Study of Metaphor in Economic Journalistic Articles.docx

Study of Metaphor in Economic Journalistic Articles.docx

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StudyofMetaphorinEconomicJournalisticArticles

StudyofMetaphorinEnglishEconomicJournalisticArticles

1.Introduction1

2.Significanceofstudyofmetaphorineconomicreports2

3．Theoriesofmetaphorsrelatedtothisthesis3

3.1Definitionsofmetaphors3

3.2Conceptualmetaphortheory4

3.3Metaphormappingtheories5

3.4Metaphorsineconomicarticles6

4．Classificationofmetaphorineconomicjournalisticarticles6

4.1Orientationalmetaphors6

4.2ontologicalmetaphors8

4.3Structuralmetaphors9

5.Mainmappingmodelsineconomicarticles10

5.1Journeymetaphormappingmodel10

5.2Warmetaphormappingmodel11

5.3Personmetaphormappingmodel12

6.Conclusions12

Reference13

Acknowledgements15

1.Introduction

Foralongtime,metaphorhasbeenstudiedasamerelanguagephenomenonbylinguists.Withthedevelopmentofcognitivescienceandcognitivelinguistics,therehasbeenincreasinginterestintheuseofmetaphorinmanyareas,especiallyeconomicsandbusiness.Asaresult,metaphorineconomicshasreceivedgreatattentionbothfromappliedlinguistsandeconomists.Thelattergroupfocusesonexplicatingtheextendeduseofmetaphororthedominantmetaphoricthemes.Whiletheformergroupputsmoreemphasisonamorelinguistic,discursiveanalysisofeconomictexts,fromwhichtheycanfindoutmetaphoricexpressions,aswellastheirtypicaldistributionandcommunicativefunction.Theprimaryobjectiveofthecurrentstudyistodeepenandenrichthecontemporarystudyofmetaphorineconomicreportsfromtheangleofcognitivescience.Toachievethisobjective,analysisofmetaphorineconomicjournalisticarticlesiscarriedout.Theultimategoalofthisthesisistohelpbetterunderstandtheabstractconceptsinvolvedineconomicarticlesthoughthediscussionofmetaphorused.

2.Significanceofstudyofmetaphorineconomicreports

AsaseniorlecturerinUniversityofBirmingham,whileteachingformaleconomicstostudentswhospeakEnglishasasecondorforeignlanguage,WillieHendersonwaswonderingiftherewasanywayofacceleratingstudents’understandingofthisabstractsubject,orofitslinguisticexpression.Theanswertothisquestionwasthattherewas.Abstractasthoseconceptsare,itmightbeeasiertogetthemeaningswhenassociatingthemwithsomeconcreteterms.Thenitcomestotheproblem:

whichkindofdiscourseshouldbechosenasthetarget,formalpublishedeconomicstextbooksordailyeconomicreports?

Infact,thetypicalmetaphoricalwordsandphrasesmentionedinthejournalisticarticlesarefromthetextbooks.Moreover,thedataofeconomicmetaphorsisenlargingasaresultoftherapidspeedofeconomic,socialandscientificdevelopment.Besides,noteveryoneisavailabletoaneconomicstextbookwhileitisfairlyeasyforpeopletogetapieceofnewspaperorlistentothenewsinwhicheconomicnewsisindispensable.Bystudyingthemetaphorsineconomicreports,researchersgiveadatabasetothewidespreadreadersforreferencewhentheycomeacrossthedifficultyinunderstandingcertainmetaphors.Andthedatabaseisoccasionallyrevised,wellandadvance.Thisthesisprimarilydiscussesmetaphorsinthejournalisticeconomicarticles.Andtheaimofthisthesisistohelppeoplegettounderstandwhattheeconomicarticlesaretalkingaboutandwhatthecurrenteconomyisgoingon.Byobtainingtheapplicationofmetaphors,peoplemightfurtherformaneconomicwayofthinking.Thispapersetstodiscussthemetaphorinjournalisticarticles.Topursuethis,theoriesrelatedtothisthesisshouldbestudied.

3．Theoriesofmetaphorsrelatedtothisthesis

Beforetheemergencyanddevelopmentofthecognitivelinguistics,metaphorwasmerelyrecognizedasadominantandwidespreadlinguisticphenomenonashowweexpressthings,usedasatoolofdecoratinglanguage.Ascognitivelinguisticsgraduallygainsitsreputation,moreandmoreresearchesarelaunchedonit,whichbringstheextensionofthedefinitionofmetaphor.Fromtheviewofcognitivelinguistics,metaphorhasbecomeacognitivephenomenonashowweunderstandthings.

3.1Definitionsofmetaphors

Asforthestudyonmetaphor,itcanbetracedbacktoasearlyastwothousandyearsagowhenAristotleinhisPoeticsandRhetoricstartedthestudyofmetaphorinhistory.Hedefinedmetaphoras“givingthethinganamethatbelongstosomethingelse”,whichistakenupintheOxfordEnglishDictionary（1989）definition“afigureofspeechinwhichadescriptivetermistransferredtosomeobjecttowhichitisnotproperlyapplicable”.Hepointedoutthatmetaphor,asafigureofspeech,mainlyappearsinliterature,particularlyinpoems.TherearethreeessentialelementsinAristotle’snotionofmetaphorwhichwerelaterreferredtobyotherscholars,theoriginalideaorcontext（thetopic）,thatwithwhichitiscomparedortheborrowedideaornotion（thevehicle）andthebasisforsuchacomparisonorthesharedelements（thegrounds）.So,forexample,inametaphorsuchasTIMEISMONEY,TIMEisthetopic,MONEYisthevehicle,andoneofthegroundsis:

itisvaluable,underwhichtime,justlikemoney,canbespent,usedandbroughtetc..

The20thcenturyhasseenthedevelopmentofthecognitivetheoryofmetaphorbyLakoffandJohnson（1980）whenalargeamountofempiricalstudiesarelaunchedontheuseofmetaphorsinsocialsciences.Theyhavefoundthatmetaphorispervasiveineverydaylife,notjustinlanguagebutinthoughtandaction.Theyputforwardtheconceptualmetaphortheorywhichdefinesconceptualmetaphorreferstheunderstandingofoneideaintermsofanther.Conceptualmetaphor,alongwiththelinguisticmetaphor,hasbeenwidelyandcommonlyusedinsocialsciences,includingeconomics,linguisticsandpolitics.

Manydefinitionsasmentioned,muchofthedifficultyindefiningmetaphororiginatesintheproblemofwhetheritisbestconsideredasacognitivephenomenonrelatedtohowweunderstandthingsorasalinguisticphenomenonrelatedtohowweexpressthem（Cameron&Low,1999）.Therefore,JonathanCharteris-BlackandTimothyEnnisconcludethattheproblemsofdefiningmetaphorarisefromthecomplexityoftherelationshipbetweenthoughtandlanguage.

3.2Conceptualmetaphortheory

Conceptualmetaphortheory,putforwardbyLakoffandJohnson,isamongthemostinfluentialtheoriesinthecognitiveapproachtometaphors.ThebasicstatementsofLakoffandJohnson’stheoriesintheirbookMetaphorsWeLiveByaresummarizedasfollows（fromLanChun,2005）:

（1）Metaphorispervasiveandubiquitous.Onecannotgetalongperfectlywellwithoutit.

（2）Metaphorisconceptualinnature.Metaphorisnotjustalanguage,butalsothoughtandaction.Ourconceptualsystemisfundamentalmetaphorical.

（3）Theessenceofmetaphorisinunderstandingandexperiencingonekindofthingintermsofanther.

（4）Metaphoriscomposedoftwodomains,arelativelymoreclearlystructuredsourcedomainandrelativelylessclearlystructuredtargetdomain.Metaphorisamappingfromtheschematicstructuresofthesourcedomaintothatofthetargetdomain.Thismechanismenablesustounderstandunfamiliarorabstractthingsintermsofmorefamiliarandconcreteobjects.

（5）Metaphoricalmappingsarenotarbitrarybutaregroundedinourbodilyexperience.Onceametaphoricalmappingissetup,itwillthenimposeitsstructureonreallifeandbemaderealindifferentways.

3.3Metaphormappingtheories

Basedontheempiricalstudies,Boers（2002）foundoutTRADEISWARmetaphorisprettypervasivewhentalkingabouteconomyandbusiness.Hethenputforwardconceptualmetaphormappingmodelinsomeeconomicarticlesandappliedittotheteachingofeconomics.

Basedonourdailyexperience,metaphorscomeintobeingandfunctionthroughtheinteractionoftwoconceptualdomains:

thesourcedomainandthetargetdomain.Inordertoexplainhowtheinteractionforms,LakoffandJohnsoncomeupwiththeMappingTheory,whichrefersthetransitionfromthesourcedomaintothetargetdomain.Inotherwords,metaphormappingistheprojectionofonesourcedomainontoonetargetdomain.Forinstance,intheLIFEISAJOURNEYmetaphor,journeyisthesourcedomainandlifeisthetargetdomain.Whenunderstandingthegivenmetaphor,certaincharacteristicsoraspectsofthesourcedomain,journey,areprojectedontothetargetdomain,life.Sothefollowingsentencesareverypopular.

（1）Iamatthecrossroadinmylife.

（2）Hehasagoodstartinhislife.

（3）Hislifeisfullofdifficulty.

GillesFauconnier（1944）,aFrenchlinguistandaprofessorattheUniversityofCalifornia,developedthemappingtheoryofLakoffandJohnsonandputforwardcross-domainmappingthroughwhichpeoplegettoknowtheunfamiliarviathefamiliar.Thefundamentalideaofmetaphormappingistousethestructureofthesourcedomainandthecorrespondingvocabularytotalkaboutorcomprehendthetargetdomain.

3.4Metaphorsineconomicarticles

Therehavebeenmanystudiesofdifferentaspectsofeconomicsdiscourseinrecentyears.Forexample,WillieHenderson’sMetaphorinEconomicspublishedinTheEconomistisregardedasthefirstworksthatstudiesthemetaphorineconomics.Inthisarticle,Hendersonfocusedontheapplicationofmetaphorineconomics.McCloskey（1983）andMason（1990）pointoutthateconomicstextsinparticularareheavilymetaphorical.Forinstance,theeconomyisconceptualizedasanorganism,marketmovementsasphysicalmovementsandsharpdownwardmarketmovementsasnaturaldisasters.Even,somemetaphorshaveevolvedandbecomeestablished,likemeltdown,cashflowetc.

4．Classificationofmetaphorineconomicjournalisticarticles

Basedontheconceptua