UNIVERSAL METAPHORS AND CULTURAL VARIATIONS IN THE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF INFLATION IN ENGLISH AND SERBIAN
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Abstract
Set in the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this paper compares the conceptualization of inflation in English and Serbian, focusing on universality and cultural variations. The corpus consisted of 34 English and 34 Serbian expressions referring to inflation, excerpted from online articles. Both corpuses had lexical items motivated by the universal metaphors inflation is an animal, a person (with sub-metaphors, an enemy, and supernatural enemy), fire and a disease (with one new sub-metaphor - inflation is a covid virus). Culture-specific differences occurred in the lexical realizations of the inflation is an enemy, which in Serbian reveal a more fatalistic attitude to life than in English. In Serbian, inflation is likened to a supernatural human, vampire or death. The examples from the war domain foreground victimhood, sacrifice and losses, whereas English examples focus on fighting back and conquering inflation. These differences point to divergent values, attitudes and beliefs towards life and inflation inherent to these two speech groups.
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