On the Edge of Ours's Seat: Depicting the Fear in the English Proverbs

This academic exploration delves deeply into the intricate portrayal of fear within English proverbs, meticulously examining its linguistic manifestation and contextualization. Through a comprehensive analysis of a diverse range of proverbs, the study identifies recurring patterns, metaphors, and linguistic cues that contribute to constructing fear-related concepts. Moreover, the study aims to shed light on the underlying cognitive mechanisms that facilitate the representation of fear in language. The findings of this study provide invaluable insights into the intricate relationship between language and emotions, making a significant contribution to the field of cognitive linguistics by revealing the intricate cognitive processes involved in the conceptualization of fear within a linguistic framework. First, proverbs frequently use metaphors to convey fear through source-target domain mappings. These metaphors draw on diverse domains such as physical danger, darkness, human body or animals, and the unknown. Second, the metaphor was frequently used to illustrate fear as an uncertain path, connections between human fear and animal behavior, and physical sensations. Third, there is an evidence that the societal anxieties, historical events, and cultural norms (see Example 9) all shape fear-related expressions. To further advance this investigation, future research might conduct cross-linguistic comparisons to investigate how fear is portrayed in proverbs across diverse languages.