Conceptual Blending Theory and Idioms: Rich Sources of Conceptual Blends
Muhammet Fatih Adıgüzel
This chapter explores idioms as exceptionally rich sources of conceptual blends within the framework of Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT), originally developed by Fauconnier and Turner. Idioms, often non-compositional and culturally embedded, require the integration of multiple input mental spaces to generate emergent meaning in the blended space that cannot be directly retrieved from the literal inputs alone. Unlike straightforward metaphorical mappings in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, idioms frequently involve selective projection, composition, completion, and elaboration processes that produce novel inferences and creative conceptual structures. Drawing on examples primarily from Turkish and cross-linguistic data, the analysis demonstrates how idiomatic expressions construct dynamic networ...