Definition
A containment schema is an image schema that involves a physical or metaphorical
- boundary
- enclosed area or volume, or
- excluded area or volume.
Discussion
A containment schema can have additional optional properties, such as
- transitivity of enclosure (whereby if one object is enclosed by a second, and that by a third, the first is also enclosed by the third)
- objects inside or outside the boundary
- protectedness of an enclosed object
- the restriction of forces inside the enclosure, and
- the relatively fixed position of an enclosed object.
Sources 1
- Johnson 1987, 21-22