This paper explores Korean language users’ hand gestures within the framework of cognitive linguistics. Human body language provides good evidence of an interrelation of physical experiences, cognitive processes, and language. From a cognitive linguistic approach; the concept structure is motivated by physical experiences, cognitive linguists call this process “embodiment”. This paper considers that hand gestures reflect a concept structure like entity metaphor, a kind of ontological metaphor. Entity metaphor is understanding abstract concepts in terms of physical objects. Understanding our experiences in terms of objects allows us to pick out parts of our experience and treat them as discrete entities of a uniform kind (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, pp. 25). Catching imaginary entity gesture reflecting entity metaphor appears frequently. For example, the speakers touched a virtual object with their hands and motioned to dismantle it or reduce its size while speaking. This suggests that we use entity metaphors in everyday verbal/nonverbal language.
