„A SŁOWO STAŁO SIĘ CIAŁEM. CZYLI PODSTAWOWA JEDNOSTKA JĘZYKA W UJĘCIU POTOCZNYM
“AND TIIE WORD BECAME FLESH.THE BASIC UNIT OF LANGUAGE IN ITS COLLOQUIAL UNDERSTANDING

Summary/Abstract: There exist several idealized cognitive models connected with the notion of WORD: the communication model, the model(s) of speaking, the model(s) of performing actions by means of words, the model(s) of verbal creation. A detailed analysis of the first two models indicates that, the notion of WORD is conceptualised as a RECEPTACLE (czerpać informacje z tekstu, “to extract information from a text”; przelewać myśli w słowa, lit. “to pour one’s thoughts into words”, “to dress one’s thoughts in words”), an ARTICLE of CLOTHING for thoughts (dawać myślom jakąś szatę słowną, lit. “to give one’s thoughts a verbal dress”, “to dress one’s thoughts in words”) or a BODY for thoughts (wcielać myśli w słowa, lit. “to give one’s thoughts the bodily shape of words”). It is, then, conceptualized as a CONTAINER of various kinds. WORD is also conceptualized as an OBJECT (ktoś rzuca słowo, lit. “someone throws a word”, “says a single word”; ktoś przebiera w słowach, lit. “someone winnows words”, “someone selects the proper words from among many of them”), a LIQUID (słowa płyną z ust, “words flow from the mouth”, słowa stygną na wargach, lit. “words cool/freeze on someone’s lips”, “words remain unspoken”). In all of these metaphors, WORD is treated as something which exists in or moves through space (the external space or the internal space of the human body), something experienced by means of sight or sometimes touch. In this sense, a WORD is a body, an inanimate or a living one, solid or liquid, and as such it has typically bodily characteristics: colour, temperaturę and weight.

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