Linguistic Metaphor Identification Research Articles

SC-Net: Multimodal metaphor detection using semantic conflicts

The phenomenon of metaphors is often regarded as a departure from semantic selection and common sense in semantic composition tasks, with their fundamental characteristics being semantic conflicts. Recognizing intricate and elusive metaphors has consistently posed a formidable challenge in the realm of natural language processing. In this paper, we introduce a novel multimodal metaphor detection model named SC-Net. This model benefits from linguistic metaphor identification theories and aims to exploit the inherent semantic conflicts in metaphors to detect whether multimodal corpora are metaphorical. The model projects each modality into two distinct subspaces: a modality-semantic feature space and a modality-latent metaphorical feature space. The features derived from these spaces provide a comprehensive perspective for capturing both intramodal semantic conflicts and intermodal semantic conflicts for prediction purposes. Our experiments conducted on the Chinese, English, and Bilingual Met-meme datasets and the MultiBully dataset demonstrate that our proposed SC-Net achieves state-of-the-art performance.

An Overview of Research Methodologies for Metaphor Identification: A Case Study of the Georgian EFL Essay Corpus

An Overview of Research Methodologies for Metaphor Identification: A Case Study of the Georgian EFL Essay Corpus

Reconstruction of Metaphorical Mapping as an Instrument of the Pre-translation Analysis of Poetry

Although it can help avoid far too literal translations of metaphorical expressions, the reconstruction of metaphorical mapping is still an unclaimed instrument of pre-translation analysis. This research aims at a pre-translation analysis of a book of poems, Babylon in a Jar (1998) by Andrew Hudgins, which has not been previously translated into Russian. The method for linguistic metaphor identification created by G. Steen is applied for the first time in this study as an instrument of pre-translation analysis. Firstly, key conceptual metaphors of the book are identified: death is departure, life is a journey, plants are people, and emotional intimacy is physical closeness. Secondly, the relationship between source and target domains is analysed. For example, the source domain for the metaphor people are plants is a daffodil, a tree, or a chinaberry. In Western cultures, a chinaberry symbolizes the tree of knowledge and in A. Hudgins’ poem, this idea is mapped onto knowledge about sinful human nature. Thirdly, translation strategies are outlined. In the translated version, another plant is introduced to preserve the original cross-domain mapping because the chinaberry tree is not familiar to Russian readers. Based on conceptual metaphor theory, this research seeks to integrate the reconstruction of metaphorical mapping into a pre-translation analysis, which allows for the preservation of the spirit of the original version. These insights advance interdisciplinary research on poetry interpretation and the practice of translation.

LA PROTESTA ES UNA GUERRA: un análisis de grafitis referidos a la protesta social en Chile desde la metáfora conceptual

In October 2019, the so-called ‘social outbreak’ took place in Chile, a major socio-political conflict that led to an unprecedented constitutional change in the country. Under this context, the feminist movement takes on a prominent role, not only because of the massiveness of its demonstrations but also because of its influence on the achievement of gender parity in the constitutional process.The experiences of the protests were captured in the countless graffiti that have propagated in urban spaces since the social outbreak and which, even today, abound in certain areas. The aim of this study is to analyse the conceptual metaphors expressed in graffiti related to the Chilean protest. The methodology includes three instances of analysis: (1) the identification of linguistic metaphors; (2) their semantic-discursive grouping; and (3) the conceptual analysis of the established groups, in which the ‘Basic Scene’ (Rivano, 1999) component is considered. As a result, the conceptual metaphor PROTEST IS WAR is proposed, which conceptualises Chileans as warriors fighting against an enemy, represented by the political institutionality, the economic model and the patriarchal system. It is concluded that the established metaphor sets out a cognitive dichotomy that highlights the opposition between the participants in the Chilean social conflict and the demonstrators’ discomfort with the current system, emphasising its commitment and unity with the reasons to protest.

Metaphor identification in cybersecurity texts: a lightweight linguistic approach

The use of metaphor in cybersecurity discourse has become a topic of interest because of its ability to aid communication about abstract security concepts. In this paper, we borrow from existing metaphor identification algorithms and general theories to create a lightweight metaphor identification algorithm, which uses only one external source of knowledge. The algorithm also introduces a real time corpus builder for extracting collocates; this is, identifying words that appear together more frequently than chance. We implement several variations of the introduced algorithm and empirically evaluate the output using the TroFi dataset, a de facto evaluation dataset in metaphor research. We find first, contrary to our expectation, that adding word sense disambiguation to our metaphor identification algorithm decreases its performance. Second, we find, that our lightweight algorithms perform comparably to their existing, more complex, counterparts. Finally, we present the results of several case studies to observe the utility of the algorithm for future research in linguistic metaphor identification in text related to cybersecurity texts and threats.

"Desire Is Like a Dreadful Monster": Analysis of Extended Metaphors in L2 Argumentative Essays by Chinese Learners of English.

This article explores the use, function, and understanding of extended metaphors in L2 argumentative essays by Chinese learners of English. The analysis starts with the identification of linguistic metaphors and extended metaphors in 72 argumentative texts produced by 37 intermediate Chinese English majors. The function of extended metaphors is then analyzed by adopting the bottom-up approach of establishing systematic metaphors from those identified extended metaphors, to draw learners’ communicative intentions in producing extended metaphors. To understand learners’ thinking processes behind using extended metaphors while writing, four of nine writers were interviewed about the process of writing extended metaphors in their texts in the stimulated recall interviews. It is found that extended metaphors, expressed through similes or direct metaphors at strategic stages in L2 argumentative essays, are often the result of learners’ conscious manipulation of L1 in producing L2 for various communicative purposes, such as the desire for vividness, coherence, comprehensibility, when there is a knowledge gap between L1 and L2, and for evaluative and persuasive power. These communicative functions are consistent with the ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions of language, which also coincide and interact with the rhetorical goals of moves and stages in L2 argumentative essays. Metaphoric thinking, L1 influence, and struggling to express meaning and persuade, cited in learners’ thought reports, are major factors triggering extended metaphors. The findings of this article can contribute to the knowledge of learners’ metaphoric competence in L2, which can, in turn, enrich teachers’ metaphor knowledge and draw teachers’ attention to learners’ creative ways of using metaphors and then raise metaphor awareness in L2 writing, teaching, and learning.

Metaphorical Expressions and Ethical Appeals in Said Nursi’s Damascus Sermon

Contemporary cognitive linguistics views metaphor as pervasive in thoughts and conceptual in nature. Many ground-breaking facts on how human minds make use of metaphors have been revealed through research on cognitive sciences. Over the years, studies on conceptual metaphors in religious discourse have been conducted, but little is known about how orators make use of ethos (ethical appeals) and conceptual metaphors to influence their audience. This paper reports the results of a descriptive study which explores the influential Muslim thinker and theologian, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s (1877-1960) use of ethos and conceptual metaphors in his Damascus Sermon (1911). Specifically, this study identifies and interprets the metaphorical expressions used by Nursi which help him establish his ethos and strengthen his argument in the long run. The classical rhetoric theory is employed to examine the ethos while Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) cognitive theory of metaphor is employed to analyse the conceptual metaphors in the Sermon. The analysis of the Sermon involves 3 main stages: i) the identification of selected extracts that indicate ethos, ii) the identification of linguistic metaphors and iii) the identification of the underlying conceptual mapping of the metaphorical expressions. In order to identify the linguistic metaphors, the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) by PRAGGLEJAZ Group (2007) has been used. The findings show how the use of metaphors in the Sermon has contributed to the effectiveness of the ethical appeals made by Nursi, adding to his persuasive power. This study sets an antecedent for future studies on conceptual metaphors in religious discourse as a mechanism for rhetorical appeals.

Emotion metaphors in new Englishes

AbstractResearch into emotion concepts has become an established part of the cognitive-linguistic research agenda and has often revolved around the competing notions of universality (from the perspective of embodied cognition) and (cross- and within-cultural) variation (seeKövecses 2005). At the same time, a relatively recent approach to socio-variational aspects of language in the form of Cognitive Sociolinguistics has created an ideal platform for the study of variation in institutionalized second-language varieties of English, often referred to as new Englishes (seeKristiansen & Dirven 2008;Wolf & Polzenhagen 2009). This paper aims at bringing together these two research strands in a study devoted to variation on the level of metaphor in new Englishes, specifically involved in the conceptualization of emotion. While metaphor is theoretically understood within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1980), this study will make use of a corpus-based method of metaphor retrieval and identification informed by Stefanowitsch’s (2004,2006) Metaphorical Pattern Analysis (MPA) andSteen et al.’s (2010)method for linguistic metaphor identification (MIPVU).angermetaphors will be examined for four second-language varieties of English, namely those spoken in Nigeria, Kenya, India, and Singapore, which are represented in theGlobal Web-based Englishcorpus (GloWbE;Davies 2013).With the assumption that metaphor variation emerges in a variety’s preference for certain source domains in emotion-based mappings vis-à-vis other varieties, the main questions at the core of the analysis are: (1) Which source domains are employed in a respective variety to conceptualizeanger? and (2) To what extent are the source domain preferences of new Englishes similar to a norm-providing variety, namely British English? Although initial results reveal much similarity, some differences in the data are highlighted at a deeper level of analysis. Thus, a discussion of the results provides a basis for inter-variety comparison ofangermetaphors and, thus, contribute to the universality / variation debate.

Using Dictionaries in Metaphor Identification

Metaphor has been the focus of cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, applied linguistics, corpus linguistics, and metaphor identification lays a solid foundation for metaphor research. Since Lakoff and Johnson (1980) proposed the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, much attention has been given to the conceptual and cognitive dimensions of metaphor, leaving linguistic dimension secondary. However, when MIP was introduced in 2007, which aims to identify metaphorically used lexical units in natural discourses, metaphor researchers have developed a systematic and reliable methodology for identifying linguistic metaphor instead of working with intuition and subjective criteria, which enables them to focus their research on different levels-linguistic forms, conceptual structure and cognitive processing. As MIP requires metaphor analysts to work through five steps, in which they depend heavily on dictionaries to determine lexical units and specify the basic and contextual senses, the use of dictionaries becomes the critical element in MIP. The Pagglejaz Group chose Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners a reference, while MIPVU, the elaborated version of MIP, used Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Oxford English Dictionary apart from Macmillan dictionary. The author, by demonstrating the use of different types of dictionaries in MIP, tries to show that together with learners’ dictionaries, historical dictionaries, collocation dictionaries and specialized dictionaries can also be used for cross reference to guarantee the reliability of linguistic metaphor identification.

Towards a metaphor-annotated corpus of Mandarin Chinese

Building on the success of the VU Amsterdam Metaphor Corpus, which comprises English texts annotated with metaphor following the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrjie Universiteit (MIPVU; Steen et al. in Cogn Linguist 21(4):765–796, 2010a; Steen et al. in A method for linguistic metaphor identification: from MIP to MIPVU. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, 2010b), this study has three aims: (1) to adapt and evaluate the transferability and reliability of MIPVU for Mandarin Chinese; (2) to construct a corpus of Chinese texts annotated for metaphor using the adapted procedure; and (3) to examine the distribution of metaphor-related words across Chinese texts in three different written registers: academic discourse, fiction, and news. The results of our inter-annotator reliability test show that MIPVU can be reliably applied to linguistic metaphor identification in Chinese texts. Our metaphor-annotated corpus consists of texts randomly sampled from the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese, totaling 30,012 words (about 10,000 for each register). Data analysis reveals that approximately one out of every nine lexical units in our Chinese corpus is related to metaphor, that there is considerable variation in metaphor density across different registers and lexical categories, and that metaphor density is significantly lower in Chinese than in English texts. Our assessment of the replicability of MIPVU for Mandarin Chinese adds to the groundbreaking methodological contribution that Steen et al. (2010a, b) has made to metaphor research. The metaphor-annotated corpus of Mandarin Chinese contributes a valuable language resource for Chinese metaphor researchers, and our analysis of the distribution of metaphor-related words in the corpus offers useful new insights into the extent and use of metaphor in Chinese discourse.

Six Steps from Visual Metaphors to Knowledge Transfer

The paper presents evidence from research into the problem of knowledge transfer modalities and cognitive powers of the visual metaphor. We aim at developing a reliable method for visual metaphors identification. For this purpose we have employed up-to-date methods for linguistic metaphor identification and conceptual metaphors modelling, which have been modified in compliance with the data specifics. The Procedure has been applied for the extraction of knowledge, transferred via visual metaphors in the World War II propaganda posters by KUKRYNIKSI. The results obtained include visual metaphors and conceptual metaphor models simulated in the process of the six-step visual metaphor analysis, which provide deeper understanding and profound interpretation of the artists’ intention; modification and validation of the methods for visual metaphors identification. In conclusion we discuss the perspectives of using the methods for other types of data. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p228

Review of Steen, Dorst, Herrmann, Kaal, Krennmayr & Pasma (2010): A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU

Review of Steen, Dorst, Herrmann, Kaal, Krennmayr & Pasma (2010): A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU

Recognition of personifications in fiction by non-expert readers

This paper offers an integrated typology for the classification of personifications in discourse, based on existing methods for linguistic metaphor identification such as MIP (Pragglejaz Group, 2007) and MIPVU (Steen et al., 2010). The psychological relevance of the proposed typology is explored in an empirical study that examines the recognition of personifications in fiction by non-expert readers. A selection of structural properties of personifications is discussed and predictions are formulated regarding which values of which variables are deemed to boost the recognition of personifications. The results suggest that the different types of personification differ in recognizability and that their recognition may be more strongly determined by inherent properties (such as conventionality) than by external factors (such as the presence of a prime). Though the results cannot be unambiguously interpreted, they do indicate some tendencies in the behaviour of non-expert readers and their perceptions of the forms and functions of personification in fiction.

Op Zoek Naar Metaforen In Het Frans

As a result of the increased interest in metaphor research in the last three decades and the need for a formal, systematic method to identify metaphors in discourse, the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) was developed (Pragglejaz Group, 2007). This procedure aims to identify metaphors in an objective way by using a dictionary as a work of reference instead of the intuition of analysts. The procedure was originally developed on the basis of (British) English. The present study investigates to what extent it is possible to directly use this procedure for the identification of linguistic metaphors in French. An almost 40,000 word corpus was analyzed with the help of the MIP and this study discusses both dictionary related and language specific issues that arose during the annotation process. It is shown that the MIP can quite easily be applied to French, but that for some issues adaptations to the procedure are needed.

Confrontation or complementarity?

Theoretical and methodological challenges presented by studying metaphor in its discourse environment are addressed. Complex dynamic systems theory provides a theoretical ‘discourse dynamics’ framework for describing metaphor in face-to-face conversation, and more generally, as a phenomenon that is at once linguistic, cognitive, affective and socio-cultural. Empirical data from post-conflict reconciliation conversations illustrate the procedures of metaphor-led discourse analysis, using metaphor to investigate patterns of talking and thinking. Identification of linguistic metaphors is followed by the extraction of patterns of metaphor use, which include metaphor clusters and ‘systematic metaphors’. Connections are made between metaphor in on-line talk, patterns of metaphor use in discourse events and metaphor in socio-cultural life. The final section of this article discusses whether the differences found between metaphor as hypothesised in conceptual metaphor theory and metaphor in real-world discourse reflect an essential incompatibility or can be used more positively in developing cognitive approaches to metaphor.

Patterns of metaphor use in reconciliation talk

In a violent world, reconciliation between perpetrators and victims offers an alternative to revenge or retaliation. In such discourse, participants must make extended efforts to explain themselves to, and to understand, the Other. This article investigates emergent patterns of metaphor in reconciliation talk between an IRA bomber and victim, recorded over two and a half years. The analysis starts from identification of linguistic metaphors and works recursively between levels of discourse, revealing how micro-level negotiation of metaphors contributes to emergent macro-level metaphor systems. Metaphors frame the reconciliation process as A JOURNEY, as CONNECTION, as CHANGING A DISTORTED IMAGE and as LISTENING TO THE OTHER'S STORY. The metaphors vary in their lexicogrammatical patterns and in the degree to which they are extended and developed. Contrasting metaphors are shown to be particularly valuable, as is ‘symbolic literalization’ in which the use of words across metaphor, metonymy and the literal creates useful indeterminacy.

Methodological problems in the analysis of metaphors in a corpus of conversations about cancer

In this paper, we discuss a number of methodological problems we have encountered in identifying and analysing metaphors in a corpus of conversations about cancer. These problems relate particularly to: (i) the boundary between the literal and the metaphorical in the identification of linguistic metaphors; (ii) the precise identification of tenor and vehicle in relation to each linguistic metaphor; (iii) the extrapolation of conceptual metaphors from linguistic metaphors; and (iv) the extrapolation of conventional metaphors from patterns in the data. We begin with a discussion of the way in which metaphors are commonly analysed within the cognitive paradigm, and introduce in detail Steen’s [From linguistic to conceptual metaphor in five steps. In: Gibbs, R., Steen, G. (Eds.), Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, p. 57, 1999] proposal for an explicit and rigorous procedure for metaphor analysis. We then present a range of examples from our corpus that pose problems at different points in Steen’s procedure, and demonstrate how different decisions in the process of analysis lead to dramatically different conclusions as to the way in which cancer appears to be metaphorically constructed in our data. In light of our discussion, we propose some adjustments to Steen’s procedure and highlight areas in which further research is needed.

Methodological problems in the analysis of metaphors in a corpus of conversations about cancer

In this paper, we discuss a number of methodological problems we have encountered in identifying and analysing metaphors in a corpus of conversations about cancer. These problems relate particularly to: (i) the boundary between the literal and the metaphorical in the identification of linguistic metaphors; (ii) the precise identification of tenor and vehicle in relation to each linguistic metaphor; (iii) the extrapolation of conceptual metaphors from linguistic metaphors; and (iv) the extrapolation of conventional metaphors from patterns in the data. We begin with a discussion of the way in which metaphors are commonly analysed within the cognitive paradigm, and introduce in detail Steen’s [From linguistic to conceptual metaphor in five steps. In: Gibbs, R., Steen, G. (Eds.), Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, p. 57, 1999] proposal for an explicit and rigorous procedure for metaphor analysis. We then present a range of examples from our corpus that pose problems at different points in Steen’s procedure, and demonstrate how different decisions in the process of analysis lead to dramatically different conclusions as to the way in which cancer appears to be metaphorically constructed in our data. In light of our discussion, we propose some adjustments to Steen’s procedure and highlight areas in which further research is needed.

Linguistic metaphor identification in two extracts from novels

This article examines a series of issues involved in identifying metaphors in texts. Metaphor identification is, in turn, a fundamental part of the more complex issue of how to relate linguistic metaphors in texts to the conceptual metaphors of cognitive metaphor theory. In section 1 we list a number of general issues involved in metaphor identification. In sections 2 and 3 we examine two short fictional extracts from novels written in the 1990s (one from popular fiction and one from serious fiction), relating our detailed analyses to the general questions raised at the beginning of the article. We thus raise and exemplify a series of issues which do not have easy resolutions but which must be grasped (a) if a corpus-based approach to metaphor is to become a reality and (b) if the relations between conceptual and linguistic metaphors are to be fully understood. Interestingly, this attempt to be extremely detailed and systematic in turn leads us to comment on differences in aesthetic effects between the use of metaphors in the two extracts examined.