Conceptual metaphor in areal perspective: time, space, and contact in the Sinosphere

Abstract This paper discusses spatio-temporal metaphors in three regions in and around China from the perspective of language contact, looking for evidence of areal convergence or transfer of the conceptual metaphors. The approach fits broadly within the framework of Cognitive Contact Linguistics. After a review of spatio-temporal metaphors in the Sinitic languages, I sketch out the relevant metaphors in languages spoken in northwest China (Xinjiang and the Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund), in and near northeast China, and in south China and Taiwan – many of which have not been discussed previously in the literature on conceptual metaphor. The study reveals evidence for metaphor transfer involving the up-down spatial dimension from Sinitic to Japanese and Korean, contact-facilitated extension of metaphor involving the front-back dimension in Tsou, and possible transfer of front-back metaphor to other languages of Taiwan. Several of the lexical items used in front-back metaphorical expressions in Santa, two Hmong varieties, Japanese, and Korean are borrowed from Sinitic, but these do not clearly represent transfer of the conceptual mapping.