Tatsenko Nataliya. Empathy in discourse: towards an embodied cognitive semantics

Abstract

This article examines an embodied cognitive semantics of empathy as a linguistic concept,
exploring how discourse can be used for its analysis. Following current theoretical interpretations of
empirical embodiment findings (including major schematic systems of Talmyan cognitive semantics),
it will be shown that the conceptual content of empathy is spatialized in the human mind. A body of
empirical evidence based on corpus research and other sources presents convincingly that spatial
conceptualization and reification of empathy represented in modern English language might greatly
facilitate empathic logical reasoning and understanding. The notion of reified empathy is amenable to
innumerable conceptions of spatial pathways associated with a physical object or mass. Along with
reification, personification of empathy provides insights into active metaphorical thinking