Embodied cognition in context 

George Lakoff and Zoltán Kövecses’ publications in the 1980s, jointly and individually, paved the way for much later work on anger and other emotions in cognitive linguistics (see Kövecses 1986; Lakoff 1987; Lakoff and Kövecses 1987). In our work, we showed that the source domains of the principal anger metaphors derive from our embodied experiences of anger. Embodiment emerged as a key notion in cognitive science and linguistics (see, e.g., Johnson 1987; Lakoff 1987; Gibbs 2006). In general terms, embodiment is the idea that abstract thought is not just a set of intangible abstractions but is largely based on physical aspects of the human body (like sensory-motor experience). Embodiment is an important factor in the study of how people make metaphorical meaning in several distinct ways. Most relevant of these to my purposes here is the idea that embodiment is at work when people create metaphorical meanings over time from embodied concrete meanings. Embodiment can explain why, for example, the conceptual metaphor anger is heat can be found in many contemporary and ancient languages.

The question I would like to address in this talk is whether all the source domains that pertain to anger have an embodied basis, that is, whether all the conceptual metaphors of anger derive from the various kinds of embodiment that characterize anger. Recognizing the utmost significance of embodiment in various aspects of metaphorical meaning making (see Kövecses 2005, 2015), I wish to explore the issue of how context guides language communities in (unconsciously) choosing and producing source domains for the emotion of anger. In other words, I will be concerned with the historical origin of the conceptual metaphors pertaining to anger in a variety of languages (see Kövecses, Benczes, and Szelid, eds., 2025).

References:

• Gibbs, Raymond. 2006. Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge UP.
• Kövecses, Zoltán. 1986. Metaphors of anger, pride, and love. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Kövecses, Zoltán. 2005. Metaphor in culture. Universality and variation. Cambridge UP.
• Kövecses, Zoltán. 2015. Where metaphors come from. Oxford UP.
• Kövecses, Zoltán, Réka Benczes, and Veronika Szelid, eds., 2025. Metaphors of anger across languages. Universality and variation. Berlin: De Gruyter.
• Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things. Chicago UP.
• Lakoff, George and Zoltán Kövecses. 1987. The cognitive model of anger in American English. In D. Holland and N. Quinn, eds., Cultural models in language and thought. Cambridge UP.

Zoltán Kövecses is professor emeritus in the School of English and America Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. His main research interests include the theory of metaphor and metonymy, context and metaphor, metaphor universals, and the conceptualization of emotions. His major publications are: Metaphor and Emotion (2000, Cambridge UP), Metaphor. A Practical Introduction (2010, Oxford UP), Metaphor in Culture. Universality and Variation (2005, Cambridge UP), Language, Mind, and Culture (2006, Oxford UP), Where Metaphors Come From (2015, Oxford UP), and Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory (2020, Cambridge UP). Most recently, he co-edited and co-authored (with R. Benzes and V. Szelid) a two-volume handbook on anger metaphors around the world, entitled Metaphors of Anger Around the World (2025, De Gruyter).

Time: 2.30pm - 4.00pm

Venue: SHHK Auditorium

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