The more in front, the later: The role of positional terms in time metaphors

This paper analyzes the conceptual mapping between spatial IN-FRONT and temporal LATER concepts in the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and explores the effect of ‘positional terms’ in this mapping. Though it has been previously noticed that positional terms can trigger a LATER IS IN-FRONT interpretation within the metaphor of sequential time, this effect has been regarded as an exception and probably, therefore, has not been given the attention that it deserves. We demonstrate in this paper that positional terms play an important role in space-to-time mapping in at least two languages, viz. Japanese and Marathi, and argue that they deserve more in-depth investigation.