METAPHORICAL CONCEPTUALIZATION OF HUMAN EMOTIONS INENGLISH

Abstract

This paper is dedicated to studying the metaphorical conceptualization of human emotions in English from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. Since human emotions are abstract phenomena that are not directly visible, language often draws upon physical experiences and concrete imagery to express them. The study analyzes the metaphorical expression of the concepts of *happiness*, *sadness*, *anger*, and *love* in English. The theoretical framework is based on Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphor and Kövecses’s views on emotional metaphors. The analysis reveals that emotional states are conceptualized through physical experiences such as up/down orientation, heat, pressure, movement, and weight. The study demonstrates that metaphor in English performs not only a stylistic function but also cognitive and conceptual ones.