| Резюме: |
The study explores the ontological, conceptual, and semantic characteristics of the domain WATER/LIQUIDS as a source of metaphors for highly abstract concepts. Its specific traits are analysed at the level of its mythological and folklore interpretation, as well as in terms of its structure, semantics, and the lexical items it contains. The research is based on a rich corpus of polysemantic lexemes, metaphorically used words, and phrases characterized by different levels of synatactic and semantic decomposability. The cognitive approach is realized through two basic methods: the deductive method of laying out hypotheses and surmises and the inductive method used to prove these. The procedures applied result from the employment of the semasiological approach to the analysis and include both purely cognitive as well as structural semantic techniques. The results confirem the Lakoffian position of the universality of basis metaphors but the contrastive analysis of English and Bulgarian in terms of the conceptiualization of highly abstract domains demonstrates cultur-specific characteristics ascribable to myth, folklore and the typologicakl peculiarities of the two languages. Without placing it in the foreground of the research, the study also shows a high level of correspondence beteen the mythological and the linguistic picture of the world typical to both languages - yet another piece of evidence for the universality of primary but not of highly-abstract metaphors.
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