8. Metaphors in picturebooks from 0 to 3

The study focuses on metaphorical uses in a wide range of picturebooks for children younger than four and links them to scientific findings in cognitive psychology and language acquisition. Prototypical situations and familiar grounding make it possible for children to form (rough) concepts of abstract notions otherwise difficult to comprehend, e.g., IMAGINATION, ANGER, FRIENDSHIP, NATURE, DISCRIMINATION. Conceptual metaphor theory is useful for this multimodal approach and allows for the role of metaphors as vehicles for knowledge acquisition. The relationship between pictorial and textual metaphors and their interplay varies from close correspondence between pictures and words to a (much) greater weight in the pictures. These picturebooks introduce young children to non-literal language and will support the process of acquiring comparative structures.