Chapter 8 Framing the Face: The Case of the Italian ‘faccia’
In: Embodiment in Cross-Linguistic StudiesPurchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
In the paper we describe the Italian concept of faccia ‘face’, combining the methods of corpus linguistics and cognitive linguistics. We focus on collocations of verbs with the noun faccia, excerpted from the Italian corpus itTenTen16. We have selected the collocations that are used not only in a literal sense within the body domain, but also have figurative meanings, namely the phrases metterci la faccia, literally ‘to put face in sth’, perdere la faccia ‘to lose face’ and salvare la faccia ‘to save face’. The analysis made it possible to reconstruct three relevant emotion-related frames, namely Power-Fear Frame, Innocence-Guilt Frame and Honor-Shame Frame. Each of the frames presupposes specific ways of treating faccia as a communicative resource by “putting it in something” and implies different scenarios for managing the risk of losing face and the possibility of saving face.