Cognitive and intercultural study of Chinese and Spanish euphemisms of death

Given the general and timeless nature of the taboo of death universally, this article aims to carry out a contrastive analysis of euphemisms of this subject in Chinese and Spanish through conceptualized associations of metaphor, metonymy and their interaction. The theoretical basis on which the study is based derives from the cognitive model proposed by Lakoff & Johnson in 1980 in their famous book Metaphors We Live By. We set out ten main common and three specific mechanisms of conceptual projection in both languages regarding this subject. In the end, based on the samples, we conclude with the important characteristics of material, psychological and institutional culture of both regions when developing euphemistic manifestations of death.