Abstract
This paper combines the theories of conceptual metaphor, blending andthe profile/base relations system of Langacker in interpreting the most importantverbs of “understanding” and “knowledge” in the Hungarianlanguage within the conceptual metaphors understanding is seeing , and understandingis grasping . The analysis demonstrates that the semantic compositions ofverbal prefix + verb play an outstanding role in constructing the expressionsof “understanding” and “knowledge” prior and/or parallelto the metaphoric correspondences. The verbal prefixes build a complex spatialsystem in Hungarian and, combined with verbs of visual and tactile conceptualstructures, represent “understanding” and “knowledge”in a dynamic way, where the target entity of understanding or knowledge istaken as a fully structured object.
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Tolcsvai Nagy, G. Conceptual metaphors and blends of “understanding” and “knowledge” in Hungarian. Acta Linguistica Hungarica 48, 79–100 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015691321254
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015691321254