Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

Zoltán Kövecses: IDIOMS, METAPHORS, AND MOTIVATION IN FOREIGN ...
now an example, that of the verbs ruin/destroy, as they are used in the different
languages in different specific-level metaphors:
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Japanese:
kanojo-no risooshugi-wa hookai sita.
she-Gen. idealism-Topic ruin Past
[Her idealism got ruined.]
Brazilian Portugese:
O casamento deles esta em ruinas.
[Their marriage is falling into ruins.]
Tunisian Arabic:
tabba3 is-siyaasa w-hadd mustaqblu bi-ydiih
[He followed politics, and destroyed his career by his own hands.]
We can put the meaning of the expressions above as ‘(cause) to come
to an end’. Theories, relationships, and careers can all come to an end, and this
meaning is conveyed by means of the words ruin/destroy. This particular meaning
is based on one of the mappings that constitute the metaphors theories are
buildings, relationships are buildings, and careers are buildings: ‘for a building
to be ruined/destroyed → for a theory/relationship/career to end’. It appears
that this mapping can be found in all the specific-level metaphors. Consequently,
we can generalize it in the following way: ‘for a building to be ruined/destroyed
→ for an abstract complex system to end’. The same appears to apply to other
mappings that are constitutive of the metaphors; the building corresponds to the
abstract complex system, the building process itself to the construction of the
abstract complex system, etc. It seems that universally similar experiences (the
building process, the building itself, the destruction of the building, etc.) create
universal sets of meanings conveyed by the generic-level metaphor abstract
complex systems are buildings.
Such (at least near-)universal metaphors and their mappings may acquire
special significance in an applied linguistic context. The fact that we find such
a generic-level metaphor in such diverse languages and that speakers of these
languages share the same mappings on which the meanings of particular idiomatic
expressions are based may considerably contribute to improving the effectiveness
of foreign language teaching, and idioms in particular. With a relatively
small number of conceptual devices (conceptual metaphors, mappings), we can
find motivation for a large number of idioms and other metaphoric expressions
and their meanings across a wide range of different languages, and this may facilitate
the teaching/learning of such linguisic items.