Researchers at the University of Glasgow ’s School of Critical Studies have spent the past three yr mathematical function more than 14,000 metaphoric connections sourced from 4 million piece of lexical datum . Now , you canbrowse the results . The examples , as well as the multi - level categories that they ’re divided up into , are rive from theHistorical Thesaurus of English , which dates back to the 700s CE .
Dr. Wendy Anderson , the project ’s master investigator , was interested primarily in how metaphors allow our nomenclature to grow and how they reflect the way we internalize the world . " This helps us to see how our oral communication shapes our understanding — the connection we make between different arena of meaning in English show , to some extent , how we mentally structure our earthly concern . Over the preceding 30 twelvemonth , it has become decipherable that metaphor is not simply a literary phenomenon ; metaphorical thought underlies the way we make sense of the humans conceptually . It regularise how we intend and how we babble out about our twenty-four hours - to - day lives , " she toldThe Guardian .
Although the flowery comparisons in Shakespearean prose are beautiful , it ’s the more prevalent case that catch on — like a " levelheaded economy " or to " spin a yarn"—that are illuminative of how our minds conceive of impalpable concepts .
The interface is n’t the promiscuous to get a hold on . For lesson , come home around will show you that there are six strong metaphor connexion between the family within " Armed Hostility " and " Emotion , " but so as to see specific you have to make use of the " lookup " function .
Right now , the search single-valued function only includes about a one-fourth of the total connexion , but the researchers are constantly supply more . And if you ’re more concerned in the early history of metaphor you’re able to take care forward to the launch of a parallel Metaphor Map for data from Old English , used prior to 1150 CE , in August .
