Spatial language and abstract concepts

What is the relationship between spatial language and abstract concepts? When people talk about abstract things that they can never see or touch, they often use spatial metaphors (e.g., a long vacation, a high price, a close friendship). According to theories of metaphorical mental representation, linguistic metaphors reflect underlying mental metaphors. Yet, behavioral experiments show that this is only one of the possible relationships between spatial metaphors in language and our spatial conceptualizations of abstract domains. In some cases, linguistic metaphors not only reflect speakers' thoughts, they also change those thoughts, such that people who use different linguistic metaphors rely on correspondingly different mental metaphors. Alternatively, spatial metaphors in language may reflect the way people conceptualize an abstract domain in some circumstances, but not in others. Finally, spatial language may reflect the way an abstract domain is typically conceptualized by some people, but not by others. There is no single relationship between spatial language and abstract concepts. Discovering whether (and under what conditions) a linguistic metaphor corresponds to a mental metaphor can illuminate the ways in which our interactions with the physical and social environment shape our mental lives. WIREs Cogn Sci 2014, 5:139-149. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1271 CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest for this article. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.