Intensifying metaphors: a contrastive study of Italian, Russian and English

This study offers a corpus-based classification of some frequent Italian intensifying metaphors of the type [ADJintens+N] and [N+ADJintens], where an adjectival modifier (one-word–favoloso ‘fabulous’; or multi-word–da favola ‘fabulous’, lit. like in a fairytale) metaphorically intensifies a noun. Data are qualitatively analyzed within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff / Johnson 1980), according to which the Target Domain, a complex and abstract concept–expressed in the intensifier, in this case–can be understood through a more basic and concrete Source Domain. The last part of the study is dedicated to Italian-English-Russian contrastive analysis and provides interesting insights on the conceptualization of intensity in different languages and cultures.