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Article published In: Embodied, Social, and Creative Dimensions of Metonymy
Edited by Marlene Johansson Falck and Thomas Wiben Jensen
[Metaphor and the Social World 15:2] 2025
► pp. 263–287

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Fear metonymy in Swedish and Japanese crime fiction

Literal, conventional, and creative expressions

 | Södertörn University
 | University of Bergen
Published online: 21 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.24031.hil
Abstract
This study examines fear metonymy in one Swedish and one Japanese crime novel. A thematic analysis is employed to establish conceptual fear metonymies grounded in physiological effects, behavioural reactions, and body organs. The types of linguistic manifestations in the novels are analysed, along with their pragmatic function within the novels and narratological aspects of their use.
A total of 39 conceptual fear metonymies were identified, 14 of which have not been previously recognised in research on fear metonymy. The conceptual fear metonymies identified are largely consistent across the Swedish and Japanese novels, reinforcing the notion that human embodied cognition clearly exhibits cross-cultural patterns.
The linguistic manifestations of conceptual fear metonymies exemplify the “Show, don’t tell” technique in creative writing. Most of them are concise and literal in nature. Conventional phrases are predominantly metaphtonymies and exhibit some language/culture-specific characteristics. Creative linguistic expressions, meanwhile, reflect the author’s unique style and further emphasise the emotional state of the characters to the reader. In certain scenes, expressions based on multiple conceptual fear metonymies combine to generate a heightened level of intensity, whereas in others, a single expression effectively conveys fear.
Finally, fiction emerges as a highly conducive material for the analysis of emotion metonymy.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical assumptions
  • 3.Previous research on fear metonymy: Universal and culture-specific traits
  • 4.Emotion metonymy in fiction
  • 5.Data and method
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Conceptual fear metonymies in the two crime novels
    • 6.2Literal, conventional and creative expressions
    • 6.3The pragmatic function of the fear metonymies in the novels and some narratological observations
  • 7.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (25)
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