What is a target domain?

Definition
	A target domain is a semantic domain that is structured and understood metaphorically in terms of another domain.

Examples (English)

Here are some examples of the domain of quantity, to which the verticality schema is applied in the more-as-up and less-as-down metaphors expressed in the following:

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

Source
	Lakoff, G. 1987 276–277, 288

Context for this page:

Concept module: target domain
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): T
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