A deep semantic corpus-based approach to metaphor analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen K. Dodge

This paper demonstrates the fruitful application of the formalization of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, combined with metaphor constructions and computational tools to a large-scale, corpus-based approach to the study of metaphor expressions. As the case study of poverty metaphor expressions illustrates, the representation of individual metaphors and frames as parts of larger conceptual networks facilitates analyses that capture both local details and larger patterns of metaphor use. Significantly, the data suggest that the two most frequently used source domain networks in poverty metaphor expressions each support different types of inferences about poverty, its effects, and possible ways to reduce or end it.

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-298
Author(s):  
Sakineh Navidi-Baghi ◽  
Ali Izanloo ◽  
Alireza Qaeminia ◽  
Alireza Azad

Abstract The molecular structure of a complex metaphor comprises two or more atomic metaphorical parts, known as primary metaphors. In the same way, several molecular structures of metaphors may combine and form a mixture, known as mixed metaphors. In this study, different types of metaphoric integrations are reviewed and illustrated in figures to facilitate understanding the phenomena. Above all, we introduce double-ground metaphoric chain, a new form of metaphoric integration that has not been identified in the previous literature. Also, a distinction is made between single-ground and double-ground metaphoric chains. In the former, which has already been introduced, two basic metaphors are chained with the same form and have the same ground, while the latter includes two chained metaphors, one main metaphor plus a supportive one, with different grounds. In this analysis, we benefited from Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) to analyse double-ground metaphoric chains. This study suggests that each metaphoric integration leads to a multifaceted conceptualization, in which each facet is related to one of the constituent micro-metaphors.


Author(s):  
Bérengère Lafiandra

This article intends to analyze the use of metaphors in a corpus of Donald Trump’s speeches on immigration; its main goal is to determine how migrants were depicted in the 2016 American presidential election, and how metaphor manipulated voters in the creation of this image. This study is multimodal since not only the linguistic aspect of speeches but also gestures are considered. The first part consists in presenting an overview of the theories on metaphor. It provides the theoretical framework and develops the main tenets of the ‘Conceptual Metaphor Theory’ (CMT). The second part deals with multimodality and presents what modes and gestures are. The third part provides the corpus and methodology. The last part consists in the corpus study and provides the main source domains as well as other rhetorical tools that are used by Trump to depict migrants and manipulate voters.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Burgers ◽  
Kathleen Ahrens

AbstractThe literature provides diverging perspectives on the universality and stability of economic metaphors over time. This article contains a diachronic analysis of economic metaphors describing trade in a corpus of 225 years of US State of the Union addresses (1790–2014). We focused on two types of change: (i) replacement of a source domain by another domain and (ii) change in mapping within a source domain. In our corpus, five source domains of trade were predominant: (i) PhysicalObject, (ii) Building, (iii) Container, (iv) Journey, and (v) LivingBeing. Only the relative frequency of the Container source domain was related to time. Additionally, mappings between source and target domains were mostly stable. Nevertheless, our analyses suggest that the Trade metaphors in our corpus are related to concreteness in a more nuanced way as typically assumed in conceptual metaphor theory: metaphors high in the concreteness dimension of physicality and low in the concreteness dimension of specificity are likeliest to be used over longer time periods, by providing communicators with freedom to adjust the metaphor to changing societal circumstances.


2018 ◽  
pp. 95-106
Author(s):  
Valentina Benigni

Adopting a data based approach, the study explores Russian intensifying metaphors of COMPLETENESS. A wide range of instantiations of the metaphor of COMPLETENESS is analyzed within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1980), comprising achievement of a result (soveršennyj idiot), filled container (nabityj durak) and round form (kruglyj otličnik). The contrastive perspective (Russian-English-Italian) provides new insights on the mapping of the source domain of COMPLETENESS onto the target domain of INTENSITY in different languages and cultures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-39
Author(s):  
Anne Holm

Abstract With Joseph Brodsky’s poem “To Urania” as a case study, this article argues that a cognitive stylistic approach offers a new way into exploring literary representations of the experience of displacement. Drawing on the notion of the embodied mind in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, it presents a close reading of the poem’s portrayal of exile as a “felt” absence. The tension between the immediacy of embodied experience and what lies beyond its grasp is investigated with a particular consideration of enactivism and the dynamics of reading. Metaphor is seen as a tool for enacting vicarious experiences, but also as a means of conveying the difficulty of representing an experience of displacement. The analysis thus focuses on the poem’s strategies for negotiating the discrepancy between the past and the present. These include expressions viewing memory as a space, the juxtaposition of the personal and the generic, and projected movement.


Literator ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suren Naicker

This article investigates the use of metaphorical language in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (henceforth CW). Vivekananda is one of the most important modern-day Hindu scholars because his interpretation of ancient Hindu scriptural lore has been very influential. Vivekananda’s influence was part of the motivation for choosing his CW as the empirical domain for the current study. AntConc software was used to mine Vivekananda’s CW for water-related terms, which seemed to have a predilection for metaphoricity. Which terms to search for specifically was determined after a manual reading of a sample from the CW. The data were then tagged using a convention inspired by the well-known Metaphor Identification Procedure – Vrije University (MIPVU). Then, a representative sample of the data was chosen, and the metaphors were mapped and analysed thematically. Five of these are referred to in this article, but special emphasis is placed on the theme of the Vedanta philosophy as the basis for neo-Hinduism, which has become synonymous with contemporary Hinduism, with Yoga as the practical wing, and Vedanta as the ideological basis for the practice; this aspect is expounded upon in more detail. The study’s main aim was therefore to investigate whether Hindu religious discourse uses metaphors to explain abstract religious concepts in a specific way, and indeed one of the main findings was the pervasiveness of water as a source domain. Hence, the key finding in this article is that neo-Hindu thought, as reconceptualised by Vivekananda, relies heavily on the water frame (as is convention in the field of Cognitive Semantics, conceptual domains are written in upper case, including hypothetical frames and conceptual metaphors), which is not as pervasive in other religio-philosophical traditions.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Adam

This research is conducted to measure how participants’ understanding to a source domain of metaphor will help them to better interpret metaphor in “Titanium” song by using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). The CMT approach is introduced by explicitly explain the characteristic of source domain of metaphor to participants. The participants of this research are 10 students of semester V of Faculty of Letters – University of Balikpapan, all native Indonesian speakers. This research is qualitative research, and uses the participants’ written answer as data source. Based on the data analysis, it is concluded that by understanding the source domain of metaphor, participants have a better and improved understanding in interpreting metaphor. In other words, the participants’ comprehension to the intended message of metaphor is improved.


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