The Conceptualization of time in Mansi

The aim of this chapter is to show how the process of language shift is reflected in the use of metaphors in Mansi. Mansi belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family. It is spoken in Western Siberia; nowadays, it has about a thousand speakers who are typically Mansi-Russian bilinguals with a dominant use of Russian. Mansi is one of the most endangered languages of the Uralic language family. It is a well-known fact that language endangerment and the process of language shift concern all language levels and metaphorical expressions naturally. In this chapter, the investigation is restricted to metaphors related to the concept of time. Among these metaphors, universal ones can be found in many languages generally, e.g., time is a moving object/being, and time is space. This universal conceptualization can also show unique features connected to the life of the Mansi people, e.g., time is a flying arrow. Besides, among the metaphorical expressions related to time, there are also expressions based on such conceptualizations, which are not universal but are more related to the life and culture of the Mansi people, e.g., time is cooking.