Flannel and beggar’s blanket: metaphors or conceptual blends? A cognitive analysis of selected common names of mullein in English

Abstract

The paper offers a cognitive analysis of selected common English names of mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.) motivated by the appearance of the plant. While analyzing such names as flannel and beggar’s blanket, the author strives to portray the way they are conceptualized by recalling Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Integration Theory, in particular the Brandt and Brandt six-space model of conceptual integration, also known as a cognitive-semiotic approach to metaphor. In the course of the analysis, the author also makes reference to those aspects which seem indispensable from the standpoint of cognitive linguistics, viz. (i) the role of human experience and embodied thought in the conceptualization process, (ii) the dynamic and context-dependent meaning construction and (iii) the role of linguistic worldview in decoding meaning.