What is a source domain?

Definition
	A source domain is a concept that is metaphorically used to provide the means of understanding another concept.

Examples (English)

A verticality schema, as a source domain, is metaphorically applied to the concept of amount in the more-as-up and less-as-down metaphors expressed in the following sentences:

The crime rate keeps rising.
The number of books published each year keeps going up.
That stock has fallen again.
Our sales dropped last year.

Source:

Lakoff, G. 1987 276

Kind
	Here is a kind of source domain:
	What is an image schema?

Source
	Lakoff, G. 1987 276–277, 288

Context for this page:

Concept module: source domain
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004