The statistical assessment of the source and target domains similarity
The statistical assessment of the source and target domains similarity

Summary/Abstract: The goal of the paper is to investigate the level of similarity between source and target domains of metaphors. The problem of similarity constitutes the crucial difference between the classical theory of metaphors and conceptual metaphor theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1980). The research method is based on statistical comparisons of the features of basic domains, which are grounded in the pre-conceptual sensory-motor perception. Applying the method to a particular generic metaphor indicates that visual similarities are much less prominent than the similarities based on other experiential domains, such us for example EMOTION or TEMPERATURE. Further application of the statistical method to a larger corpus of metaphorical expressions may help to find a rule-governed, systematic connection between the similarity of domains and conventional metaphors.

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