Metaphors of blood in American English and Hungarian: A cross-linguistic corpus investigation

This study investigates the metaphorical uses of blood in American English and Hungarian, using large corpora. The study aims at identifying the target themes of metaphorical expressions containing blood in the two languages as well as unearthing details of patterns of usage in a case-study analysis of four selected expressions. Findings show that the two languages mostly share the range of phenomena that their extensive metaphorical uses of blood depict. At the same time, the case studies reveal a remarkable difference in the frequency, connotation, and usage patterns of the expressions that underwent a detailed analysis. The expressions also display substantial within-language variation in their connotations. The findings provide support for the usage of mixed corpora, and imply a vital need to investigate the context of metaphorical expressions in order to bring to light the conceptualizations inherent in them.

► I examine metaphors of blood in large corpora in American English and Hungarian. ► Both languages use blood as source domain extensively. ► Case studies of four expressions show substantial differences in their meanings and connotations in the two languages. ► Conceptual metaphor research benefits from a mix of intuition and corpus evidence.