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The good, the bad… and the ugly?
The conceptualization of aesthetics in Spanish
- Source: International Journal of Language and Culture, Volume 8, Issue 1, Jun 2021, p. 147 - 168
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- 01 Oct 2018
- 31 Oct 2019
- 07 Jun 2021
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Abstract
Abstract
The present article describes the conceptualization of aesthetics in Spanish through the analysis of the two prototypical terms that describe positive and negative sensory appreciation, i.e., “bonito” (beautiful) and “feo” (ugly). Following a mixed-approach methodology combining Natural Semantic Metalanguage and Corpus Pragmatics, the article compares the use of these adjectives in spoken and written language, analyzes their realization in the corpora under analysis, provides the explications that support their polysemy, and describes their distribution in different contexts. The final part of the paper is devoted to the comparison of the use of these adjectives with their counterparts in English, as evidenced by another paper in this special issue.