La joie submerge mon coeur / La alegría inunda mi corazón. Cultural dimension of the metaphors of joy in French and Spanish

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to offer a description of how to conceptualize the joy in French and Spanish. The analysis is based on the concept of a metaphor developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. In the assumptions of cognitive linguistics, metaphor is the main and the most important carrier of thinking and understanding.

In the initial part of this article, in order to reflect on the readable image of joy completely, it was considered important to discuss it within the linguistics and psychological perspectives. The analysis reveals that there are a number of expressions that indicate the initial moment of joy. This feeling may appear gradually or occur suddenly. However, most psychologists describe the joy as a dynamic sensation as a result of stimulus.

Our analysis shows that metaphorical expressions are common for French and Spanish, which represent joy as a light, a living organism or disease. On the other hand, the differences concern, for example, the consequences resulting from the disease state. In French, a subject experiencing emotions of joy can seem or behave irrationally. In contrast, in Spanish, joy is seen as a contagious disease.