On the Genesis of the Cognitive Metaphor Life is Movement in the Russian Language

Abstract

This article examines the mechanisms and conditions that contributed to the formation of the metaphorical model life is movement. Its emergence and development were traced through the scenario metonymy of verbs originally denoting physical movement. Despite the important role of this cognitive metaphor in the conceptualization of life within the Russian linguistic worldview, its genesis has received little research attention, thus highlighting the need for detailed study. The analysis of the linguistic and textual material revealed that the metaphorical model life is movement is rooted in the scenario metonymy of movement verbs. These verbs, when combined with dependent words, are used to denote various stages of human life and actions. Such constructions are numerous and widely used in speech, tending to expand and incorporate more substantives with diverse lexical meanings. With the increase in the number of these constructions and nouns that combine with movement verbs, particularly those with abstract semantics, the original meanings of movement verbs transform into metaphorical ones based on their metonymically derived meanings. Consequently, the active use of movement verbs in metaphorical contexts solidifies the metaphorical model life is movement and encourages the extensive involvement of vocabulary from the associative semantic field road/spatial movement in the metaphorical interpretation of human actions.