Metaphors of Childhood in Contemporary American Discourses

The article examines metaphors of childhood and growing up that are used by native speakers of American English. To analyse the metaphors used in the conversational discourse of childhood, a survey on the online platform Survey Monkey was conducted. Both individual answers of the respondents and general tendencies in the verbalization of the phenomena are considered. The body of the article includes a description of the experiment and an analysis of its results. The aim of this study is to identify the main trends in the verbalization of the experience of childhood and growing up, as well as the possibility of modifying conventional metaphors and creating individual metaphorical projections. The article is based on two important lines of linguistic research: discourse and discourse metaphor. A significant role in the formation of perception of a certain phenomenon is played by the dynamic processes of linguistic activity that have developed in a certain social context, that is, discourses. Chronological parameters, dividing age into periods are social constructs, and discursiveness is a way of linguistic construction of this phenomenon. Discourse metaphor is a relatively stable metaphorical projection that functions as a key framing tool within a certain discourse during a certain period of time. Metaphor acts as a means of conveying the author's ideas, as well as a unit of text formation, contributing to the structuring and categorisation of the real world. Thus, metaphor is a way of verbalising subjective reality, which allows structuring personal experience. Based on the study, a number of general conclusions can be drawn. 1. Most of the answers that reflect the perception of childhood are emotionally coloured and carry positive or negative judgments. Within the same answer, there are directly opposite formulations, which indicates the ambiguity and contradictions of the subjective experience of childhood. 2. Despite the control by society, the experience of childhood and growing up is a phenomenon of subjective reality. 3. In addition to the explicit way of verbalising childhood, one of the main tools for conceptualising this experience among the representatives of modern American linguistic culture is metaphor. 4. There is a heterogeneity of the metaphors used. Representatives of American culture both adapt the already existing conventional metaphors and create individual metaphors. As a result, their combination forms a unique metaphorical landscape.

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