Verbalization of the conceptual metaphor of “foreignness” in young adult literature

Doklady Bashkirskogo Universiteta. 2025. Volume 10. No. 2. pp. 18-30.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33184/dokbsu-2025.2.3

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The article is devoted to the identification of linguistic means for objectifying a linguistic and cultural category of “foreignness” in the fiction. The purpose of the study is to describe conceptual metaphors with a target sphere of “foreign”, conveying the otherness of the young adult literature characters according to a number of social, cultural and psychological criteria. It is established that the conceptual metaphors of “foreignness” are highly productive in creating artistic imagery in the trilogies “The Maze Runner” by James Dashner and “The Hunger Games” by Susan Collins. Metaphors are systematized into eight thematic groups (space and boundary; emotional and psychological state; power and society; identity; fear, danger and hostility; unnaturalness; body and physical changes; social status). The relevance of the metaphors of “foreignness” of a particular thematic group is explainedby the plot.