the conduit metaphor in english and lithuanian

ISSN 1392-0588DARBAI ir DIENOS2000.24

Jûratë VAIÈENONIENË

1. INTRODUCTION

Communication is one of the centralhuman activities, as it helps to keep so-cial contacts among people. The frequencyof the Lithuanian nouns �þodis� (�word�)and �kalba� (�language�) reflects the sig-nificance of this unique phenomenon ofcommunication. �Þodis� is the seventy-fourth and �kalba� is the seventy-fifthword in the frequency list of all theLithuanian words (Grumadienë andÞilinskienë 1998, p. 1). Thus, naturally,such an important human intercoursegives impetus to different disciplines toanalyse the perception of communica-tion and to define the concept itself. Themeans to accomplish these tasks in thepresent article is the analysis of concep-tual metaphors that are retrieved fromthe Lithuanian and English computercorpora. Hence the attempt of this ar-ticle is to combine computer linguisticsand cognitive linguistics that emphasisesthe interrelation between language andmental processes. The statistical dataderived from huge corpora allow us tomake a well-substantiated analysis. Thestudy of metaphors obtained from collo-cations and supported by statistical evi-dence becomes more reliable and lessintuition based. If the examples for analy-sis are chosen accidentally, they can bejust occasionalisms that are not frequentlyused in language. Numerous computer

data allow a linguist to select the mosttypical cases and to observe the leastfrequent ones. On the other hand, datafrom corpora become not merely statis-tics because cognitive linguistics allowsus to make broader generalisations aboutour thinking or our conceptual system.Furthermore, the data from the corporaof two different languages make it pos-sible to compare and contrast the twolanguages.

1.1. THE DEFINITIONOF METAPHORAND THE CONDUIT METAPHOR

Before the analysis of the computer data,we should specify how metaphor is un-derstood in the present article. GeorgeLakoff and Mark Johnson in their bookMetaphors We Live By present metaphorsas concepts structuring our thinking andthe way we act. Metaphors allow us tounderstand less concrete or abstract ideasin terms of more concrete concepts. Whenwe use terms of one domain to speakabout another domain, we employ ametaphor that �highlights certain featureswhile suppressing others� (Lakoff andJohnson 1980, p. 141) and is based onsimilarities as well as contrasts betweenthe two domains.One more aspect of metaphor that

Lakoff observes in his article Contempo-

The Conduit Metaphorin English and Lithuanian

A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH

144 ÞODÞIO SEMANTIKA

rary theory of metaphor is that metaphori-cal systems can be either universal, wide-spread or culture specific (Lakoff 1993,p. 245). The present analysis, hence, isexpected to reveal that the so-called con-duit metaphor is at least widespread ifnot universal. The huge amounts of em-pirical evidence available in the com-puter corpus make such a comparison oflanguages possible.Michael J. Reddy calls the framework

that English has for conceptualising com-munication �the conduit metaphor�. Thiscomplex understanding of communica-tion consists of the following notions:1) ideas or meanings are objects;

2) words are containers for inserting the con-tent (ideas or meanings);

3) communication is sending. (Reddy 1993,p.164)

The structure is derived from numer-ous English expressions that the authoranalyses. In this model of communica-tion the role of the speaker is to encodehis or her meaning in words whereas theaddressee�s task is to decode it by un-wrapping the package or words. Hencereified words and ideas travel from oneperson to another through a channel. Theirtransference seems to be independent ofany human effort. However, Reddy no-tices that this is a misleading understand-ing of communication because in realityit requires people�s competence and ef-fort to make it successful.In addition to this �major� framework

of understanding communication, Reddydistinguishes the �minor� frameworkwhich �overlooks words as containers andallows ideas and feelings to flow, unfet-tered and completely disembodied, intoa kind of ambient space between humanheads� (Reddy 1993, p. 170). Hence inthis framework ideas are still treated astangible objects although they are notinserted into words before sending themand do not have the material shape when

they are already in space. Also they existindependently of people and may or maynot get back into people�s heads. AlthoughReddy provides a detailed structure ofcommunication, his examples are singlecitations not from a computer corpus.Therefore, the framework needs verifi-cation.

1.2. THE INTERRELATIONBETWEEN METAPHORAND COLLOCATION

For the analysis of metaphor it is impor-tant to distinguish between metaphor andcollocation and to define the terms asthey will be employed in this article. Col-location and metaphor are the keywordsin computer corpus linguistics and cog-nitive linguistics. The definition of met-aphor is provided above. Via metaphorsabstractions are perceived whereas col-location is their verbal expression. Col-location is understood as a common com-bination of words used together. JohnSinclair notices that the word meaning isnever centred in the word itself but isshared among the words that it collo-cates or keeps company with (Sinclair1996, p. 80). Hence these linguistic com-binations are a source of metaphoricalcases in language.Computer corpus-based analysis is

advantageous because it helps to avoidsubjectivity and limits the role of intu-ition. When collocations are taken froma representative computer corpus, theyform an objective source of metaphorsthat are most often used in language.Furthermore, the proportion of meta-phoric and non-metaphoric cases in thetotal number of collocations reveals howmuch our language is metaphorised. Themain difficulty in such an analysis is thatthe distinction between collocation andmetaphor is rather obscure. In this pa-

145Jûratë Vaièenonienë THE CONDUIT METAPHOR IN ENGLISH AND LITHUANIAN

per the criterion to determine metaphoriccases is the collocational range of thewords under investigation. A collocationbecomes metaphoric when a word collo-cates with lexemes that have a restrictedcollocational range. (Marcinkevièienë1999, p. 115) For example, the verb �austi�is usually restricted to the words refer-ring to cloth. Thus when it is used withthe noun �idea�, it metaphorises the latternoun as woven material.Both cognitive and corpus-based lin-

guistic analyses observe that in multiwordlinguistic expressions the meaning is�shared between its components�(Schoenefeld 1999, p.157). The proce-dure of combining different concepts iscalled differently by different linguists,i.e. �delexicalization�, �constructionalmeaning�, �blending� or �composition�(Schoenefeld 1999, p.153). In metaphorthe interaction between the primary andsecondary subjects is its basis and one ofthe essential features. Corpus linguis-tics also admits that in a collocation themeanings of words used together over-lap to form complex expressions.In addition to collocation, one more

specifying term used by John Sinclairshould be introduced and defined. Hesuggests employing the concept ofcolligation defined as the co-occurrenceof grammatical choices in corpus-basedanalysis. Sinclair calls collocation �physi-cal evidence� whereas colligation is de-fined as �structural evidence� (Sinclair1996, p. 98). The grammatical categoriesthat are mainly important here are prepo-sitions collocating with verbs and adjec-tives in noun phrases. Some of the wordsrelated to communication under analy-sis show a great tendency to appear incolligation with a possessive adjectiveas it will be illustrated further in thearticle.

1.3. SOURCES OF DATA FORTHE ANALYSIS OF METAPHORICLANGUAGE ABOUT LANGUAGE

For the analysis of the Lithuanian lan-guage the corpus available on the Inter-net has been used. It consists of 50 mil-lion words. The examples have been col-lected not from all its parts, but onlyfrom newspapers in order to limit thenumber of sample sentences, which be-come unmanageable if taken all together.The analysis of conduit metaphor in

English is based on the data taken fromCollins COBUILD English Collocationson CD-ROM. It contains 10, 000 head-words that are illustrated by 2, 600, 000authentic examples. Up to 20 most fre-quent collocates are provided for eachheadword thus giving 140, 000 colloca-tions all in all. All the data are takenfrom the Bank of English, which is a cor-pus that numbers 200 million words.

2. THE ANALYSIS OF THECONDUIT METAPHOR INENGLISH AND LITHUANIAN

2.1. IDEAS OR MEANINGSARE OBJECTS

This analysis is based on the examinationof two nouns, i.e. �mintis� in Lithuanianand �idea� in English. Of all the wordsused to talk about what exists during themental processes �idea� is the most gener-al term, �applicable to almost any part oraspect of mental activity� (Hayakawa 1987,p. 277). Therefore, this noun rather thanthe noun �thought� has been chosen forthe analysis as the equivalent of �mintis�.It also should be noted that all the exam-ples provided in this practical study ofthe metaphor are authentic phrases or

10


sentences from the corpora. They appearin the corpora more than once. Meta-phors that occur only once are left out orit is indicated that they are occasional-isms. In order to limit the scope of anal-ysis less typical cases are not dwelt uponin detail. Besides, if there were no corre-sponding English metaphors for the Lithua-nian ones in the corpus, we relied on dic-tionary information in order not to drawtoo categorical conclusions about the dif-ferences in the framework.Before the detailed analysis of the con-

ceptual metaphor IDEAS ARE OBJECTS, otherways of metaphorising ideas should bepresented. The study of the linguisticevidence in both languages has revealedthat the following major metaphoricmodels can be distinguished:

IDEAS ARE PLANTS

(1) this was the germ of the idea and when itcame to full fruitition Monet registered thechanges.

tai puikiausia dirva minties augimui; mintisprigijo, minties brandumas.

IDEAS ARE HUMAN BEINGS

(2) revolutionary ideas; outrageous ideas; theidea came from a few ground personnel; ideasare destined to come at a certain time; manyrival ideas.

maiðtingos mintys; neperðu minties; gimëmintis, aplankydavo mintys; ákyruolë mint-is; piktos mintys.

IDEAS ARE MOVING OBJECTS

(3) ideas flow to you.

Mintys sukasi; vingiuojanti mintis; mintiesjudëjimo.

IDEAS ARE LIVING CREATURES

(4) we are always on the hunt for new ideas;

sparnuota mintis; minties geluonis; spieèiusminèiø .

IDEAS ARE A FORCE

(5) The idea struck like a lightning;

mintys kamuoja/kankina

In addition to the above groups of meta-phors, in Lithuanian there are a number ofcases of the metaphor IDEA IS A MEANS OF TRAV-ELLING IN VIRTUAL REALITY:

(6) mintimis gráþti (kur nors)

ieðkoti (ko) mintimis

mintimis nusikelti/nuskristi (kur)

Thus the perception of our mental ac-tivities is very complex and its exhaus-tive analysis could be the aim of a sepa-rate study. However, here these differ-ent metaphors are provided above justto give a more general picture of the wayideas are metaphorised, but they are notthe aim of a more detailed analysis. Theconceptual metaphor that is directly re-lated to the study of the conduit meta-phor is the metaphor IDEAS ARE OBJECTS.Only when ideas are understood in thisway, they can be packed in words andsent to the addressee. It also should benoted that it covers the greatest numberof metaphors in the sources of both lan-guages.As George Lakoff observes, people

understand abstract notions in terms ofconcrete objects and substances. Hegroups a great variety of metaphors basedon representing abstract experiences assubstances under the title of ontologicalmetaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 1980,p.25). When abstract things are meta-phorically materialised, it is possible tomeasure them, define their boundariesand to perceive them with the help ofour five senses, i.e. smell, taste, touch-ing, hearing and seeing. Communica-tion is one of the abstract phenomena inour life that needs to be categorised andreferred to in some terms. Thus ideasexpressed in communication and mean-ings of words are viewed as objects andmade tangible. The data from the cor-pora give enough evidence that ideas aresystematically reified both in Lithuanianand English.

2.1.1. IDEAS ARE TANGIBLE

Reification of ideas is reflected even inthe dictionary definition of the Englishword �idea� where it is defined as �aproduct of mental activity� (CCD, p. 641).Similarly, Collins COBUILD Student�s Dic-


tionary in the definition of the verb �de-liver� defines one metaphor via anothermetaphor:If you deliver a lecture or speech, you giveit. (COBUILD, p. 434)

The fact that lexicographers are not ableto avoid such circular definitions ofmetaphoric cases via metaphors supportsthe fact that the conduit metaphor is verydeeply rooted in our perception of com-munication.Hence these dictionary definitions and

other data that have been collected forthe analysis show that in English thoughtsare often metaphorically perceived asproducts as it can be seen in the follow-ing examples from the corpus:(7)� colonial period itself produced new ideas

� hot bath produces good ideas

Gucci is constantly generating new ideas.

a sparky design to turn good ideas into mar-ketable products.

No matter how many policy ideas Mr. Clin-ton produces �

Similarly, �mintis� is perceived as aproduct in Lithuanian:(8) � galvoje pradedame �gaminti� mintis.

� perdirba kaþkieno kito mintis.

� formuojama viena pagrindinë mintis �

Retrospektyva tarsi generuoja mintis �

Thus �mintis� is produced, shaped, re-cycled or generated. It is interesting tonotice that in the first example in (8) theverb is put in inverted commas whichshows that the speaker is aware of themetaphor.The fact that ideas are treated as ob-

jects is evident in the common modifier�concrete� collocating with the word �idea�in English,(9) He didn�t have any concrete ideas yet.

� with no new concrete ideas to discuss �

These examples can be paralleled tothe following sentence in Lithuanian:(10) � prezidentas� konkretina dar pirma-jame numeryje pradëtas mintis�

In the metaphorical model under analy-sis reified ideas just like any physical

objects can be moved from one place toanother. These cases should be distin-guished from the conceptual metaphorIDEAS ARE MOVING OBJECTS, which is pre-sented above. The latter conceptual meta-phor covers expressions where ideas movethemselves, independently of human in-terference. Here we are going to look ata number of metaphors that representideas as objects, which are moved bysomeone. The following examples showthat in English ideas are treated as por-table or movable objects:(11) It seemed as if he was bringing me a newidea every other week�

the first Americans who brought his ideasback to New York.

The members of the group throw in ideas�

Danford hadn�t brought any ideas with him�

Parents bring with them many different ideason discipline�

� now it�s time to bring out the ideas.

The defence agency dropped the idea�

Similarly, in Lithuanian there are avariety of metaphorical cases where ideasare handled as physical objects as theitalicised verbs show:(12) dëliojo mintis vienaip ir kitaip

lengviau iðlaikyti savo mintis

neðasi savo ðirdyje kilnias mintis

moksleiviø mintys bus �perkeltos� á artimiau-sià pedagogø tarybos posëdá.

Ið konkurso moksleiviai parsiveþë mintá�

Tada griebtasi kitos minties�

Minties ðiuo keliu pasiekti stovyklà neme-tame�

� parsiveþë daug minèiø apie naujoves�

In contrast to these examples when ideasare perceived as movable objects, thereare a number of cases when ideas areviewed as stable and immobile entities.In such cases ideas are situated some-where and people can find or discoverthem as in the following Lithuanian ex-amples:(13) ... gráþdama prie savo minties�

Ði mûsø kritinë apþvalga atveda prie tos vie-nos svarbios minties�

Ir vël gráþtu prie tos paèios minties�


� galima gráþti prie anksèiau iðsakytos min-ties�

reiktø stengtis kaip nors nenukrypti nuominties

In English ideas are also representedas stable objects:(14)Women have so many fixed ideas aboutwhat they can and cannot wear.

One of my father�s fixed ideas was that otherpeople had some strange desire�

Hence such an abstract notion as ideais turned into a very stable and concretething. Furthermore, this abstraction ismaterialised via verbal expression. Whenit is put into a certain linguistic form, itbecomes fixed and possible to return to.When ideas are viewed as tangible

entities, they can be not only moved, butalso made of a certain material as allphysical objects. The analysis of theLithuanian corpus has revealed that ideasare perceived as being woven. There area number of sentences where �mintis� oridea is represented as a thread. A phrasethat appears very often in the corpus is�mintis nutraukë�. In addition to that,the following examples illustrate the sameconcept:(15)Dël to minties gija tarpais lyg ir nutrûks-ta�

� sunkiai suregzta mintis�

Mintá � audëme jau seniai

Ir vërë toká siûlà-mintá�

� nesugeba riðliai dëstyti minèiø�

virðininkas M. Stabingis rezga mintá �

� seniai audþia dar profesoriaus K. Pakðtoaustà mintá�

mintys pynësi

tavo minèiø audiná

Among the examples on CD-ROM nosimilar cases in English have been foundbut this does not allow us to generalisethat the associations of ideas with threadsand weaving do not exist in this lan-guage. Therefore, dictionaries as a supple-mentary source of linguistic informationwere used to carry out a more thoroughanalysis. For that purpose three words

were checked, i.e. �weave� as the equiva-lent of �austi� and �regzti� in Lithuanian,�thread� as the equivalent of �gija� and�tangle� as the equivalent of �raizginys�.In the entry of the verb �weave� the fol-lowing example is provided:(16) He wove a fascinating story from a fewforgotten incidents. (LDCE, p.1139)

This sentence clearly demonstrates thatin English the same conceptual model ofthinking exists although it sometimes usesdifferent lexical means to express it.Furthermore, this point can be supportedby the way the same dictionary distin-guishes the third meaning of the lexeme�thread� that is subdivided into:a line of reasoning connecting the parts of anargument or story: I�m afraid I�ve lost thethread of your argument.

b a repeated pattern or idea: There is a consis-tent thread running through all these policies.(LDCE, p.1105)

In addition to this detailed definition,the example in the entry of the head-word �tangle� should be quoted:(17) He got into an awful tangle with hishomework and had to ask me to help. (LDCE,p.1081)

Hence the person is in a complicatedsituation because he is confused in hismind. The vague and intangible confu-sion of the mind is compared to a con-fused mass of fibres that is a very con-crete and very expressive visual image.The perception of putting ideas together

as in the process of weaving is expressedby the adjective �coherent� that is so com-monly used to speak about speech or apiece of writing to say that it is logicallyorderly. The first meaning of the verb�cohere�, from which the adjective is de-rived, is �to hold or stick firmly together�(CCD, p.257). Not only the core mean-ing of the verb reveals the treatment ofideas as physical objects, but also its Latinorigin, i.e. co- means �together� and herçremeans to �cling� (CCD, p.257). Similarly,in Lithuanian the adjective �riðlus� is used


to describe a logical text. The adjectivecould be translated into English as �tiedup� if we want it to contain its literarymeaning.The dictionary examples and defini-

tions above show that the mechanism ofthinking is paralleled to weaving andthread in both languages under analysis.This way of perceiving thinking revealsthe importance of connection betweenideas and their order. When ideas aredisorderly, they become tangled likethreads and are understood with diffi-culty. Therefore, it is important to com-bine them properly the way weavers in-terlace yarn to make a fabric.However, in Lithuanian ideas are not

just made of fibres, but are also pro-duced of gold as in the following phrases:(18)�auksinës mintys�; �ðovë galvon auksinëmintis�; �prisimeni kità auksinæ mintá� .

The English data on CD-ROM provideno cases of metaphors where ideas wererepresented as objects made of gold.Nevertheless, English speakers treat ideasas precious things as the dictionary ex-ample �brilliant idea� (LDCE, p.120) sug-gests. Thus, although ideas are made ofdifferent materials in the two languages,their perception again follows the samemetaphoric structure. Ideas are prod-ucts made of precious and shiny mate-rial.Ideas as tangible objects that are made

of some material can be perceived withthe help of one of our five senses, i.e.seeing. This way of conceiving themseems to be essential as the notion ofideas as visual objects is hidden in thevery word �idea�. It originates from theGreek word idein, which means �to see�.Therefore, ideas can be transparent ornot transparent. A very common collo-cate of the noun �idea� is the adjective�clear�. The word does not appear in thelist of twenty most frequent collocatesbut it is recurrent in the example sen-

tences on CD-ROM. As the opposite ofit the attribute �foggy� is used althoughit does not appear very often,(19) I had a pretty clear idea.

People representing me haven�t the foggiestidea what �

These cases can be easily compared tosimilar Lithuanian metaphors:(20)mintis aiðki ir be þodþiø

þadinantis neaiðkias mintis

bandydamas atsigauti ir praskaidrinti mintis

paaiðkina jo minties vaiskø skaidrumà

These few examples reveal certain dif-ferences between the two languages.Although the idea of transparency isobserved in both English and Lithuanian,word by word translation of the phrasesfrom one language into another does notsound very natural. The equivalent of�clear� is �aiðkus� but its opposite is�neaiðkus� or �miglotas�. The latter wordis the equivalent of �foggy� but it is mainlyused to talk not about ideas but under-standing (e.g. �miglotas suvokimas/supratimas). Nevertheless, these are mi-nor differences and collocational pecu-liarities that do not affect the generalmetaphorical model of communication.The fact that ideas are visually per-

ceived is obvious in the metaphoric caseswhere ideas have colour. The followingLithuanian examples can illustrate thistendency:(21) Visi ðie þodþiai turi atskirà mintiesatspalvá

be jokios tamsios minties

karà su pilkomis kalbanèiøjø mintimis patslaikas pradëti

dalijasi su paðnekovais tokiomis juodomismintimis

Kiekviena mintis turi savo spalvà

Á galvà lenda juodos mintys

Actually, the adjectives �tamsus� and�juodas� are rather recurrent collocatesof the noun �mintys� in the Lithuaniancorpus. Among the example sentencesof the nouns �idea�, �thought� and


�thoughts� on CD-ROM no similar meta-phors have been found. Therefore, itcould be tentatively stated that in En-glish thoughts or ideas have no colour.Nevertheless, this is just one aspect thatdoes not coincide with Lithuanian, but itdoes not overthrow the whole metaphoricstructuring of ideas as tangible and vis-ible objects.One more sense, with the help of which

we are able to recognise ideas, is hear-ing. In Lithuanian there are a number ofmetaphors which suggest that ideas canbe heard:(22)niekas nepakartojo kapinëse girdëtosminties

iðgirdusi tokias mintis salë suûþë

mintys skambëjo

girdëti daug � minèiø

Again such data are found only in theLithuanian corpus. No English examplesof similar metaphors have been foundeither on CD-ROM or in the dictionaries.This leads to a tentative conclusion thatthe metaphor of ideas as audible objectsis not as much recurrent in English as inLithuanian.As it has been proved that ideas are

tangible, it means that they are perceivedwith the help of touching. Therefore, theycan have certain qualities such as rough-ness, sharpness and the like. The follow-ing phrases illustrate this tendency inLithuanian:(23) aðtrios ðio raðinio mintys

minties aðtrumà

smeigte prismeigë jà mintimis

Similarly, the idea of recognising ideasby touching is expressed in such idiomsas �get/have a rough idea about some-thing�, �give someone a rough idea aboutsomething� (AID, p.410). In addition, re-ified ideas have a feature of being solid,(24) Susan Taylor had some tough ideas abouthow we can reduce the number of teenagepregnancies.

We have some strong / very firm ideas �

In Lithuanian the notion of solid ideas isexpressed in such phrases as �mintá stipri-no� (�strengthened the idea�), �trapiasmintis� (�fragile ideas�).Moreover, in the Lithuanian corpus

there are a few examples of metaphors,which suggest that ideas have a smelland taste. Although these metaphors arenot very recurrent, they cannot be de-spised.(25)atsiduoda karèioms mintims

uþplûstas karèiø minèiø apie vienintelæ

pasakë daug karèiø� minèiø

saldi ir gundanti mintis

jo minèiø aromatas

Thus ideas, at least in Lithuanian, have acertain taste and can even smell. There-fore, we can conclude that ideas as ob-jects are perceived with the help of allthe five senses that people have.

2.1.2. IDEAS CAN BE MEASURED

Ideas, when they are given a materialshape, can be quantified or measured.The width, length, volume and tensionof abstract notions can be measured. Theway their width can be determined canbe illustrated by some examples in En-glish (�in the broadest sense of the word,�some sort of broad idea� or �an interest-ing new extension of his ideas on the eco-nomics of imperialism�) and Lithuanian(�ðias mintis jis iðpleèia savo straipsniuo-se�).For measuring ideas a number of other

dimensions can be used. First of all, thelength of ideas can be measured as in thefollowing sentence containing a meta-phoric phrase:(26) The purpose of my presence today is togive you a brief idea of my company.

In Lithuanian we can observe the sametendency in a very common phrase�pratæsti mintá� (�to continue the idea�).The volume and tension are expressed


in the English phrases �in the full/ fullestsense of the word� and �in the loosest sense ofthe word�. In Lithuanian the depth ofideas is very often mentioned as a veryfrequent phrase �gili mintis� (�deep idea�)shows.It also should be noted that word mean-

ing is measured in the lexicographic tra-dition by numbering different senses ofa word in dictionaries. Moreover, evenfrom the grammatical point of view �idea�and �mintis� are treated as objects as thetwo words are countable nouns in bothEnglish and Lithuanian. Lakoff also pointsout that �the metaphor system plays amajor role in both the grammar and lexi-con of a language� (Lakoff 1993, p.245).Thus ideas according to the prevailingmetaphorical model can be counted astangible items. A great variety of quan-tity words used with the nouns underanalysis in both languages prove this.Among twenty most frequent collocatesof the word �idea� there are even fourquantifiers that are listed here in the orderof their frequency:(27)Some

They will be putting some ideas to me soon.

Many

Many of her ideas are mad.

More

More new ideas are coming soon.

Few

He has relatively few ideas.

Some quantifiers are not included in thelist but they still can be found in exam-ple sentences:(28) There should be plenty of good ideasfrom Dean Witter.

What the three different ideas were?

Examples from the Lithuanian corpusshow that �mintis� is an object that canbe counted, e.g. �vienut vienintelë mintis,�pirma/pirmoji mintis�, �sukosi viena min-tis�, �visas mintis�.Furthermore, an idea can be seen as a

unit that can be divided into parts as oneof the most frequent collocates �whole�

suggests. Lakoff observes that we tendto use metaphors based on our bodilyexperience and the PART-WHOLE schema isone of such groups of metaphors (Lakoff1987, p.273). He notices that we natu-rally perceive ourselves as whole beingswith parts. Therefore, we apply this ana-tomical perception of ourselves to thesurrounding world and abstract notions(Lakoff 1987, p. 273). Thus ideas areunderstood according to the same schemaas the following examples in Lithuanianshow:(29)� minties dalys augte suaugusios

� kompleksinës minties elementai

� minties struktûra

� norëèiau panagrinëti mintá

In English we find similar examples,e.g. �more complex ideas� and the numer-ous set of phrases like �the whole idea ofsomething (a paper, protocol, manufac-turing, etc.)�. Hence ideas are measur-able units that can be whole and haveparts just like human bodies.

2.1.3. IDEAS ARE POSSESSIONS

In the chapter about ideas as tangibleobjects it was mentioned that ideas aremade of valuable material such as goldor brilliants. If they are perceived asprecious entities, naturally they are pos-sessed and cherished by people. One ofthe very common verbs that collocatewith the noun �idea� is �have� or �havegot�,(30)I�ve got no idea.

We have no idea who sent it to us.

The verbs that are among twenty mostcommon collocates of the noun are �got�,�give� and �get�. It should be noted thatin a big number of cases when �idea�collocates with �got� the latter verb is apart of the construction �have got�. Never-theless, all these cases of the verb �got�and the other two collocates show that


ideas can be owned and passed over toother people as properties. Moreover,we find such examples as �borrowingother people�s ideas� or �I can get rid ofmy ideas� that support this notion ofpossessing ideas. Similarly, in the Lithua-nian corpus there are a variety of ex-pressions, which prove that ideas arepossessions:(31)� praradæs mintá ir þodá

� savo minèiø� ðeimininkas

� nenorëjo rankioti svetimø minèiø

� neturëk net tokios minties

� atsikratome minties

Ðias mintis autorius neabejotinai pasiskolinæsið A. Maceinos

The examples reveal that the same met-aphorical model exists in English andLithuanian because some expressionscoincide and can be translated from onelanguage into another word by word,i.e. pasiskolinti mintá � to borrow an idea,atsikratyti minties � to get rid of an idea.Very often the noun under analysis is

used in both languages with some lin-guistic expression that refers to the ownerof the idea. Such expressions are pos-sessive pronouns (mano/savo/jûsø mintis;my/your ideas) and the possessive case ofa noun that refers to the owner (Prezidento/ Garry Jacksono / amerikieèiø moksilinkømintis / mintys; Chomsky�s key ideas, thesexpert�s ideas). Besides, the list of thecollocates of the plural form �ideas� con-tains the possessive pronoun �own� thatis the fifth most frequent collocate of theword. The importance of this kind ofproperty, i.e. ideas, can be summarisedby the following example from theLithuanian corpus:(32) Pavogti svetimas mintis daþnai didesnisnusikaltimas negu pavogti pinigus.

Michel Foucault in his short overview ofthe concept of discourse The Order ofDiscourse, which was first published in1971, emphasises the function of the au-thor or owner of ideas and texts. He

notices that in the Middle Ages discoursewas ascribed to someone because theauthor of a statement gave it its value.In the later centuries the authors of theanonymous works that circulated freelyamong people had to be traced downand determined because the owner ofideas and texts carries the responsibilityfor it and acts as its unifying force (Fou-cault 1998, p.19). Thus the notion ofpossessing ideas and texts has been im-portant throughout centuries and hasbecome especially strong nowadays whenplagiarism is treated as a major intellec-tual crime that involves punishment.To sum up, we can make the following

schema of the way ideas are metaphorisedin Lithuanian and English:

IDEAS ARE OBJECTS

IDEAS ARE TANGIBLE

IDEAS ARE MOVABLE

IDEAS ARE IMMOBILE ENTITIES

IDEAS ARE PRODUCED OF

A VALUABLE MATERIAL

IDEAS ARE THREADS

IDEAS ARE SEEN

IDEAS ARE HEARD

IDEAS CAN BE SMELLED (in Lithuanian)

IDEAS CAN BE TASTED (in Lithuanian)

IDEAS CAN BE MEASURED

Ideas have width

Ideas have length

Ideas are counted

Ideas can be divided into parts

IDEAS ARE POSSESSIONS

Thus ideas are systematically reified andtherefore can be packed as physical ob-jects in containers or words.

2.2. WORDS ARE OBJECTSOR CONTAINERS

The previous part of the article was mainlyconcentrated on how pervasive is thetendency to talk about abstractions interms of concrete objects. This part notonly deals with this tendency, but also


focuses on container metaphors that arejust as natural as ontological metaphorsin our understanding. Lakoff points outthat container metaphors are motivatedby human everyday physical experience:�We are physical beings, bounded andset off from the rest of the world by thesurface of our skins, and we experiencethe rest of the world as outside us. Eachof us is a container, with a boundingsurface and an in-out orientation� (La-koff and Johnson 1980, p. 29). The anal-ysis of the Lithuanian noun �þodis� andthe English noun �word� has proved thetendency to use container metaphors, asthe corpus examples in the followingchapters will show.

2.2.1. WORDS ARE OBJECTS

Words are not as abstract as ideas be-cause they have been given a materialshape since writing was invented. Besides,they have the sound form. However, inthe metaphorical language they are givencertain physical qualities that literallycould not be ascribed either to a printedor an uttered word. One of such featuresis that words are produced like ideas, butin a specific way, i.e. they are made ofmetal. In Lithuanian they are forged,(33)Ðio þodþio kalviu laikysime Jablonská.

� verèia skolintis dirbtinai nukaltà þodá�existere�

In the translation of the second examplea problem arises how to translate theword �nukaltà�. In English words are�coined� and the metaphor not only im-plies that words are made of metal butalso suggests that they are valuable ascoins. The latter aspect is not empha-sised in Lithuanian. Therefore, the liter-ary translation should be �forge� but thecollocational information of the lexemeunder analysis allows us to use only theword �coin�. Actually, the noun �phrase�

is among ten most frequent collocates ofthe lexeme �coin�. Thus the conceptualmetaphor coincides in both languagesbut the two languages use different lex-ical means to express it and emphasisedifferent aspects. In addition, in Lithua-nian the phrase �auksiniai/aukso þodþiai�(�golden words�) is very common. Inboth languages this material is associat-ed with something that is precious andexcellent. Therefore, exclusively goodideas and words are equalled to someprecious material. However, in Englishideas and words are brilliant as in �they�rejust brilliant words�.Material things are tangible and so are

words in both languages. This aspect ofwords is evident from the verbs that showwhat can be done with words,(34)laikytis savo þodþio

þodþio kiðenëje neieðko

prisilietimas prie seno þodþio

atsiimti savo þodá

rasti þodá

ieðkoti þodþio

There are similar examples in English aswell,(35)seeking the right word

found no words

no time for trimming words

One more very frequent verb that collo-cates with �þodis� or �word� is �vartoti�or �use�. It is interesting to notice that inLithuanian we differentiate between twoequivalents of the verb �use�, i.e. �varto-ti� and �naudoti�. The first one is used totalk about linguistic expressions, where-as the second one is employed to talkabout material objects. This shows thatalthough people unconsciously use a greatvariety of metaphors where words areperceived as objects, they are still awarethat they are abstract notions. Some oth-er physical features of words as objectsare revealed by the adjectives collocat-ing with the noun, e.g. �aðtrus / gru-bus/ ðvelnus þodis� or a rather frequent


phrase in English �harsh words�. Be-sides, such tangible and reified wordshave shape, e.g. �tiesus þodis�, iðkreipti /iðkraipyti þodþius�. The feature of straight-ness is expressed in the following sam-ple sentence: the words in such a languageare not always straightforward. The verb�distort� has even a separate meaning �givea false account of; twist out of the truth�(OALD, p.251) that is illustrated by thefollowing examples:(36)Newspaper accounts of international af-fairs are sometimes distorted.

You have distorted my motives. (OALD,p.251)

Her words were distorted by the stranger�shand� (CD-ROM)

Furthermore, materialised words can beweighed, e.g. in Lithuanian �svarus þodis�,�pasverti þodþius� and in English �hisevery word was valued and weighed�.The measurement of weight is especiallyemphasised in Lithuanian. There are anumber of cases in the corpus where it issuggested to weigh every word beforespeaking,(37)kiekvienas þodis turi bûti pasvertas

sverkite kiekvienà þodá

kalbëtasi ramiai, pasveriant þodþius

Thus when a word is materialised, it gainsshape, becomes tangible and has weight.As it has been mentioned in the analy-

sis of the noun �idea�, abstractionsmetaphorised as physical objects areperceived with the help of our five senses.Similarly, words can be touched, seen,heard and tasted. The sense of touchinghas been illustrated by the examplesabove, which present words as objectswith such features as harshness or soft-ness. As words can be perceived withthe help of sight, they have a certaincolour or are visible in some other ways,(38)þodþio spalvingumas

pajusti þodþio sodrumà

þodþio spalvà

kasdienybës nupilkinti þodþiai

bluko já ávardijæ þodþiai

kiek atspalviø gali turëti jo þodþiai

skaidrûs þodþiai

In English the determining words suchas �colourful� and �colourless� are usedto talk about style if it is expressive orlacks vividness as in colourful style ofwriting and colourless style (OALD, p.164).The noun �language� is among ten mostfrequent collocates of the adjective �co-lourful� which indicates that such lan-guage is expressive and emotive as theseparallel structures show: �colourful andexpressive language�, �colourful andemotive language�. Besides, language inEnglish can be florid or flowery when it isfull of complicated words or expressions.In addition to the sense of touching andsight, words can be heard. Naturallyspoken language is heard, but sometimeswords produce sounds that are meta-phorical. In Lithuanian words can ring,(39)pernelyg daþnai skamba þodis �laisvë

ðiandien þodis �sekta� turi kità skambesá

skambus þodis �esmë�

There are a couple of corpus exampleswhere a word has a sound in English:some more ominous-sounding words, the lastthree words exploded. Finally, words canbe tasted and thus can be sweet or bitter,e.g. �saldus þodis �laisvë�, �kartus þodis�laisvë�, �jausti þodþio skoná�. In Englishthis tendency can be illustrated by thefollowing example: �such sweet wordsmay have been comforting�.The analysis of the way the word �idea�

is metaphorised has shown that ideasare perceived as valuable possessions. Ifideas are put into words, logically wordsbecome valuable possessions as wellbecause of their contents. The sense ofownership is deeply rooted in humannature and even intellectual possessionssuch as ideas, words or texts are alsoseen as someone�s property. The corpussamples in both languages give enoughevidence to ground this tendency. Thefirst and most striking thing in the


Lithuanian corpus is that the noun �word�reiterates in combination with the pos-sessive case of a noun and most often ofa proper noun,(40) Martyno Maþvydo / Brazausko / moks-lininko / pezidento / veterinaro /Redakci-jos / tëvø þodþiai

Similar phrases are especially frequent-ly used to introduce citations of some-one else�s ideas, e.g. (kieno nors) þodþiais(tariant). Besides, the possessive pro-noun �own� is among the twenty mostfrequent collocates of the plural nounform �words�. The pronoun appears inthe construction �in one�s own words�.Similarly, the Lithuanian phrase �papasa-koti (kà nors) savais þodþiais� revealsthe importance of using one�s own words,whereas if someone else�s words are used,it must be indicated. The same notion ofownership is inherent in the linguisticterms used to name the words that aretaken from a foreign language and adopt-ed, i.e. skolinys � borrowing. The conceptof borrowing in English is recurrent inthe examples provided for the noun �lan-guage� on CD-ROM,(41) All her spoken language was borrowed,even references �

� likes to borrow words from other lan-guages, and most of its vocabulary �

In addition, there is one more metaphorrecurrent in the Lithuanian corpus �taupytiþodþius� (�save words�), which impliesthat words are valuables or money. Thevalue of words is also suggested by thefollowing English examples,(42)There is no point in wasting words on illhealth�

never a word wasted

The value of words is expressed by thepreviously discussed metaphor �wordsof gold� or �brilliant words� and in thefollowing group of metaphors inLithuanian:(43) brangus þodis �Lietuva�

(44) bus atlyginta meiliu þodþiu

(45) þodis Aèiû turi vertæ

(46) nupigintas þodis �þvaigþdë�

(47) visiðkai atpigo þodis

(48) devalvavosi þodþiai �tauta�, �tëvynë�

Examples 46 � 48 indicate that wordshave lost their value because they areoverused. The value of a word can bedetermined in English as well, e.g. �hisevery word was valued�. Moreover, thefifth most frequent collocate of the ad-jective �valuable� is the noun �informa-tion�. However, the notion of such prop-erty is best illustrated by the term pla-giarism, whose Latin origin again is veryinformative, i.e. it comes from plagiummeaning �kidnapping� (CCD, p.1020).Thus the conceptual metaphors from

the corpora present words as tangibleobjects of a certain shape that can beperceived with our physical senses. Theyare of a certain value and are possessedby someone. The available corpus datashow that the same metaphorical frame-work exists both in English andLithuanian.

2.2.2. WORDS ARE CONTAINERS

In this section we finally come to a veryimportant part of the conceptual meta-phor that treats language as a channel tosend the speaker�s meaning through toan addressee. Hence by examining thetwo nouns �idea� and �word� in Englishand Lithuanian we shall look at how thismechanism of packaging information intowords works. The information in the corpora shows

that words are not simply objects, butthey are containers to be filled with somecontents. The verb �put� is one of twentymost frequent collocates of the noun�word�. The examples below show whata variety of contents can be inserted intowords:(49)Put that story into words.

� put her observations into words.


� signs, groans, and moans put into words.

The collapse of the economy is being repack-aged in an insidious new language.

� that gives new meaning to the word�

� language itself is held to be a repository ofsexist attitudes.

� objective reality in the word we use

� such words have the very kernel of truth

Similarly, in Lithuanian we can find agreat number of abstract notions that canbe packed in words,(50) (kieno)

þodþiuose (yra)

dþiaugsmas

pavydas ir neapykanta

tiesioginë prasmë

susirûpinimas, nerimas, noras ieðkoti

agresyvumo

tiesos

atpaþintum savo praeitá

Besides, words can be filled to a differ-ent degree. It is possible to use manywords with little contents or to use veryfew condensed words, e.g. �jos vienasþodis atstodavo kelis puslapius�, �jos vie-nas þodis man buvo visa knyga�. Some-times words or other linguistic units canbe overfilled, e.g. �perkrauti þodþiaisdialogai�. Similarly, in English words canhave too much contents, e.g. �so manywords are superfluous�. Although a greatvariety of abstract notions can be mate-rialised and packed in a word, wordsand other linguistic expressions can stillbe empty, e.g. �tai tebuvo tuðti þodþiai�,�mano sakinys esàs per lengvas, neturásminties�. In English it can be illustratedby the following example: The words ofpolitics will remain empty forever. Thus if aspeaker does not put any contents intothese metaphorical containers, they seemto have no inherent meaning of their own.Ideas and other abstractions can be put

not only into words but also into thefollowing linguistic �containers� that arein italics,(51)mintys, randamos minëto romano puslapiuose

spaudoje pasirodþiusioms mintims

turi poveikio raðinyje dëstomoms mintims

ið keliø knygø paimti mintis

iðdëstyti savo mintis ant popieriaus

mintis dëstë periodinëje spaudoje

reikðti savo mintis ilgais ir sudëtiniais sakin-iais

knygoje dëstomos mintys

In English ideas are packed in a similarway,(52) Get your ideas down on paper.

He�d brought a letter � which containedsome new ideas

The report lays out in more detail ideas thathave already been put forward

This newspaper� is a bundle of ideas

We discussed story ideas

In addition, a conversation is seen as acontainer as one of the most frequentphrases provided on CD-ROM �deep inconversation� suggests. Besides, in bothlanguages the idea of properly arrang-ing ideas in some container is impliedby the phrase (ið)dëstyti mintis.No matter how much content is inher-

ent in words, they still have certain limitsas the above examples of overburdenedlinguistic units suggest. The fact that wordshave their boundaries set is implied bythe terms we use to refer to the act ofstating precisely their meaning, i.e. apibrëþtiþodá � define a word. Thus words are givencertain fixed boundaries that can containcertain notions. However, there are anumber of abstractions that cannot beinserted into any words. The cases whenwords become powerless and too limitedcan be illustrated by the following samples:(53) in Lithuanian:

þodþiais neapsakomas / nenusakomas /neiðreikðtas dþiaugsmas / vaizdas / geru-mas sunkiai þodþiais nusakomas graudulys /jausmas / mintys

(54) in English:

found no words to answer it

there were things that couldn�t be explainedwith words

more relieved than words can describe

so many emotions have no words

It pains me beyond words


Thus many abstractions are too immenseto be packed in words and even ideas inthe Lithuanian example cannot be putinto words although they are materia-lised and suited for inserting into themetaphoric linguistic packages.Finally, the conceptual metaphor WORDS

ARE CONTAINERS is inherent in the lexicalmeans that we use to refer to translat-ing, i.e. �versti ið vienos kalbos á kità� �� to translate from one language intoanother�. The prepositions indicate thattwo languages are containers and theircontents can be moved from one intoanother. Furthermore, the Lithuanianverb �versti� refers also to the physicalaction of turning something over. Even-tually it implies that in the act of trans-lating one language is turned over as acontainer and its contents is poured intothe other language also seen as a con-tainer. Similarly, the word �derive�,whose literal meaning is �to draw fromsome source�, suggests that language isa container, e.g. �crisis is derived fromthe Greek word krisis�. Hence, wordsand language itself are metaphoricallyperceived as containers that can embracedifferent abstractions although they havecertain limits.

2.3. COMMUNICATIONIS SENDING

The conduit metaphor suggests that theact of communication is the act of send-ing or handing in words with their con-tents to the hearer. Messages then travelfrom a source (speaker) in some direc-tion to the goal (hearer). Lakoff refers tothis pattern as the SOURCE-PATH-GOAL sche-ma. He motivates its pervasiveness byour bodily experience: �Every time wemove anywhere there is a place we startfrom, a place we wind up at, a sequenceof contiguous locations connecting thestarting and ending points, and a direc-

tion� (Lakoff 1987, p. 275). Informationsent by a speaker moves similarly. Thusthis section is an overview of how wordsand ideas are sent from a source whencommunication is appropriate and inap-propriate. It will also look at how wordsand ideas are received and decoded orunpacked by the hearer when the mes-sages reach their destination.Some metaphors contain words directly

related to sending by post such as �ad-dressing�, �sending� and �delivering� asthe following Lithuanian and Englishexamples show:(55) Kitiems adresuotas jausmas, mintis

Jis [Dievas] atsiunèia jums mintá

Viltis, kad þodis, kurá siunti ið scenos, busiðgirstas

Bloga linkintys þodþiai, pasiøsti artimøjøadresu

(56) He addresses his first words to me

Samaranch delivered the immortal word

The examples show that the model ofsending letters by post is applied to speakabout utterances produced orally. Nomatter how paradoxically it may seem,but even God obeys the same mecha-nism. Thus again people take somethingfrom their common physical experienceand use it to speak about more abstractphenomena. This metaphor of sending isso pervasive that the verb �to post� hasgained a separate meaning �to informthe latest news� (CCD, p.1044). Besides,the noun �message� most frequently col-locates with different forms of the verb�to send�. The full list of collocates isprovided in the Appendix and here wecan see the frequency of the verb �to send�:

Table 1.

The frequency of the verb �to send�collocating with the noun �message�

Message 16 259 messages 3 706

(2) sent 597 (1) sent 160

(4) send 462 (2) send 120

(11) sending 195 (3) sending 117

(19) sends 157

Total: 1 411 Total: 397


The numbers in front of the collocat-ing verb forms show their place in thefull list. The frequency number of thenoun and the frequency number of theverb show that the verb takes approxi-mately one tenth of all its collocates.Furthermore, if we take into account otherverbs referring to the sphere of post, themetaphor of sending becomes even moreevident as it is displayed in the tablebelow.

If we count the total frequency numberof the collocates that are related to thedomain of post, we get rather revealingnumbers. In 2 997 out of 16 259 cases thesingular form �message� keeps companywith words directly related to post, whichmakes 18%. 595 examples of the pluralform are also related to the same do-main, which is 16%. If we count not thefrequency number, but the number ofcollocates, nine out of twenty collocatesof the singular form and six out of twen-ty collocates of the plural form are wordsthat directly refer to post.However, the act of sending is not al-

ways so openly stated in the metaphorsof sending. Transmission of utterancescan be referred to in other words signi-fying moving or directing an entity to aperson. These are mainly verbs signify-ing handing something in to someone asin the two sets of English and Lithuanianexamples below:(57) Savo mintis ir pasiûlymus galite pateiktiKauno inovacijø diegimo centrui

Minties perteikimas

Pasidalinti / dalintis mintimis

Kol sugalvotas þodis pasiekia skaitytojus,prabëga ne vienas mënuo

(58) share your ideas with people up there

Clum sets off many interesting ideas.

put forward ideas

the best way to put your ideas across

Tips can be passed on by word of mouth

I must give you another word from my lips

Most of these examples imply direction,movement or the change of position of aword or idea. Thus utterances are mov-able objects or containers.The above examples are cases of send-

ing information or ideas in one directionfrom a speaker to a hearer, but the datafrom corpora show that sending can alsobe bidirectional:(59) Pasikeisti mintimis su kolegomis

Pasitaiko ir blogesniais þodþiais apsikeièia

A few more words exchanged with Harry

swapping ideas

Give each other ideas.

This metaphor of bidirectional sendingimplies that words are things that can betransferred for an equivalent piece ofinformation. Thus again we can see thatthe value of the interchanged words canbe fixed. Therefore, the exchange of ideascan be paralleled to financial transac-tions or trading when sums of money orgoods of equivalent value are inter-changed.Directionality of communication is

probably the most important notion inthe metaphor of communication as send-ing. This aspect is reflected not only bythe metaphors of sending, but also byother metaphors where words are per-ceived as moving objects. In Lithuaniansuch metaphors can be grouped into twomain sets WORDS ARE WATER and WORDSTRAVEL:(60) kad uþlietø skaitomi þodþiai

þodþiai liejasi

þodþiai plaukë ið ðirdies

þodþiø jûra

pilasi srautai þodþiø

Table 2

Collocates of the noun �message�related to post.

Message messages

(1) get 634 (4) get 84

(6) got 388 (5) received 61

(10) getting 204 (12) receive 53

(13) delivered 185

(15) received 175

Total: 1 586 Total: 198


(61) þodþio kelias

kartu su juo keliauja þodþiai ir jausmai

Similarly, in English metaphors wordsare metaphorised using water imagery:(62) words tumbled out like a waterfall

We instinctively knew that too many wordswould drown out the ocean�s music.

In addition, smooth and easy communi-cation is described by the verb �to flow�in English as it can be seen in the defini-tion and example provided in the CO-BUILD dictionary:If someone�s words flow, they are spokensmoothly and continuously without hesita-tion. His words flowed more readily. (CO-BUILD, p.649)

The perception that messages travel isalso reflected in the entry of the head-word �travel� in the same dictionary. Thereis a separate meaning of the verb distin-guished as a result of this metaphor:When news becomes known by people indifferent places, you can say that it travelsto them. News of his work traveled all the wayto Asia� Seems like news travels pretty fastaround here. (COBUILD, p.1783)

Thus successful communication needs tohave direction and steady movement.These two aspects are reflected in themetaphors of sending as well as in othermetaphors implying movement of lin-guistic expressions and their direction.When inappropriate communication or

communication without much effort isreferred to, it is no longer perceived assending. In such cases words are stillmetaphorically moved, but in a differentway. In Lithuanian careless communica-tion is expressed mainly by verbs signi-fying the act of throwing or falling:(63) mestelti þodá kità

mestelti bjaurø þodá

ðiandien ðiuo þodþiu svaidomasi kur reikiair nereikia

þodþiai biro ant jo kaip kruða

Thus here the direction of words is notas precise as in the metaphors of send-ing where it is horizontal. The last met-

aphor of strewing or pouring words inthe set of the examples above shows thatwhen communication is not proper, themovement of words can be vertical. Italso should be noted that in Lithuanianthe act of strewing words as peas is par-alleled to easy and quick speech, whichdoes not require much effort, e.g. Moter-is kalbëjo sklandþiai, þodþius tiesiog bertebërë. In the act of throwing some object,in this case a word, the object moveshorizontally, but this metaphor suggeststhat a lot of force is used for sending amessage. It also implies carelessness be-cause precious and important objects areusually handled in a gentle way and arenot thrown. Similarly, the idea of brutal-ity is inherent in the metaphors below:(64) atkerta þodþiais

iðrëþia karèios tiesos þodþius

atrëþdavo þodþiais

Violence of improper communicationbecomes especially evident in the wordby word translation into English. No sim-ilar metaphors of striking or cutting withwords have been found in the Englishsource. Therefore, dictionaries were againused as a supplementary source to searchfor the metaphors describing inappro-priate communication. A verb that is usedto refer to rude communication is �tosnap�:If someone snaps at you, they speak to youin a sharp, unfriendly way. �Of course I don�tknow her,� Roger snapped. (COBUILD, p.1577)

The notion of violence is reflected evenin the dictionary definition, which de-scribes the effects of such speaking assharpness. Besides, the association ofcommunication with the sudden act ofsnapping or cracking implies impulsive-ness and carelessness. However, nega-tive effects of words will be expandedupon separately in the part about thesovereignty of language, whereas thepresent chapter mainly deals with com-munication as sending. The act of send-


ing does not function if communicationis inappropriate or effortless. Neverthe-less, it does not mean that communica-tion itself does not function then, only ithas negative effects on the receiver.

2.3.1. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LINEARITY

IN COMMUNICATION

Lakoff distinguishes six most importantdimensions of conversation structure andone of them is linear sequence (Lakoffand Johnson 1980, p. 78). He points outthat participants of a conversation taketurns in a linear sequence although some�overlappings and lapses may occur� (La-koff and Johnson 1980, p. 78). Further-more, he draws our attention to such anatural phenomenon that in general �wespeak in linear order; in a sentence, wesay some words earlier and others later.Since speaking is correlated with timeand time is metaphorically conceptual-ized in terms of space, it is natural for usto conceptualize language metaphoricallyin terms of space. Our writing systemreinforces this conceptualization� (Lakoffand Johnson 1980, p. 126). Peter Carle-ton in his list of perceptual contrasts alsodistinguishes cycles vs. linearity as one ofthe numerous contrastive metaphoricpairs that is based on such natural ev-eryday experience as movements backand forth (Carleton http://www.metaself.org/model/glossart.html, p. 7). Thus wesend words to an addressee in a partic-ular order if we want positive effects.Therefore, the metaphor of throwingwords represents those facts when se-quence in communication is despised.The data from the Lithuanian and En-

glish sources support the tendency oflinear order in communication. The sig-nificance of sequence and linking of wordsis expressed by the following Englishexamples:

(65)She spoke again, slowly, one word builton another.

�spoken words strung together

In the first example words are perceivedas building blocks that are put togetherto form a solid structure. In both sam-ples, however, the main idea is that wordsas objects are added to each other, one ata time in a certain sequence to form anentity. Similarly, the notion of linear orderis reflected in the following examples inLithuanian:(66)Kûrëjas ðypsosi, lëtai deda þodá prieþodþio

Klausëmës bijodami praleisti þodá

mintis ið minties plaukia

Ðneka yra linijinis reiðkinys � joje þodþiairikiuojasi vienas paskui kità.

The importance of linearity is bestsummed up by the last example in theset of corpus samples above. It is alsoexpressed by the fear to miss a word asit could ruin the wholeness of the mes-sage. Besides, the idea of putting wordsin a proper order reiterates in the firstand the third examples. Furthermore, thelast metaphor belongs to the set of met-aphors defined as WORDS ARE WATER thathas already been discussed. Metaphorsthat present words as running wateremphasise the dimension of continuity,integrity and sequence in communica-tion.The dimension of linear order is even

ritualised in our cognition of communi-cation. The corpus data show that thefirst and the last words are given a spe-cial significance. Especially frequent col-locates of the noun �þodþiai� are adjec-tives �pirmi� or �paskutiniai� as in:(67) suteiktas paskutinis þodis

We can also find such phrases as �bai-giamasis/ pabaigos þodis�, �áþanginis/ávadinis þodis�. The adjective �last� is thethird most frequent collocate of the noun�word� and the collocates �first� and �last�are also in the list of the most frequent


collocates of the plural form of the noun�words�. It should be noted that here thenoun has a figurative meaning. How-ever, in the cases of polysemy it is notsignificant what meaning a word hasbecause the focus of the article is themetaphorisation of the word. Thus suchcommon word combinations as �last/firstword� can be illustrated by the followingsamples from the English corpus:(68)The last word goes to Geoffrey Stern

The right to the last word

His first quietly-spoken words were: �Cansomebody get me a strong drink�

The importance of the first words isalso reflected in such a sentence as �TOHEAR your baby�s first words is almostas the day of his birth�. The latter samplesentence partly explains the reason whythe first and the last words are signifi-cant in human perception. Just as thefirst words of a child are an event forparents, so are the last words uttered bya person before death. The last wordsbefore death used to be like a testamentto the person whom they were told. Thefunction of the last word is so muchemphasised that the COBUILD dictio-nary distinguishes a separate meaningon basis of this reiterating collocation:If someone has the last word or the

final word in a discussion, argument, ordisagreement, they are the one who winsit or makes the final decision. She doeslike to have the last word in a discussion�(COBUILD, p.1930)The order of conversation is also pre-

sented as an important factor by ChitraFernando. The author notices that �peopleuse a lot of expressions to move from onetopic to another so that the discourse were�knit�� (Fernando 1996, p. 183). Amongsuch expressions there are expressions�marking openings (greetings), topic andtopic changes, and closures (farewells)�(Fernando 1996, p. 183). These phrasessometimes make discourse very formulaic,

but they perform a very important func-tion of relating and organising separatelinguistic units. Such text organisers as �notonly�but�, �moreover�, �furthermore� anda great variety of other idiomatic connec-tors �work globally to make the semanticunity of a discourse explicit� (Fernando1996, p.189). Chitra Fernando also pointsout that epigraphs at the beginning of sepa-rate chapters �knit portions of a discoursetogether� (Fernando 1996, p. 189). Thusdifferent kinds of connectors are abundantlyused, especially in writing, to integrate adiscourse. The first and the last wordsfunction as a unifying frame of the wholediscourse in this way delineating its con-tinuous abstraction.Coherence and sequence in communi-

cation are best expressed by the concep-tual metaphor TEXT IS A FABRIC. The meta-phor of weaving is analysed in Chapter2.1.1, which presents how ideas are reified.The analysis has revealed that ideas aremetaphorically perceived as threads andthe process of thinking or expressing ideasis paralleled to weaving or knitting. Textsand books were associated with weav-ing already in the antique times becauseof the way threads are arranged in theprocess of weaving. The way threads arecombined reminds of the principle ofwriting. The metaphor is very sugges-tive and very much prevailing nowadaysas the following set of corpus examplesin English show:(69) You put a spinner of words into an inac-cessible place

the themes get tangled

another thread running through the entire book

the thread that ran through Mr. Bush�s speech

Names thread through the narrative

He enjoyed making things up, weaving thesethings into a story

weaving words around gospel music

well-crafted words � weaving together romanceand cynicism

your story�may be vague, weaving togetherscattered bits and pieces.

11


A gift for weaving together the strands of Bois�story

The mechanism of weaving is often ap-plied to speak about language in Lithua-nian as well. The notions of knitting, tan-gling and making fibre can be illustratedby the following metaphoric cases:(70) nesugebëjau normaliai þodþio suregzti

personaþo spalvingumas, iðaustas ið þodþio

su tarptautiniais keksmais pynësi lietuviðkiþodþiai

ið tarptautiniø þodþiø suraizgytas frazes

þodþiø pynë

Eglë veldavo þodþius

The metaphor under analysis is inherentin the noun �tekstas� or �text� whose ety-mology is very informative, i.e. �text�comes from the Latin verb �texere�, whichmeans �to weave�. Hence a proper dis-course is expected to be a continuousand unified artefact, produced in a par-ticular sequence.Finally, we should cover the cases when

the mechanism of sending does not workalthough communication is expected. Insuch cases the participant of a conversa-tion who acts as a receiver does not getany message from the silent participantwho should act as a sender. Therefore,the receiver forces the sender to producean utterance or the sender himself makesgreat efforts to produce it. The factor offorce and effort in a conversation thatdoes not flow naturally is emphasised inthe following metaphors:(71) in Lithuanian:

iðtraukti tokius þodþius ið jo buvo taip sunku

liudininkas þodþius traukë sunkiai

spauste iðspaudþia ðiuos þodþius

þodþiai koðiami pro dantis

(72) in English:

she couldn�t make her voice say the words

Claire coaxed few words out of her father

screwing a few words out of her

The examples show that the difficulty ofmaking communication work is paral-leled to such physical actions as screw-ing, drawing, pressing and coaxing, which

is a more gentle way of getting informa-tion. In such cases communication re-quires more effort, strength and skillsthan in the metaphoric cases of sendingmessages because words do not travel orflow themselves, but have to be forcedout.

2.3.2. RECEIVING AND DECODING

MESSAGES

If words or ideas are properly sent, theyreach their destination, i.e. a hearer, whohas to unpack the container in order tofind the meaning or sometimes can sim-ply remain passive and the meaning willreach him or her anyway. However, theexamples which reveal the activity of lin-guistic units and participants� passivityare much more numerous than those inwhich hearers take an active part in de-coding the messages. If hearers are ac-tive, they can prevent words form enter-ing their ears or minds as it will be seenin this chapter.First of all, let us analyse the meta-

phors where words are active and reachhearers without any special effort of thelatter. As the Lithuanian source is biggerand more informative, naturally it pro-vides a greater number of such examplesthan in English. The examples below il-lustrate the tendency that hearers do notneed to be very active to receive infor-mation:(73) Skaitykime lëtai, kartkartëmis susto-dami, kad þodþiai ir frazës áeitø á mus.

Jos þodþiai pasiekë Ausá

dainø þodþiai skverbiasi á visø ðirdis

tavo þodþiai tekëjo á mano ausis

jo þodþiø reikðmë prasismelkë á Rodþeriosàmonæ

Thus words flow, penetrate and enterhearers as these Lithuanian metaphorsdisplay. In English we can also find someexamples referring to the act of passive-ly receiving information:


(74) they get most of their ideas from televi-sion

In addition, Table 2 presents two verbs�get� and �receive� that frequently collo-cate with the noun �message�. Sentenceexamples of these word combinationssuggest no effort of the receiver:(75) people who suddenly receive unwantedinformation.

He received whatever messages the politi-cians were anxious to convey to the greaterpublic.

In the English examples the subjects arepeople in contrast to the Lithuanian ex-amples, where words are subjects. Nev-ertheless, the subjects in the English sam-ples show no effort to receive the mes-sages.Not all the messages, which are re-

ceived, are transparent and therefore theyhave to be unpacked and decoded. Thelatter act needs a special hearer�s effort.In this case words are objects and re-main passive, whereas hearers are ac-tive subjects as in the following sen-tence:(76) Benedict had lifted some of his ideasfrom the girl�s thesis.

The thesis here is a container where ideasare packed. When it is unpacked, thereceiver is able to take them. People fol-low exactly the same pattern when theyreceive a parcel by post. In Lithuanianwe find some examples which representwords as coded messaged:(77) iððifruoti þodþio, raidës prasmæ

The act of decoding is important because,as some Lithuanian metaphors suggest,words hide something in them:(78) realià padëtá geriausia paslëpti po þodþiøapvalkalu

mintis neretai uþdengiama þodþiu

þiaurumas neretai uþdangstomas graþiaisþodþiais

In contrast to the cases when hearers areeager to unpack the received informa-tion containers, some Lithuanian exam-ples suggest that hearers can avoid re-

ceiving reified messages.(79)uþgaulius þodþius praleisdavo pro ausis

tie þodþiai praslysta pro ausis

In the examples above the words reachtheir destination, but they are not ac-cepted by the hearer. Therefore, withoutreversibility communication is broken andhas no continuity. The process of �weav-ing� a discourse is stopped.Thus the process of communication is

perceived as sending, which implies suchadditional notions as direction, receiv-ing and unpacking. One more importantfeature of communication is its linearity.Because of the linear order of spokenand especially written language it is as-sociated with the craft of weaving. Thelatter metaphor implies that appropriatecommunication and texts are continu-ous and sequential combinations of lin-guistic units reminding of texture.

2.4. MINOR MODELOF COMMUNICATION

At the beginning of the article the minormetaphoric model of communication hasbeen presented. It is less complex thanthe major model discussed above partsbecause it has fewer stages. This modelconsists of a single act of ejecting ideasor words into space without directingthem to a particular addressee. The ejectedideas and words may remain in that spaceas shapeless or reified entities. This is aminor model not only because it is lesscomplex, but also because there are con-siderably fewer examples belonging toit. Nevertheless, such a model exists inEnglish and Lithuanian and should bebriefly dwelt upon.Words as objects are released into space

where they do not have any specific des-tination or people are not aware of them.This tendency is inherent in the follow-ing metaphors:


(80) in Lithuanian:

þodþiai, beriami erdvën (�words poured intospace�)

þodþiai, nusviesti á erdvæ (�words thrown intospace�)

iðstenëjo þodþius, kabojusius ore (�stammeredout words hanging in the air�)

þodþiai krinta á tuðtumà (�words fall intoemptiness�)

nuo lûpø nukris tavo paties þodþiai (�yourown words will fall from your lips�)

þodþiai liejasi (�words are pouring�)

(81) in English:

The word Messiah is often bandied around

floated some fairly detailed ideas

We can now move good advertising ideasaround the world

Our main goal is to spread the ideas of Islam

Recent ideas put forward by a senior Sovietofficer

The most intriguing and valuable ideas putforth in Gay Soul

Such words never left the other candidate�slips

Reddy classifies even such phrases as�put down all the words (on paper)� un-der the label of minor framework (Red-dy 1993, p.195) although in this case thespace is very clearly defined and wordshave a very tangible shape.

2.5. SOVEREIGNTY AND POWEROF WORDS

The analysis of the numerous corpus datahas revealed one more interesting ten-dency that is not directly related to theconduit metaphor, but is pervasive espe-cially in Lithuanian. A numerous set ofmetaphors presents words as independentpowerful entities that sometimes gain evensupernatural power and are feared. Thenlinguistic units are very often animatedand are independent of people: (82)þodis iðsprûdo netyèia

gavæs laisvæ þodis tampa palaidas

nebepratarëm në þodþio � dingo jie visikaþkur

galinëjausi su þodþiu

ðie þodþiai gyvena savo gyvenimà

vos prasiþiojus, þodþiai patys slysta nuolieþuvio

nuo lieþuvio nusprûsta þodþiai

þodis suþeidþia skaudþiau nei durklas

kompensuoja griaunamàjà, asmeniðkai þei-dþianèià þodþio galià

ðirdá veriantys þodþiai

skausmingi þodþiai

uþgaulûs þodþiai

lyg peiliu duria þodþiai

kaip perkûnas trenkë mane jo þodþiai

mes save pribaigsim þodþiais

In addition to the negative effects, wordsare ascribed magic or supernatural power.A very frequent determiner of the noun�word� in Lithuanian is �ðventas� as in�Motinos þodis buvo ðventas�. One morefrequent word combination is �þodþiogalia�. The notion of power is reflectedby a paradigm of other words referringto word potency:(83) magiðkas / iðganingas / stebuklingas/bendruomenê gaivinantis / lemiamas /lemtingas ir nesugràþinamas

pranaðiðki þodþiai

kuriamoji arba energetinë þodþio galia

þodþio átaiga

þodþio mistika

In English such examples are fewer, butthey are enough to prove that the con-ceptual metaphor WORDS ARE POWER existsin this language.(84) immortal word

fateful words

fatal words

A word can change the whole meaning

a word which works wonders

the word power is highly charged for women

a powerful word

haunting words

Thus words are not mere linguistic ex-pressions in our cognitive model, butthere is uncontrolled power inherent inthem. This particular aspect becomesclearly noticeable only when an immensenumber of corpus examples are analy-sed and can remain undetected if thelanguages are observed only intuitively.


3. CONCLUSIONS

The first and the most important general-isation that follows from the comparativeanalysis of the way two nouns �idea� and�word� are metaphorised in Lithuanianand English is that the conduit metaphoris pervasive in both languages when com-munication is referred to. This conclu-sion is strongly supported by the numer-ous data from the computer corpora. Theexistence of this particular conceptualmetaphor in both languages allows us tothink that possibly it is a universal meta-phoric model. An analysis of differentcorpora of different languages could proveit or invalidate.Although this comparative study has

revealed that the metaphoric structuringof communication in both languages isvery similar, some minor differences havebeen observed. Ideas and words do nothave some aspects in English, but theyhave them in Lithuanian. However, thisdoes not allow us to claim that the lan-guages do not have the same coherentsystem of metaphoric expressions becausethe differences do not affect the whole

model. The two languages use differentlexical means to talk about the same con-cepts, e.g. the notion of precious ideasand words is expressed by �golden ideas /words� in Lithuanian, whereas in Englishit is expressed by the phrase �brilliant ideas/ words�. Such minor differences becomeespecially evident in the literary transla-tions of Lithuanian examples. Thus suchcorpus-based analyses could serve to com-pile metaphoric equivalents in two lan-guages because clearly not autonomouswords are translated but the whole multi-word units instead.There are two distinctive sets of meta-

phors that are not directly related to theconduit metaphor and are not discussedby the authors who analysed this meta-phor. The study has revealed that in thesystem of metaphorising communicationthere are two prevailing metaphors LAN-GUAGE OR COMMUNICATION IS WEAVING andWORDS ARE A SOVEREIGN POWER. The lattermetaphor ritualises communication andgives it magic power. All the data can bea starting point for further generalisationsabout the concept of communication fromthe point of view of cognitive linguistics.

IDEAnogoodanylikesomegetverygotgivenewpeoplewholemightthinkgreatsuchcamegoingbadmuch

42 5773 5993 3221 1611 047942935680672639636621586568428415412409388370364

IDEASnewsomeotheranyowngoodmanymoresuchpeoplegetcomeputdifferentgotverypoliticalgreatfewwork

17 8831 356962505467459369366342304302246237236235215203164146141134

APPENDICES (ACCORDING TO COLLINS COBUILD ENGLISHCOLLOCATIONS ON CD-ROM).

1. Frequency list of the collocates of the noun �idea�


W O R Dnouselasteveryusedsaidsaywithoutlikejustanothermouthmeaningneversenseonlyprocessoranyrightgood

29 0771 042975770744709691640509466407378374368366356349323306305295

W O R D Sotherfewlikenomoresomeuseownjustlastfirstusedsaywarsuchmanyputbetweentoospoken

33 1535 113936835714654625587552517469453430415369367356344286260254

MESSAGEgetsentclearsendacrossgotleavethroughsamegetting

16 259634597522462394388274249241204

MESSAGESsentsendsendinggetotherthroughradiosuchreceivedmixed

3 70616012011784797765636159

2. Frequency list of the collocations of the noun �word�

3. Frequency list of the collocations of the noun �message�

REFERENCES

Carleton P. 1995. Glossary of perceptual contrasts(image schemas). http://www.metaself.org/model/glossary.html

Fernando Chitra. 1996. Idioms and idiomaticity.Oxford University Press.

Foucault Michel. 1998. Diskurso tvarka. Trans.Daðkus M. Vilnius: Baltos lankos.

Hayakawa S. I., ed. 1971. The Penguin modernguide to synonyms and related words. PenguinBooks.

Grumadienë L. and Þilinskienë V. 1998. Daþ-ninis dabartinës raðomosios lietuviø kalbos þo-dynas. Vilnius: Mokslo aidai.

Lakoff G. and Johnson M. 1980. Metaphors welive by. Chicago and London: The Universityof Chicago Press.

Lakoff G. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous

things. Chicago and London: The Universityof Chicago Press.

Lakoff G. 1993. �The contemporary theory ofmetaphor�. Metaphor and thought. Ed. A. Or-tony. Cambridge University Press. P.202�251.

Marcinkevièienë R. 1999. �Atminties labirin-tuose. Kognityvinës ir tekstynø lingvistikossàveika�. Darbai ir Dienos. Nr.10(19). P.109�124.

Reddy J. Michael.1993. �The conduit metaphor:a case of frame conflict in our language aboutlanguage�. Metaphor and thought. Ed. A. Or-tony. Cambridge University Press. P.164�201.

Schoenefeld D. 1999. �Corpus linguistics andcognitivism�. International journal of corpuslinguistics. Vol. 4(1). John Benjamins Publish-ing Co. P.137�171.


Metaforø analizë yra vienas ið bûdø iðsiaiðkinti,kaip yra suvokiami tokie abstraktai kaip bendravi-mas. Metaforizacija yra kognityvinës lingvistikos,kuri pabrëþia kalbos ir màstymo sàveikà, sritis.Tuo tarpu kompiuteriniai tekstyniai yra patikimiau-sias empiriniø duomenø ðaltinis analizuojant to-kius abstraktus. Tad straipsnyje pristatoma vadi-namoji �kanalo� metafora lietuviø ir anglø kalbose.Pagal ðià metaforà, kurià ávardija G. Lakoff�as irM. Johnson�as, o plaèiau nagrinëja Michaelis Red-dy, anglø kalboje vyrauja tokia bendravimo suvo-kimo schema, kur mintys ar reikðmës yra daiktai,þodþiai yra indai, kur talpinamas ar ápakuojamasturinys, o pats bendravimas yra þodþiø, kuriuoseápakuota mintis, siuntimas paðnekovui. Be pagrin-dinio modelio, dar iðskiriamas ir kitas, paprastes-nis bendravimo modelis, pagal kurá mintys tiesiogpatenka á erdvæ ir tampa nepriklausomos.Ið kolokacijø gaunamø metaforø gausa rodo, pir-

miausia, kad kanalo metafora yra pagrindinë prie-

Sinclair John. 1996. �The search for units ofmeaning�. Textus IX. P.75�106.

Sinclair John. 1996. �The empty lexicon�. Internatio-nal journal of corpus linguistics. 1(1). P.99�119.

DICTIONARIES

AID: American Idioms Dictionary. 1991. Illinois:National Textbook Company.

Jûratë VAIÈENONIENË

KANALO METAFORA: KOMPIUTERINIAIS TEKSTYNAISPAREMTA ANALIZË

S a n t r a u k a

monë abiejose kalbose kalbant apie toká svarbø þmo-niø visuomenës reiðkiná kaip bendravimas. Teksty-nø dëka dvi kalbos gali bûti lyginamos kaip lygia-vertës ne intuityviai ieðkant kalbiniø metaforø abie-jose kalbose, bet remiantis gausiais tikros kalbospavyzdþiais. Be to, remiantis kitø kalbø tekstynais,bûtø galima nustatyti tokios metaforos universalu-mà. Konceptualiosios metaforos analizë gali tapti irpraktiðkai pritaikomu darbu, leidþianèiu sugreti-nus dvi kalbas ieðkoti vertimo atitikmenø ne pavie-niams þodþiams, o jø metaforiniams junginiams,kuriø daþniausiai paþodþiui negalima iðversti. Ga-liausiai tokiu tyrimu galima ne tik patvirtinti tamtikrà hipotezæ, bet ir uþfiksuoti kitus metaforiniusmodelius, kurie intuicija paremtoje analizëje galilikti nepastebëti. Pavyzdþiui, tiriant ðá kognityvinámodelá, iðryðkëja grupë tokiø metaforiniø atvejø,kur pabrëþiamas þodþiø suverenumas, t.y. þodþiaiatstoja þmones, taip perimdami ið jø atsakomybæ, irtampa nuo jø nepriklausomi.

COBUILD: Collins COBUILD English Dictionary.1995. London: Harper Collins Publishers.

CCD: Collins Concise Dictionary. 1995. London:Harper Collins Publishers.

LDCE: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary En-glish. 1987. London: Longman.

OALD: Oxford Advanced Learner�s Dictionary ofCurrent English. 1974. Oxford University Press.

Gauta 2000 11 22Parengta 2000 11 29

the conduit metaphor in english and lithuanian

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