Words and their metaphors: A corpus-based approach Anatol Stefanowitsch Abstract In this paper, I propose and demonstrate a corpus-based approach to the investigation of metaphorical target domains based on retrieving representative lexical items from the target domain and identifying the metaphorical expressions associated with them. I show that this approach is superior in terms of data coverage compared to the traditional method of eclectically collecting citations or gathering data from introspection. In addi- tion to its superior coverage, a corpus-based approach allows us to quantify the frequen- cy of individual metaphors, and I show how central metaphors can be identified on the basis of such quantitative data. Finally, I argue that a focus on metaphors associated with individual lexical items opens up the possibility of investigating the interaction between metaphor and lexical semantics. 1. Introduction Over the past twenty-five years, the study of metaphor has been at the core of the research program now known as cognitive linguistics , a devel- opment that began with the publication of Lakoff and Johnson’s 1980 monograph Metaphors We Live By . Like other theories before it, Lakoff and Johnson’s ‘conceptual theory of metaphor’ draws a distinction be- tween metaphorical concepts (or conceptual metaphors) and metaphorical expressions . Conceptual metaphors are general mental mappings from a (typically concrete) source domain to a (typically abstract) target domain, while metaphorical expressions are individual linguistic items instantiat- ing these mappings. 1 For example, the metaphorical expressions in (1) are analyzed as instantiating the general metaphorical concept anger is fire: (1) a. Those are inflammatory remarks. b. He was breathing fire. c. He was consumed by his anger. (Lakoff 1987: 388) 1. Cf. Black’s (1962, 1992[1979]) distinction between metaphor(ical) statements and meta- phor themes , where the latter are understood as ‘projections’ of ‘secondary subjects’ onto ‘primary subjects’; cf. also Weinrich’s (1976: 299ff.) notions of image donor (Bild- spender) and image recipient (Bildempfänger)).