Berendt, E. A., & Tanita, K. (2011). The “heart” of things: A conceptual metaphoric analysis of heart and related body parts in Thai, Japanese and English. Intercultural Communication Studies, 20, 65-78.

Researchers used data from Thai, Japanese, and English in the metonymic and metaphorical uses of “heart,”  “head,” and “belly” or “stomach” to analyze underlying conceptual metaphoric patterns and their expression of various aspects of interpersonal relationships, emotions, and modes of rationality in Thai, Japanese, and English. This cross-cultural study reveals significant conceptual differences between Thai, Japanese, and English metaphors for the heart and related body parts.