Metaphorical Concept of the Colour Blue in Russian, English and Spanish Languages

Much of the research concerning the study of conceptual metaphors has discussed and broadened the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), introduced by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). However, little research has been done on the relation between associations with a certain colour and its subsequent reflection in language and mind. This study focuses on examination of conceptual metaphors and metaphorical expressions with the colour blue across three languages – Russian, English, and Spanish. To determine the most frequently used blue-colour metaphors, the corpora analysis of the three languages was conducted. Afterwards, the specially devised questionnaire was disseminated via social networks. An overall number of the survey’s participants comprised 208 informants. A comparative analysis of the results was conducted, and the obtained data were evaluated and interpreted in an attempt to understand the nature of associations’ formation and their variations across the chosen cultures. The study’s aim is the expansion of the research area related to cross-cultural differences in perception of colour metaphors from the perspective of cognition and language. Keywords: Conceptual metaphor, Colour metaphors, English, Russian, Spanish, Cognition and culture