in
cognitive grammar terms, in each of these transitive constructions the
subject-NP instantiates a trajectory whose ‘active zone’ (the face or front) is
situated opposite a landmark which is instantiated by the direct object NP. –
86
It
comes as a no surprise that humans can face abstract things the same way as
they do concrete objects once the vast and complex conceptual background that
is provided by the EVENT-STRUCTURE metaphor is taken for granted. – 86
Sometimes,
both literal reading and the reading under the EVENT-STRUCTURE metaphor are
simultaneously possible. – 87
the
object NPs instantiating the landmark mainly stemmed from the semantic fields
of difficulties and problems, indicating that the EVENT-STRUCTURE metaphor
indeed provides the basis for the extension of the meaning of ‘to face’. – 87
The
particle up in its central sense denotes verticality in oriented
physical space, a notion that has arisen out of our bodily experience (of
gravity), i.e. the relative position of head and feet to each other when we
stand, sit or move. Thus, an experiential correlation exists between
verticality and being awake, active and conscious; giving rise to such
well-known conceptual metaphors as ACTIVE IS UP, WELL-BEING IS UP, RATIONAL IS
UP, CONTROL IS UP. – 89
We can
state that the use of up is due to the conceptual metaphor CLOSE IS UP,
which captures the experiential fact that things which come closer to an
observer rise in his/her visual field, as in: ‘She came up to me.’
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