次元形容詞「遠い」の空間的な用法から時間的な用法への意味拡張

Abstract

When making abstract concepts into words, concrete concepts such as “space” are often adopted, and ‘tooi’, the object of this study, is also one of the examples. “tooi” takes the meaning related to spatial distance as its prototype, and the meaning has been extended to various areas related to senses, time, relationships, or matters. In the image-schema of ‘tooi’ that represents spatial distance, this author has found a structure that ‘two points exist, and one point that is the criterion is considerably apart from the other’. This structure forms a structurally corresponding relationship with the concepts of time, relationships, and matters as well. In the concept of time, it indicates ‘distance between the current point that is the criterion and a particular past or future point’, and in the concept of relationships, it shows ‘either social or psychological distance between two parties’. Also, in terms of matters, it indicates a huge gap between the goal or criterion and the contents or aspects of a certain matter. Therefore, in ‘tooi’, spatial meaning is extended to non-spatial meaning with the concept of space as the basis, and in terms of the extension of meaning, too, it is not extended serially, but individual usages are extended respectively based on empirical grounds.