Emotional Concept of <i>Abneigung</i>: Core Features and Lexical Representations

Abstract

The present research featured a complex description of non-verbal and verbal representations of the emotional concept of Abneigung (antipathy ) in the German linguistic worldview. The research objective was to analyze the linguistic representations of the core conceptual signs, as well as to describe their functional and special characteristics. The study covered lexemes that designate the concepts of emotion and antipathy in the modern German, as well as bilateral metaphors and sustained metaphors. The author defined the conceptual status of Emotion and uncovered the actual linguistic nomination and mental representation of Abneigung. The core sings of Abneigung, represented by primary and secondary nominations, appeared to be Emotion (emotion), Ekel (disgust), and Hass (hate). The metaphoric analysis revealed physiological manifestations behind the basic conceptual sign Emotion. For Ekel, it was agent, object, and event targeting; for Hass, it was intensity and agent targeting. The conceptual sign Emotion was represented only by primary nomination, whereas Ekel and Hass were represented by both primary and secondary nominations, i. e., bilateral and sustained metaphors.

Keywords

• emotion
• antipathy
• emotional concept
• main conceptual feature
• bilateral metaphor
• sustained metaphor