Transformations on image schemas and cross-linguistic polysemy

. Den nya läran spred sig snabbt. (IDENT)
the new theory spread itself fast
c. Lampan spred ett varmt sken. (ASSOC)
lamp-the spread a warm light
Note that in (2c) TR and LM is dependent on each other but not identical.
Connected to the abstract basis of lexical meaning is, finally, the image
schema. In the sense of Johnson (1987: xiv) an image schema is a “recurring,
dynamic pattern […] that gives coherence and structure to our experience”.
Image schemas are said to be embodied as they emerge through our continuous
encounters with the physical environment, and are “constantly operating in our
perception, bodily movement through space, and physical manipulation of
objects” (Johnson 1987: 23). As an illustration, the concept of a path, i.e. the
Path-schema, underlies the meaning of a range of lexical items, such as go,
follow; up, down; to, from.
The suggestion I make here is that the above-mentioned properties – domain,
construal, conceptual relation, and image schema – systematically may undergo
change, i.e. are sensitive to general principles of meaning extensions.
2.2. Principles of meaning change
General meaning changes seem to fall into two major categories: those related to
the domain of the lexical expression and those related to the image schematic
structure underlying the more specific part of the lexical meaning. Related to the
notion of domain are metaphorical and metonymical mappings. Metaphors
involve mapping of the image schematic structure of one (source) domain
matrix onto another, the target domain matrix. (In the example He is in the
middle of life the spatial preposition gets its interpretation in the abstract domain
of a human lifetime.) Metonymies, on the other hand, displace the focus from
one domain onto another within the same domain matrix (cf. Strindberg is not
always easy to read where the literary product is focused instead of the author).
Also generalization and specialization of meaning refer to the notion of domain,
the former yields enlarging, the latter narrowing of the domain. Finally, the use
of predicates of motion to denote location by way of mental scanning of a path –
usually referred to as subjective, or abstract, motion (e.g. Langacker 1991) –
involves change of domains, from a spatial to a mental domain. That is, in a
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