PhD project How do we talk about space, and what does that reveal about how we conceptualize it? This project examines how outer space is conceptualized in language, focusing on metaphors, motion verbs, and compound nouns in American English.
This project investigates how people conceptualize outer space — not through technology or physics, but through language. Employing a cognitive linguistic approach, it analyzes how space is conceptualized in American English, focusing on motion verbs, prepositions, compound nouns, and metaphors. The studies reveals that the way people talk about space is deeply influenced by bodily experiences, earthly perspectives, and cultural factors. Despite space being an environment to which we have little physical access, we utilize everyday linguistic resources to make it comprehensible.
This study explores how people talk about space and what this can tell us about our thinking. Although space is far removed from our direct experiences, the project demonstrates that the language we use to describe it is deeply rooted in our bodies, culture, and imagination. In a Cognitive Linguistic framework, language is closely linked to thought. It is not merely a tool for communication, but something that helps us structure and understand the world. Through five studies, the thesis analyzes different ways of talking about space, primarily in American English. The studies reveal that the lexicon of space is not characterized by new, innovative words. Instead, people rely on common verbs, prepositions, and nouns, adapting their usage to this environment. This suggests that we base our understanding of outer space on prior, familiar experiences. Ultimately, the project is not just about language use, but about how language, thought, our bodies, and culture interact as we attempt to grasp the vast and unfamiliar.
The project also shows that metaphors play a role in how people think about space. Space is portrayed as an environment one can travel through, for example, as an ocean to traverse. Furthermore, stars, galaxies, and planets are personified and described as having human relationships and ambitions; for instance, they can be neighbors who dance with or pull on each other. These metaphors allow us to conceive of space as something more concrete, something we can relate to and imagine, even if we have never been there.
