METAPHOR AS A LINGUISTIC REFLECTION OF DIFFERENT WAYS AND RESULTS OF THE WORLD PERCEPTION:

THE CONCEPT OF CRIME IN ENGLISH, GERMAN AND RUSSIAN (BASED ON WORKS BY AGATHA CHRISTIE AND BORIS AKUNIN)

Abstract

The cognitive aspect of metaphor consists in the fact that metaphor is a
linguistic reflection of different ways and results of the world perception. The
metaphorical nature is based on a mental ability to make analogies between two
different entities, even if they don’t possess evident similarity. We suppose that
metaphors are culture based and reflect the type of cognition specific for a certain
culture, so different cultures, in the case of our research – English, Russian and
German, perceive reality differently and make diverse projections of the real
world, which is expressed in literature and film. Each culture has its own ways of
conceptualization of surrounding reality. Some basic concepts, which are common
for European cultures still may be reflected in languages similarly, but the majority
of phenomena are understood and conceptualized by representatives of these three
target cultures – English-speaking, German-speaking and Russian-speaking in
three different ways. The limitations of this work could be concerned with the fact
that the preferred scientific background will be conceptual metaphor theory and
blending theory as well, which approach metaphor differently. Many scholars argue
that both theories have their serious limitations, drawbacks and do not reflect the
reality properly, thus the authors’ view may be debatable.