A Study of the Expression “A-wa B-no X (X Stands for a Part of the Building)”

Using Conceptual Metaphor and Blending Theory

Abstract

This study explores certain types of modern Japanese expressions "A-wa B-no X (A is X of B.)." X represents a part of the building. Particularly, we show that this expression has the meaning and usage of the following two conceptual metaphors: the DISTIGUISHED PART IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF the BUILDING and the DISTIGUISHED SUBCATEGORY IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF the BUILDING. Blending theory was used to analyze the latter. For these two conceptual metaphorical expressions, the domain containing X was the source domain, and the domain containing A was the target domain. Specifically, the words that can be assigned to X are "KANBAN (a signboard)," "HASHIRA (a pillar)," "DODAI (a foundation), " "GENKAN (an entrance )," and so on. Consequently, we show that conceptual metaphors and blending theory are effective frameworks for studying this type of representation.