The Conceptual Metaphor of Modesty in English and Ukrainian
The Conceptual Metaphor of Modesty in English and Ukrainian

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the cultural regulatory concept of modesty in English and Ukrainian linguistic construals of the world. The article examines this concept as it is lexicalized in English and Ukrainian in terms of cross-domain mapping and conceptual integration theory. In the corresponding national corpora of fiction, modesty serves both as target and source domains, thus forming the range and scope of conceptual metaphors. The article claims that in genetically unrelated languages, conceptual metaphors of modesty demonstrate common mental models and mainly vary in their verbal form and in their frequency in discourse. From a cross-cultural perspective, the variation of conceptual metaphors of modesty is motivated not only linguistically but also culturally. In English conceptual metaphors, the source domains cross-mapped onto the target modesty are semantically more varied than in Ukrainian. The target domains onto which modesty is mapped form semantically similar conceptual metaphors, which differ in their frequency in English and Ukrainian discourses.

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