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Series:   Elements in Cognitive Linguistics

Metaphor, Metonymy, the Body and the Environment

An Exploration of the Factors That Shape Emotion-Colour Associations and Their Variation across Cultures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2023

Jeannette Littlemore ,
Marianna Bolognesi ,
Nina Julich-Warpakowski ,
Chung-hong Danny Leung  and
Paula Pérez Sobrino
Jeannette Littlemore
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Marianna Bolognesi
Affiliation:
Università di Bologna
Nina Julich-Warpakowski
Affiliation:
Universität Erfurt, Germany
Chung-hong Danny Leung
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Metropolitan University
Paula Pérez Sobrino
Affiliation:
University of La Rioja

Summary

By exploring the associations that people make between emotions and colours, looking at how they vary across languages, and exploring the explanations that people provide for the associations that they make, this Element provides insight into the ways in which humans express emotions through colour, and the reasons why they do so. Metaphoric (and metonymic) language and thought play a key role on several levels in the formation of emotion–colour associations, interacting with physical, environmental and social factors. A strong metaphorical connection between the valence of the emotion and the lightness of the colours with which it is associated, and between the intensity of an emotion and the saturation level of the colours with which it is associated is found. However, the strength of this association varies according to the linguistic background of the speaker, and the gender in which the emotion is presented.
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Keywords

emotioncolourlanguageculturemetaphor
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Cognitive Linguistics
Online ISBN: 9781009042468
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 20 July 2023

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