The Role of Sensory-Motor Experiences and Embodied Cognition in Container-Based Metaphors in the Language of Jordanian Congenitally-Blind Persons

Abstract

Empirical research accentuates that blind persons’ command of conventional metaphors does not significantly differ from that of the sighted (Sak-Wernicka, 2017; Minervino et. al., 2018). Still, there are several propositions and theories regarding congenitally-blind persons’ ability of perceiving conceptual metaphors that are based on sensory modalities (e.g. UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING). On basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and with the aid of a corpus of natural data, this study investigates how Jordanian congenitally-blind persons perceive and use the CONTANER image-schema following spatial logics that are based on sensory-motor experiences and behaviours. These logics created meanings that are grounded on the speaker’s embodied experiences and conceptualized as spatial schemas of CONTAINMENT, RESISTANCE, MOVEMENT, FORCE, INFILTRATING, ENTERING, and LEAVING. These spatial schemas predominantly reflect the Jordanian congenitally-blind persons’ ‘embodied cognition’ (Johnson, 1987; Gibbs, 2006) and points of view as ‘characters’ or ‘observers’ (Cassell and McNeill, 1991).