A comparison of structural means for conceptualizing inner life in Arabic and English leads to the conclusion that although on the structural ('grammatical') level the differences between the two languages are indeed considerable, they become far less radical on the conceptual ('semantic'). The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the metaphor system for conceptualizing the Self in Arabic. The analysis undertaken shows that metaphorical terms and phrases referring to sexual taboos can be insightfully described in terms of Lakoff and Johnson�s cognitive view of metaphor. I also analyse the function of conceptual metaphors in euphemistic and dysphemistic use, seeking to study the way in which a particular experiential domain is more likely to give rise to verbal mitigation or offence, and I finally trace how a given conceptualization accounts for the interpretation of sex-related euphemistic and dysphemistic metaphors. regard, I consider the implications and effects of the process of lexicalization in conceptual categorization, particularly concerning the directionality of metaphorical projections. From this standpoint, I claim that conceptualization plays a crucial role in both the use and interpretation of sexual metaphorical euphemisms and dysphemisms. It is my purpose in this paper to draw attention to the euphemistic and dysphemistic figurative language used to designate the taboo of sex in the frame of the well-known Conceptual Metaphor Theory initiated by Lakoff and Johnson. In light of our discussion, we propose some adjustments to Steen’s procedure and highlight areas in which further research is needed. We then present a range of examples from our corpus that pose problems at different points in Steen’s procedure, and demonstrate how different decisions in the process of analysis lead to dramatically different conclusions as to the way in which cancer appears to be metaphorically constructed in our data.

We begin with a discussion of the way in which metaphors are commonly analysed within the cognitive paradigm, and introduce in detail Steen’s proposal for an explicit and rigorous procedure for metaphor analysis. metaphor (iii) the extrapolation of conceptual metaphors from linguistic metaphors and (iv) the extrapolation of conventional metaphors from patterns in the data. These problems relate particularly to: (i) the boundary between the literal and the metaphorical in the identification of linguistic metaphors (ii) the precise identification of tenor and vehicle in relation to each linguistic. In this paper, we discuss a number of methodological problems we have encountered in identifying and analysing metaphors in a corpus of conversations about cancer.

The metaphors we live by