When Time Passes Quickly: A Cognitive Linguistic Study on Compressed Time

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the prolific literature on the metaphorical representations of time, research on subjective time has been relatively scarce and limited. Interestingly, the linguistic expression of subjective time manifests an asymmetric pattern, systematically favoring the use of Time-moving, rather than Ego-moving, metaphors (cf. “Time passes quickly” vs ?“We pass (our) time quickly”). The present paper focuses specifically on compressed time (i.e., time as passing quickly) and suggests that the experience of subjective time resonates with a construal that lacks agency on the part of the experiencer. This association explains why the conceptualization of compressed time lends itself to the Time-moving perspective but can also account for expressions that override metaphor. The analysis is based on poetic discourse on the assumption that creativity attests to the affordances of our mental representations. This line of research has implications for possible constraints on metaphorical conceptualization at large.