”Det här är ju dött tåg liksom…” : en studie av metaforer för ROMANTISK KÄRLEK i talad svenska

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to investigate the metaphorization of ROMANTIC LOVE in spoken Swedish. The study is based on 4 semi-structured focus group conversations with participants in two age groups; 24–33 and 50–54. A Swedish short film and questions related to the film were used as stimuli for the conversations. Research questions asked are 1) How is the concept of ROMANTIC LOVE metaphorized in the recorded group conversations? 2) How does the metaphorization vary between the conversations? and 3) What cultural model for ROMANTIC LOVE in the conversations can be reconstructed based on identified metaphorizations? The study is situated within Cognitive Linguistics and the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and a Discourse Dynamics Approach to Metaphor. Consequently, metaphor is seen as a cognitive, linguistic, socio-cultural and discursive phenomenon, where metaphorization is a dynamic process that develops, adapts and flows within the conversations and between the participants. Accordingly, the identified metaphorizations are considered to be influenced by the speakers and their embodied experiences, their embodied cognition, the discourse event, and socio-cultural aspects of metaphorization. The focus of the present study, ROMANTIC LOVE, is considered as a dynamic concept based on philosophical, feminist, psychological and metaphorical research. Metaphors are identified through a discourse dynamic version of MIP and MIPVU.From the analyses, 6 systematic metaphors are proposed, where ROMANTIC LOVE is metaphorized as a PHYSICAL OBJECT (incl. as a POSSESSION and as a LIVING ORGANISM), as a CONTAINER (incl. CONSTRUCTION and BODY as a CONTAINER), as TRAVELLING together (with primary focus on TRAVELLING together rather than SOURCE or TARGET), as a UNITY (with focus on how a UNITY is ESTABLISHED, MAINTAINED and DISSOLVED, ideally by two COMPATIBLE partners), as a PHYSICAL and NATURAL FORCE and as a DISEASE (where LOVE can affect a person’s perception and sanity). In addition, ROMANTIC LOVE is, in a small number of expressions, metaphorized as a CRIME, as a PHYSICAL CONFLICT and as a GAME. The variation in metaphorization is small between the conversations. Some metaphorizations seem to be related to the age of the participants. ROMANTIC LOVE ismoreover something people usually have influence over and in some ways can control. In total, 780 metaphorical expressions and 9 source domains are identified. Departing from the interplay betweenmetaphorization and culture, a cultural model for ROMANTIC LOVE is reconstructed, where a multifaceted, embodied and experiential concept of ROMANTIC LOVE emerges.