Six-Dimensional Norms for Metaphorical Expressions in European Portuguese: The ME6D-PT Database

Conceptual metaphors structure abstract domains through concrete, perceptual, affective, or bodily experience, but they are accessed through metaphorical expressions. Controlled experimental work requires normed materials characterizing expressions, not only the conceptual mappings they instantiate. This is particularly relevant for European Portuguese, where research on metaphors lacks multidimensional normative resources for everyday metaphorical expressions. We introduce ME6D-PT, a database of 213 European Portuguese metaphorical expressions instantiating 20 conceptual metaphors and accompanied by English counterparts. Portuguese native speakers rated the expressions on six dimensions relevant to language processing: familiarity, concreteness, valence, arousal, embodiment, and transparency. Items were presented individually without context, organized in seven lists in a within-subject design. Aggregated item-level reliability ranged from moderate to excellent across dimensions. Descriptive results showed that the expressions were generally familiar and transparent while varying substantially in concreteness, valence, arousal, and embodiment. Further analyses showed strong positive associations among familiarity, transparency, and concreteness, whereas embodiment was weakly related to experiential and semantic dimensions. Exploratory quadratic models revealed nonlinear patterns involving valence, including the expected U-shaped association with arousal, and a decelerating positive association between transparency and familiarity. ME6D-PT provides a controlled resource for stimulus selection and research on metaphors, abstract language, embodiment, and future cross-linguistic research.