Diante de, Fora de, Frente a: um estudo sócio-histórico-cognitivo de locuções prepositivas em redações nota mil do Enem

Abstract

In this study, having as our object of analysis the prepositional phrases “Fora de” (“Outside of”), “Diante de” (“In the face of”), and “Frente” (“In front of”), we aim to understand how such phrases are conceptualized in argumentative-essay writing from the 2024 Enem, in light of Socio-Historical Cognitive Semantics (SHCS). To this end, we draw on the postulates of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), Johnson (1991), Silva (1999), Grenfell (2007), and Almeida (2013; 2016; 2020). Moreover, we conducted a qualitative, descriptive study, raising the following questions: (a) how prepositional phrases are conceptualized through Enem essays; (b) how cognitive mechanisms (metaphor and image schema) interconnect within this conceptualization; and (c) how language, cognition, and conceptualization relate to each other. Finally, we conclude that all the phrases, even when used in an abstract manner, return to notions of space and positioning, grounded in embodied experience to cognitively create metaphorical processes structured by image schemas, which are revealed in language.