Home and clothes: a case of prolific metaphor creation in engineering (spanish and english)

Abstract

This paper aims to delve into figurative language productivity in engineering and on examples of lexicalization and meaning construction. Particularly we focus on the domain of objects associated to homes and clothes. We believe that this type of analysis can shed light into the study of knowledge representation and improve understanding of technical language. We argue that metaphorical correlations are established on the grounds of (1) resemblance, either perceptual or functional (Evans 2013) and (2) metonymic relations of part/whole, cause/effect. The spanish and english cross-linguistic study proves that one-to-one metaphorical correspondences are rare. The results lead us to attribute a similar role to imaginative, experiential, cultural, and sociohistorical factors in the construction of meaning in engineering through metaphor and metonymy.