Collocazioni verticali: metafore di orientamento up/down nella lingua latina

In cognitive semantics research, orientational metaphors based on the spatial opposition between a ‘high’ pole, typically associated with positive concepts, and a ‘low’ pole, negatively connoted instead, have been found to be pervasive cross-linguistically because they are rooted in the concrete primary experience that humans have of their bodies in space. Recent studies have shown that these observations are also valid for an ancient language such as Latin. Starting from these premises, the aim of this study is to illustrate the types of verb-noun collocations that are built on metaphorical patterns based on this vertical opposition (e.g., residet furor vs. amor exoritur) and to explore the complex relationship between the metaphorization of emotions and their lexicalization into verb-noun collocations. Specifically, we analyze the conceptualization of emotions organized along the up/down vertical opposition, which, in Latin, still deserves to be explored in depth. As the phenomenon lies at the interface between syntax, semantics and cognition, this study can be ascribed to the recent strand of research in Cognitive Classical Linguistics (Short & Mocciaro 2019), which aims to apply approaches developed in cognitive linguistics to the study of Classical languages, exploring the role and nature of cognitive processes in the structuring and functioning of linguistic expressions.