Frame Report

The size of an Entity is assessed in terms of the Degree by which it deviates from the norm. The size generally refers to the amount of three-dimensional space that is occupied by the Entity, not primarily to its weight, density, or length, which is why it is peculiar to refer to a bullet as "large", even if it is heavy, unless it actually has larger dimensions than usual, or to a rope as "big", even if it is long, unless its other, cross-sectional dimensions are also significant.

I own a very small home.
Where is my little notebook?
That dog is huge!


There are an enormous number of productive metaphors that involve this frame as the source domain; two of the most frequent metaphors come from the target domains of quantity/amount and importance.

He gave me a small sum of money.
The novel was a substantial achievement.


Subcases of the quantity/amount and importance metaphors are also prominent. These involve cases describing the extent of an action's, event's, or person's effect ("his influence on her work was massive"), as well as those related to events ("big party"), similarity ("gigantic difference"), communication ("giant misunderstanding"), and emotions ("great joy", "little joys").

Other productive metaphors include those dealing with groups (in terms of their number of members, net worth, importance to the economy, i.e. "giant electronics company") and those describing sound volume ("in a tiny voice", "the enormous thundering of her heart").


The target domain of fame, by contrast, occurs in a non-productive metaphor, found especially with big.a and huge.a. Maturity and age also occur in non-productive metaphors ("big boy", "little baby").