The structural and semantic aspects of conventional as- and like-similes

This contribution deals with conventional similes in British English which employ the comparison markers as and like. The introduction addresses issues concerning the similarities and differences between similes and metaphors, the component elements of metaphors and similes, lexical variation, and the factors which help make similes memorable. For the purpose of the study, a database consisting of 133 as-similes and 125 likesimiles was collected, drawing on examples found in British monolingual dictionaries. On the basis of this database, it was possible to categorize as- and like-similes according to structural type. A comparison of the structure of as-similes and like-similes shows that they have one factor in common: the vehicle position is mostly, though not exclusively, occupied by a nominal phrase. Otherwise, no other structural parallel can be drawn between the two groups of similes. There then follows an analysis of the semantic fields of nominal phrases in the vehicle element of as- and like- similes, with an emphasis on whether they overlap or diverge, and also an analysis of the semantic fields of adjectives in the ground element of as-similes. Finally, there is a consideration of similes with grounds consisting of a common adjective or adverb but with vehicles consisting of different nominal phrases (or, rarely, pronouns and clauses).