Tracing patterns of diachronic variations across the inaugurals
Mokhtar Ounis · 2023
This chapter is built on the assumption that any “historical corpus data” can be useful for detecting metaphor variations pat terns . American inaugurals present an ideal corpus for conducting a diachronic analysis of the evolution of metaphors. By embracing this assumption, the first section of this chapter explores diachronic variations, establishing meaningful connections between different historical periods and their salient conceptual mappings. The second section draws insightful conclusions by identifying the factors that contribute to diachronic variations in metaphor usage. These factors can be broadly categorized into two types: those that contribute to the stability of conceptual mappings and those that motivate changes in these mappings.