time. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruppenhofer, J., Ellsworth, M., Petruck, M. R. L., Johnson, C. R., & Scheffczyk, J. (2006). FrameNet II: Extended theory and practice. International Computer Science Institute, Berkeley, California. Distributed with the FrameNet data. Available online at: [URL]
Traugott, E. C. (1978). On the expression of spatio-temporal relations in language. In J. H. Greenberg (Ed.), Universals of human language (Vol. 31, pp. 369–400). Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weger, U. W., & Pratt, J. (2008). Time flies like an arrow: Space-time compatibility effects suggest the use of a mental timeline. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15(2), 426–430. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Electronic resources accessed online
Frame Net (lexical database): [URL]
Sketch Engine (corpus tool): [URL]
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Dhifallah, Asma
2025. Ego-centered motion metaphors of time across methods. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 23:2 ► pp. 375 ff. DOI logo
Muhić , Emir, Nenad Blaženović & Sanel Hadžiahmetović Jurida
2025. EGO-MOVING AND TIME-MOVING METAPHORS IN THE LANGUAGES OF BIH, AND THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL VALENCE IN TEMPORAL COGNITION. SCIENCE International Journal 4:2 ► pp. 93 ff. DOI logo
Akbuğa, Emir & Tilbe Göksun
2024. Temporal Gestures in Different Temporal Perspectives. Cognitive Science 48:3 DOI logo
McCulloch, Alistair & Wendy Bastalich
2023. Commencing research students’ expectations and the design of doctoral induction: introducing inflections of collaboration and pleasure. Journal of Further and Higher Education 47:5 ► pp. 687 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue