Thermal and metaphorical meanings: analysing temperature adjectives in European Portuguese

Abstract

Temperature adjectives serve as linguistic vehicles to convey sensory perceptions of physical temperature and metaphorical extensions that resonate across various spheres of communication. Languages vary widely in their vocabulary related to temperature, how they classify these terms, and where they fit within grammatical structures. Despite this diversity, there are shared features in how temperature adjectives convey both temperature and metaphorical meanings across languages. However, European Portuguese (EP) research on temperature adjectives remains scarce. To better understand temperature adjectives in EP, we conducted a corpus-based analysis of eight adjectives -"gélido", "gelado", "frio", "fresco", "morno", "tépido", "quente", "escaldante" (icy, frozen, cold, cool, lukewarm, tepid, hot, scorching) - to investigate their literal and metaphorical meanings using a corpus of 2920 fragments from the Reference Corpus of Contemporary Portuguese and a quantitative and qualitative approach for the analysis. Results show that all adjectives have metaphorical meanings in addition to basic temperature interpretations, but their distribution varies. They primarily appear post-nominally and in attributive positions, responding differently to degree quantifiers. While the nouns with which the adjectives combine are relevant, the alternation between temperature and metaphorical readings also depends on context.