Categories Of Metaphors Research Articles

Conceptualizing the metaphors of drug abusers

Abstract The intention of this article is to demonstrate, within the framework of cognitive linguistics (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980a), how slang words associated with substance abuse are conceptualized via metaphors. This study analyses recreational drug slang terms found in the Drug Slang Dictionary in order to reveal categories of metaphors involved in drug users’ language. The results of the data analysis effectively reveal that, within a thematic approach, classes of metaphor are coded to enable connections between metaphorical concepts and drug addicts’ physiological experiences in order to present their personal meanings and cognitive processes. The study also involves drug addicts’ narratives to identify conceptual metaphors in their experiences. Notably, it is argued within this research that figurative language use is also connected to the cultural background of users to a great extent.

Visual Motifs in Islamist Terrorism: Applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory

This article examines visual motifs in Islamist terrorism based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory, a theory using three key categories of metaphors (structural, orientational, and ontological metaphors). These metaphors are applied to three case studies to show how visual motifs can be used by Islamists to manipulate their audiences. The case studies are the symbols of (a) the waterfall, (b) the hand, and (c) the color black. Overall, in this analysis, an essential deduction from Islamist visual motifs is that metaphors are a principal conceptual system for Islamists. Metaphors are their main conduit for categorizing what they see in their universe and how they perceive both their in-group members and outside groups (e.g., infidels).

Physicians' Reflections on Death and Dying on Completion of a Palliative Medicine Fellowship

ContextPatient and family dissatisfaction may result when they are not satisfied with the physician/patient interaction, although the physician may feel he/she worked hard to provide information to the patient and family. New approaches to visual analysis can 1) identify significant insights from physicians' personal and clinical experiences in providing compassionate palliative care and end-of-life care and 2) provide an effective and practical vehicle for communicating with patients, their families, and other professional caregivers. ObjectivesTo elucidate palliative physicians' core experiences with their patients' dying and death. MethodsA qualitative visual analysis was conducted on 75 images created by physicians completing a one year palliative medicine fellowship. These images are part of a larger personal reflections narratives database of images, text, and auditory projects prepared by students, interns, and fellows completing training in palliative care at a large hospice provider. Participation in the personal reflections project is a required part of the training program, with the goal of blending clinical competencies with lived experiences of caring for the dying. ResultsTwo categories of visual metaphors underlying the images were identified, with both expressing the relationship and transitional dynamics of life and death: portraits (n = 30, 40%) and nature (n = 45, 60%). Conventional images representing anxiety, pain, or other dimensions of suffering commonly associated with death and dying were virtually absent (n = 2, 0.03%). ConclusionWe propose the communication of positive, hopeful, even peaceful perceptions of death and dying was likely the result of effective personal and professional skills gained through physicians' clinical experiences during the fellowship.

Don Juan und kalte Liebe

The present article is an attempt to use the metaphorical category of temperature in the interpretation of literary creations of love in two different cultural contexts: against the background of the emotional culture of the inter-war period as well as of the present time. The analysis focusses on two literary texts: Don Juan kommt aus dem Krieg (1936) by Ödön von Horváth as well as Don Juan de la Mancha (2007) by Robert Menasse, which encourage to reflect on remarkable transformations of the culture of love and the positioning of both men and women within the new emotional styles.

Mirror of Prospective Teachers’ Mind: Metaphors

The meaning of “teacher” and “pedagogical formation” are mirror of prospective teachers’ idea about their job. The purpose of this study to examine and classify the metaphors that prospective teachers formulated to describe the concept of “teacher” and “pedagogical formation”. The sample which selected by the use of convenience sampling techniques was drawn from pedagogical formation students and primary school, preschool undergraduate students in the 2014-2015 academic years. Participants completed the prompt “A teacher is like. .. because ...” and “pedagogical formation is like. .. because... ...” by focusing on only one metaphor to indicate their conceptualization. The content analysis technique was used to analyze the data. Firstly the metaphors and then conceptual categories will be identified according to metaphors. According to results categories of metaphors on “teacher” concept are disseminating information, mother-father, pioneer confidant and altruism. Categories of metaphors on “pedagogical formation” concept are necessity, criticism, obligation, pioneer, enlightenment, giving meaning tool, inception and opportunity.

The Metaphors That Research Students Live By

In this paper I report a study of the ways in which research students think about their research. I took a unique approach by using metaphor analysis to study the students’ conceptions. The research students in this study were recruited for an on - line survey at an Australian research - intensive university in which they answered questions relating to their conceptions of research. Five categories of metaphors for research were arrived at which I have labelled metaphors of space, metaphors of travel, metaphors of action, metaphors of the body and metaphors of ordeal. These metaphors provide useful information about the ways that the students visualise their research and their conceptions of what it entails.

The Concept of Technology and the Russian Cultural Research Tradition.

The Concept of Technology and the Russian Cultural Research Tradition Natalia Nikiforova (bio) Introduction The concept of “technology” embraces a wide range of significance in the humanities in Russia. Besides being used to designate material culture, technical artifacts, and equipment, it is used as a universal metaphorical category and frequently appears in such combinations as “humanitarian technology,” “political technology,” or “technology of education.” In contemporary humanistic parlance the concept has turned into a subtle multidimensional terminological instrument, which is fashionable enough to be used for that reason alone. The semantic plasticity of the term is taken for granted, yet it is worth exploring the history of the term in order to understand what stands behind the present-day connotations and semantic nuances. This essay investigates the history of the concept of “technology” in Russian scholarly schools and traditions, philosophical texts, political rhetoric, and public discourse, addressing the question: How are the meanings of technology interconnected with the problems of society and culture? This methodological approach was inspired by the principles of historical semantics, mainly by Reinhart Koselleck’s conceptual history or Begriffsgeschichte, which recognizes the importance of language in understanding reality. Similar ideas were manifested in various methodological programs, including the history of discourses (Quentin Skinner) and the history of keywords (Raymond Williams). These scholarly traditions may not refer to one another, and they have evolved from different national research traditions and styles, but they all represent species of cultural history focusing on semantic change and the social and political context of ideas; they promise to identify active periods of semantic transformation and correlate them with the specificities of national history. These approaches [End Page 184] are attentive to the establishment of modernity, a critical period roughly estimated as the middle of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century. At this time of shaping the scientific and scholarly lexicon, concepts of enduring importance emerged or transformed and acquired new meanings. In Koselleck’s interpretation, the “new time” began when instead of describing the “domain of experience,” the newly emerging concepts became oriented toward a “horizon of expectations.”1 Similarly, Williams characterized this period as a general change in our characteristic ways of thinking about our common life and surrounding social and political institutions.2 Another important focus in the investigation of keywords is the national perspective. In this regard, we may refer to Polish-Australian cultural linguist Anna Wierzbicka. Her works call for a principle linking vocabulary with a particular national culture, represented as a conceptual universe.3 The development of the concept of “technology” in Russian is fascinating because it reveals both national attitudes and transference of foreign cultural meanings. A Prehistory of “Technology”: Cultural Transfer to the Russian Language in the Eighteenth Century The word “technology” was among many loan words introduced into Russian academic parlance during the time of Peter the Great. As in the case of other key cultural concepts, the second half of the eighteenth century marked a rupture between premodern and new meanings of “technology” in the Russian language. The question of Russian modernity is arguable, but the transformation of the semantics of “technology” correlates with the European model. In the Russian case the transformation of terms happened concurrently with the creation of academic and literary language and was incorporated into a deliberate campaign to introduce European terms. The adaptation and usage of foreign linguistic borrowings has played a pivotal part in Russian culture since the eighteenth century. The history of the Russian academic lexicon is to a great extent the history of foreign borrowings and the work of their cultural appropriation. An extremely fruitful period in terms of foreign adoptions and borrowings was the era of Peter the Great, when the Russian linguistic situation was radically transformed. The domestication of words and ideas from other cultures was encouraged by both the administration and Peter I himself, and it was embedded in a major linguistic reform that involved a change of alphabet and typeface, the introduction of new literary styles, and a great many [End Page 185] translations of foreign texts. The orientation of the new language toward the European model embodied the aspiration to break with an obsolete regime and...

Knowledge acquisition or participation in communities of practice? Academics’ metaphors of teaching and learning at the university

Learning has been described by two conceptual metaphors: as individual acquisition of knowledge (acquisition metaphor), and as an enculturation into a subject community (participation metaphor). On the other hand, academics' conceptions of teaching are usually reported to vary between teacher and student orientation. In order to integrate metaphors of learning with research on conceptions of teaching, we analyzed 36 academics' metaphors of teaching by content analysis. We found four different categories of metaphors: transmission and construction (based on the acquisition metaphor), and apprenticeship and community growth (based on the participation metaphor). The metaphors had systematic relations to intentions and approaches in teaching reported by the academics. These results imply that the ‘teacher versus student orientation’ framework can be improved by including the dimension of learning as acquisition versus learning as participation.

Práticas de formação colaborativa de professores/as de inglês: representações de uma experiência no Pibid

Este estudo tem o objetivo de analisar representações de práticas de formação colaborativa de professores/as de inglês, pela perspectiva de licenciandos/ as envolvidos/as no Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação à Docência (Pibid) Letras-Inglês-Universidade Estadual de Londrina (Capes 01/2011). Os dados, gerados por meio de um questionário em escala Likert e de um grupo focal, foram analisados com base na análise de discurso crítica, com destaque às categorias de metáfora e de avaliação. Os resultados indicam tensões entre representações que giram ao redor das metáforas troca de ideias e troca de figurinhas, cada uma representando aspectos em termos de regras de participação e de papéis sociais (in)desejáveis. O estudo aponta para implicações que as posições híbridas trazem para as práticas de formação de professores/as no interior do Pibid.

Letter to the Editor on Harnessing Complex Emergent Metaphors for Effective Communication in Palliative Care

Arnold and Lloyd’s article on ‘‘transcendence experiences’’ of terminally ill persons in hospice care was an intriguing read. The piece provided a helpful description of methodological issues and procedural processes undertaken. It seemed a qualitative study was employed involving unstructured interviews for data collection and a ‘‘prototypical multimodal perceptual analysis strategy integrating both audio and text processing and coding of stimuli data.’’ Again, the methodology section was informative. Concerning the results or findings from the study, 4 ‘‘submetaphors’’ (or emergent categories) were delineated, ineffability, mundane, perceptual shifts, and peace and contentment. (The ‘‘parent’’ or overarching metaphor was asserted as end-of-life transcendence experiences.) For each metaphorical category, direct quotes from study participants were provided as textual evidence. Now, it is at this juncture in the article that particular thoughts arose, which compelled me to pen this Letter to the Editor. To be clear, what follows is not a polemic or contention but rather a proposal to broaden the discussion regarding the issue portrayed and presented by Arnold and Lloyd. So, toward a more multidisciplinary perspective, it is important to note that extant examples of similar types of ineffability (of subjective experiences or internal mentation related to loss issues) can be easily seen in thanatological (grief and bereavement) literature. Case in point, Bennett and Bennett’s qualitative study of older adult widows’ grief experiences evinced numerous examples of metaphorical language related to loss and inner/subjective experiences: in a complete fog; on automatic pilot; like a zombie; there’s always this great hole inside that hurts. Furthermore, a well-known text in hospice circles (Final Gifts) demonstrates multiple accounts of end-of-life circumstances, where imagery and figurative expressions are presented by both dying and aggrieved persons. Clearly, by virtue of metaphorical allusions, ineffability is established. Indeed, personal grief can be most difficult to immediately describe (without analogies or metaphors), and so the idea of ineffability and leaning toward metaphorical descriptions in the loss and grief literature is resolutely commonplace. And, given the intimate and cognate bonds between grief, anticipatory grief, and end of life, it is deemed helpful if a broader literature review was provided toward better contextualizing the findings culled by Arnold and Lloyd. Next, concerning the category of Mundane, traumatology and existential counseling literature can broaden the discussion. For instance, according to the postulated concept of posttraumatic growth, it is already recognized that some persons who experience this type of loss response ‘‘mention newfound appreciation for rather ordinary, everyday living.’’ Moreover, regarding the categories of perceptual shifts and peace and contentment, these are also previously demonstrated in the varying literature bases including adult learning, psychology, and clinical counseling, to name a few. Examples and commentary of perceptual shifts from the literature include

Las metáforas comestibles en los rituales mexicanos

This article introduces a method of semantic decoding of certain dishes cooked as part of the rituals of the Aztecs at the time of Spanish Conquest and of several contemporary Indian groups. Starting from the idea that, in a ritual nothing is unpredictable and everything has a sense, it introduces a reflection about the categories of metaphor and metonymy conceived as two founding mechanisms of the human mind, at the same time distinct and closely linked, which express themselves in a verbal and material manner. Difrasismos, often considered to be linguistic techniques typical of ritual mesoamerican speeches, are considered here to be particular cases of « definition by extension », which forms « metonymical series ». The ritual dishes are analysed as material and eatable difrasismos which first of all represent a metonymical technique, and constitute the basis of metaphors.

School Administrators, ICT Coordinators and Teachers’ Metaphorical Conceptualizations of Technology

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of school administrators, ICT coordinators and teachers regarding the concept of “technology”. 87 participants completed the prompt “Technology is like…because…” by focusing on one metaphor about technology. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to figure out the metaphor categories and whether they differentiate according to participants’ position, gender and age variables. Content analysis was used to analyze the perceptions of the participants. Findings of the study showed that the participants indicated 60 valid metaphors which were grouped into five categories: 1) Technology as a changing and developing entity (e.g. children, fashion); 2) Technology as a facilitator (e.g. key, organ); 3) Technology as a needed entity (e.g. food, air); 4) Technology as a useful and harmful entity (e.g. viruses, sugar); 5) Technology as a diffusional entity (e.g. octopus, ocean). It was found that the majority of metaphorical conceptualization categories aligned with “a useful and harmful entity” by administrators, “a facilitator” by ICT coordinators and “a changing and developing entity” by teachers. According to the findings of the quantitative analyses there is no significant relationship between the participants’ perceptions of technology regarding age and gender. However significant relationship was found between the participants’ perceptions of technology and their position.

EFL learners’ metaphors and images about foreign language learning

In this paper, I will argue that awareness of images and metaphors held by foreign language learners about the nature of the target language and its learning can be of substantial value and provide teaching practitioners with useful insights about how to deal with various language learning problems. To elicit images which learners hold about foreign language learning, a questionnaire was given to 350 learners of English in different places in Iran. The questionnaire asked the respondents to provide images about learning a foreign language by using a sentence completion task: “Learning a foreign language is like . . .” The responses gained in 200 questionnaires were content-analyzed and the identified images and metaphors were summarized under more broad-ranging categories. The information that the metaphors and the resulting metaphorical categories provide and the theoretical interpretations which can plausibly be made are discussed in some detail and put in a cognitive-psychological perspective.

Conceptual metaphors and embodied cognition: EEG coherence reveals brain activity differences between primary and complex conceptual metaphors during comprehension

Because cognitive linguists assert that primary and complex conceptual metaphors are theoretical constructs with a plausible yet uncertain psychological reality, this study investigated if and how EEG coherence would differ between the two types of metaphor during comprehension. Hypothesis testing implied formalizing an algorithm of conceptual metaphor processing before collecting EEG data from 50 normal adults and looking for condition-specific EEG coherence patterns. Results confirm the psychological reality of two metaphor categories. However, they also support alternative conceptions regarding the algorithm and nature of complex metaphors, developed and discussed in this article.

Drawing Light(ning) from the Clouds of Social Aggression

The master narrative about social aggression is that it is devastating for girls. Absent from the narrative, however, are girls' voices and a consideration of the positive benefits that targets might incur. Girls' stories of social aggression can be hard to communicate, as adolescents experience challenges making sense of emotionally difficult events. Using Burke's dramaturgical perspective and visual narrative metaphor method, the present study provided girls with a means of purification or a way of identifying both the devastating and redeeming nature of social aggression, including a sequential move from pollution to redemption. Forty-two middle school girls drew and orally described metaphors representing their negative feelings and positive outcomes associated with an experience of social aggression. The analysis revealed four categories of pollution metaphors and four categories of redemption metaphors, as well as five discourse structures that provided insight into how participants constructed their pollution and redemption narratives.

Educational Supervisors' Metaphorical Roots of Beliefs about Teaching and Learning.

Beliefs are a complex psychological construct that have potential to drive a person to make decisions and act. A person’s metaphors can serve as roots of their beliefs. In this study, the metaphor construction task (MCT) was utilized to uncover beliefs about teaching and learning held by 216 educational supervisors from 10 provinces in the central region of Thailand. The follow-up interview was also conducted with 22 participants to further explore and validate data. The metaphors constructed by the participants were coded and categorized and then counted for frequencies and calculated for percentages. The results revealed four favorite metaphors held by the participants, that is, teacher as gardener, captain/driver, sculptor and coach. Two dominant metaphor categories were the teacher is seen as moulder/craftsperson and nurturer/cultivator. However, about one-third of the participants viewed teacher as knowledge provider or superior authoritative figure which inclined to be teacher-centered. Educational supervisors’ beliefs are metaphorically rooted and culturally influenced. The implications regarding the MCT and metaphor analysis are also discussed. Key words: Metaphor, belief, teaching and learning, educational supervisor, teacher education.

Metaphorical Roots of Beliefs about Teaching and Learning Science and their Modifications in the Standard‐Based Science Teacher Preparation Programme

Beliefs are psychological constructs potentially driving a teacher to make pedagogical decisions and act. In this study, the metaphor construction task (MCT) was utilised to uncover beliefs about teaching and learning science held by 110 pre‐service science teachers participating in the standard‐based teacher preparation programme. Overall, the participants’ dominant metaphor categories were teacher as nurturer/cultivator, as knowledge provider, and as superior authoritative figure. The findings from descriptive comparisons did not show meaningful patterns of metaphors in association with the factors of gender, study major, or class level. The MCT, incorporated with in‐depth interviews, revealed that out of 30 volunteers, more than half expressed a major change of metaphor after one semester’s participation in the standard‐based programme. The major path of metaphor change was from the teacher as nurturer/cultivator to the teacher as knowledge provider. Pre‐service teachers’ beliefs are metaphorically rooted and culturally influenced. The implications regarding the utilisation of MCT, modification of teacher beliefs, and science teacher education are also discussed.

Textbook language, ideology and citizenship

This paper presents aspects of the results of a long-term research project on the relations between language and ideology in text-teacher-student interaction in Social Science and Natural Science classrooms in northern Colombia and their implications for citizenship education. The results presented here concern a grammatical conspiracy (Martin 1988) of historical determinism found in the transitivity and grammatical metaphors of a history textbook. I present examples of each of the grammatical features in question, arguing for the inclusion in the category of grammatical metaphor of historical present, inanimate Sayers and Behavers and some non-ergative processes. I then consider how the various grammatical features conspire to present a deterministic view of history which precludes the possibility of change as a result of human intervention. Finally, I suggest that Colombia, in striving towards a more harmonious society, has need of a different view of historical processes as susceptible to human agency.

King Sinukwan Mythology and the Kapampangan Psyche

This paper focuses on the metaphorical categories of the Sinukwan legends that could account for the ethnocentric qualities of the Kapampangans (people of Pampanga, a province in the northern part of the Philippines) and their behavioral patterns as a distinct race. According to oral accounts, Sinukwan, supposedly the first inhabitant in Pampanga, was a noble, gigantic being whose countenance reflected beautiful traits such as royalty, wisdom, faithfulness, ability and love. Sinukwan is a product of the Kapampangans’ primordial culture but, in many respects, he serves as a central image in the maintenance of their internal racial affinity as well as in the interaction of their past and present. On one hand, he may be perceived as an instrument of sentimental evocation. But on the other, Sinukwan is an indispensable force in asserting and reasserting the Kapampangan identity. The Kapampangans still believe that their historical beginnings were woven into and their society constructed within the realm of a powerful cultural symbol. In the development of Kapampangan civilization, Sinukwan has become an established archetype in Kapampangan arts and literature, a rallying point in the socio-political transformation of the Kapampangan community, and the paradigmatic model that is constantly invoked in the unfolding events of Kapampangan history. To be mentioned in particular is an aspect of a Sinukwan legend that provides a colorful explanation of one of the worst calamities that struck Pampanga: the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. The story is, in a sense, an imaginative articulation of a historical phenomenon that pierced through the very heart of Kapampangan civilization and altered the course of its development.

Discourse and metaphor: A corpus-driven inquiry

While the small but growing field of corpus-based work on metaphor offers numerous examples of fine-grained analyses of metaphor as it occurs in discourse, such work has generally been extremely narrow in focus, examining the distribution either of particular, searchable lexical items or of instantiations of a certain conceptual metaphor within a given discourse domain. Aiming for a broader approach, this paper addresses some of the methodological issues associated with using corpora as a tool for metaphor research, and proposes criteria for identifying metaphor in spontaneous discourse. Based on approximately 500 metaphorical utterances drawn from the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English (DuBois 2000; DuBois et. al. 2003), this study assesses the overall frequency of metaphor in discourse, as well as the relative frequencies with which various types of topics are referred to metaphorically, towards the goal of a better understanding of how and why speakers use metaphor in common language. It is discovered that the frequency of each of these categories of metaphor corresponds closely with its degree of concreteness, as verified independently with a survey of college students. In addition, this paper explores the role of metaphor as a discourse-level structuring tool. The overall methodology is offered as a model for future research.