Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

Zoltán Kövecses: IDIOMS, METAPHORS, AND MOTIVATION IN FOREIGN ...
264
We’re stuck.
*Elakadtunk.
Kapcsolatunk elakadt.
[relationship-our stuck]
We’ve gotten off the track.
*Kisiklottunk.
?Kapcsolatunk kisiklott.
[relationship-our got-off-the-track]
Kapcsolatunk megfeneklett.
[relationship-our ran-aground]
In the first English example, we find the pronoun we, which is typically used of
active human agents, unlike the word relationship in the Hungarian equivalent,
which represents a nonhuman and less active element of love. The same occurs
in the second example, where in American English two people (we) get off the
track, as opposed to Hungarian, where it is again the relationship that undergoes
the getting off the track (or running aground). I’m not suggesting that English
never uses the more passive relationship element or that the Hungarian equivalents
can never be active persons; instead, the claim is that given the examples
of this metaphor, Hungarians preferentially use the word relationship. In other
words, it seems that although the linguistic expression of the love is a journey
metaphor in (American) English and Hungarian is the same or very similar at
the level of mappings (i.e., in the examples above, ‘getting off the track/running
aground → coming to an end’), at a more general level of expression there
are divergences between the two languages. While American English appears to
favor a more agent-like and action-oriented way of expressing the conceptual
metaphor, Hungarian prefers a more passivity-oriented way of expression.
Other examples suggest that in English decisions about the relationship
are made by active participants in the relationship on the basis of certain internal
considerations, while in Hungarian it is rather certain external circumstances that
cause people to make their decisions. Let us take the following examples:
We’ll just have to go our separate ways.
*Külön utakra kell lépnünk.
Elválnak útjaink.
[separate ways-our]
We can’t turn back now.
*Nem fordulhatunk vissza.
(Innen) már nincs visszaút.
[(from-here) already no back-way]