What causes metaphors to be similar or different across languages? It can be tempting to associate differences with culture and similarities with embodiment, since human cultures are diverse and human bodies are comparable. However, we argue that the death of a loved one is such a widespread experience that it forms part of every human culture. We argue that linguistic instantiations of DEATH IS DEPARTURE tend to focus on the starting point of the deceased person's journey and the arrival of the person's remains in their final resting place. We attribute these trends to the fact that living people around the world are focused on their loved ones' absence in the here-and-now, and living people often place importance on physical sites associated with deceased loved ones, such as the location of their remains. These cross-linguistic trends emphasize that culture can lead to similarities as well as differences in metaphoric structures.

中文翻译：

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每个人最终都会“离开”世界

是什么导致隐喻在不同语言之间相似或不同？将差异与文化联系起来，将相似性与体现联系起来，可能很诱人，因为人类文化是多种多样的，人体具有可比性。但是，我们认为亲人之死是如此广泛，以至于它成为每种人类文化的一部分。我们认为，“死亡就是离去”的语言实例倾向于把重点放在死者旅程的起点上，以及死者遗体到达他们最后的安息之地。我们将这些趋势归因于以下事实：世界各地的生活人都将目光聚焦在此时此刻所爱之人的缺席，而生活中的人通常会重视与死者亲人相关的物理场所，例如他们的位置遗迹。