The affect bias in the metaphorical representation of anticipated events: The case of approach

Article Article scientifique Article The affect bias in the metaphorical representation of anticipated events: The case of approach eng 2022 author Soriano Cristina 0000-0001-9274-8574 665075 author Piata Anna 842372 115-137 10.1075/msw.18034.pia 2210-4070 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. Anticipated events Approach Metaphor Time Affect Event valence Semantic preference Dewey 128.37 15 Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives 0D8 false 1241 Affective sciences Metaphor and the social world 12 1 979e52b7-d8a3-4a6c-960f-bf5881c4493c Article (Accepted version) Public Piata&Soriano_inpress_AffectiveBiasInTimeRepresentation_MSW.pdf 783721 application/pdf openAccess Centres et instituts / Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives

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The affect bias in the metaphorical representation of anticipated events: The case of approach	Metaphor and the social world			2022	627	645

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Piata, Anna