Metaphor Production Research Articles

Toward more reflexive, empowering, and ethical metaphorical organizational research

This study aims to take forward Gareth Morgan’s call for more reflexivity and self-deconstruction in metaphorical organizational research by developing a novel framework for the production and use of metaphors. Drawing on psychoanalytic theorizing, this framework seeks to move the field toward an approach to metaphors in which metaphors can be explored as symptoms of our struggles with unconscious desire. This, in turn, offers opportunities for engaging in more reflexive, empowering, and ethical metaphorical research.

La transformación de la metaphysica naturalis en metaforología

En el presente texto se examinará el sentido de la transformación kantiana de la metafísica a la luz de la metaforología de Hans Blumenberg. En un primer momento, se indicará la noción kantiana de la metaphysica naturalis que podemos encontrar en la Crítica de la razón pura, para mostrar cómo el programa de la metaforología asume esta formulación, pero tomandodistancia del proyecto de la historia de los conceptos realizado por Joachin Ritter. En un segundo momento, se examinará por qué para Blumenberg la metáfora puede ser asumida como una función antropológica específica. Finalmente, en un tercer momento, se indicará también por qué el despliegue histórico de la disposición natural del hombre a plantearse preguntas que no puede contestar, pero que tampoco puede rechazar porque surgen de su propia naturaleza, realiza el devenir de la metáfora en el mundo de la vida del hombre.

Levels of Ethical Quality of Metaphor in Stock Market Reporting

AbstractWhile many news media organizations offer guidelines about specific journalism practices such as fact checking, attribution, mandatory referrals, etc., to promote quality and integrity of their news products in congruence with the publicly defended principles of journalism ethics such as truthfulness, objectivity, and balance, that news companies of all editorial positions defend, it appears that news media organizations have not benefitted from the more than 30 years of research in Cognitive Linguistics demonstrating how metaphor influences how readers perceive events in the news and how it impacts their attitudes and behavior. Focusing on stock market reporting, this article identifies and explores levels of ethical quality in metaphor production by financial news media providers because improving the ethical quality of specific news reporting mechanisms is one step toward improving the ethical quality of news media organizations as a whole. In this model, high levels of ethical quality, or trustworthiness in metaphor, is the result of achieving high levels of communicative accuracy. Communicative accuracy is the product of metaphorical efficiency, or the lowest ratio of cognitive force—input‐output—needed by financial news consumers to process metaphor in order to stimulate predictable entailments, or limited creative and exploratory thought, resulting in high cognitive efficiency. Low ratios of cognitive force is achieved by using metaphors that reduce domain disparity in semantic fields employing domain concepts that are as familiar to the public or as similar in salient semantic features as possible. In the Appendix, this article provides a step‐by‐step rubric for implementing this model for journalists and editors in the production and editing phases.

The Study of Metaphor Use in ESAP L2 Writing

This research studies the influence of professional competence of EFL learners on their metaphor production. The task was approached through analyzing metaphors in the English written texts produced by Russian students with different competence in economics – the non-professional and professional competence level. Findings highlight similarities and divergence of metaphor use in L2 writing in terms of learners’ professional competence. The results of comparative analysis of specific features in metaphors produced at different professional competence levels reveal the quantitative and qualitative differences of what functions metaphors are used to perform and to what extent they are used accurately. With the shift from the non-professional to the professional competence level learners are able to use metaphors that combine a function of presenting abstract concepts with a discourse organising function in a more balanced way and make much more use of creative metaphors, and their metaphor production tends to be less influenced by L1 background. Practical recommendations suggest an improved research methodology for studying metaphor production in ESAP as well as a deeper understanding of ESP content and its structure.

Managing “dis-ease”: Print media, medical images, and patent medicine advertisements in colonial Korea

Over the past several decades, cultural studies scholars have shown a keen interest in the symbiosis between mass media and medicine, paying substantial attention to the capacity of media to construct meanings and images of health and disease and their material effects. In this article, I attempt to extend the insights of this scholarship into the historical context of colonial Korea under the non-western imperial power of Japan in the early 20th century. I critically analyze medical images and health discourses in print media to interrogate the ways in which these images and texts were interwoven in the production of novel ideas, metaphors, and notions of health, illness, and the body in the colonial modernity of Korea under Japanese rule (1910–45). Medical illustrations, along with texts in the vernacular newspapers and their patent medicine advertisements, powerfully forged visions of “ideal” male and female bodies at the intersection of Japanese colonialism, Korean nationalism, and modernity.

Effect of Topic Description on Ease of Metaphor Production: Difference between Emotional States and Actions in Describing Own Emotional Experiences

Effect of Topic Description on Ease of Metaphor Production: Difference between Emotional States and Actions in Describing Own Emotional Experiences

The study of conceptual metaphors in ESAP L2 writing: range and variability

The article presents the study of the influence of professional competence of EFL learners on their academic writing. The task was approached through analyzing learners’ competence in specific knowledge domains - knowledge of terms and specific concepts, represented as conceptual metaphors. Conceptual metaphor models were analyzed in the English written texts produced by Russian students with different competences in economics – at both non-professional and professional levels of academic discourse (NPAD and PAD respectively). Metaphor Identification Procedure VU University Amsterdam (MIPVU) was applied to metaphor identification, and alternative metaphor and preferential conceptualization analysis was performed to compare the scope of source and the range of target in NPAD and PAD. Findings highlight the areas of commonality as well as divergence in terms of students’ professional competence represented in conceptual metaphors in L2 writing. The main differences in the scope of the source analysis are quantitative rather than qualitative. The range of target comparison between NPAD and PAD indicates a significantly larger range of targets for the professional level students, a lower level of metaphorization for the non-professional level, and inclusive strategies across the two levels. Practical recommendations suggest an improved research methodology for studying metaphor production in EAP and ESP as well as a deeper understanding of ESP content and its structure.

Brain networks underlying novel metaphor production

Metaphors are widely used to convey abstract concepts and emotions in the arts and everyday life. Neuroimaging research suggests that dynamic interactions among large-scale brain networks, including the default and executive control networks, support the production of such creative ideas. However, the extent to which these networks interact to support other forms of creative language production such as metaphor remains unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored this question by assessing functional interactions between brain regions during novel metaphor production. Whole-brain functional connectivity analysis revealed a distributed network associated with metaphor production, including several nodes of the default (precuneus and left angular gyrus; AG) and executive control (right intraparietal sulcus; IPS) networks. Seed-based analyses showed increased connectivity between these network hubs, and temporal connectivity analysis found early coupling of default (left AG) and salience (right anterior insula) regions that preceded later coupling of the left AG and left DLPFC, pointing to a potential switching mechanism underlying default and executive network interaction. The results extend recent work on the cooperative role of large-scale networks in creative cognition, and suggest that metaphor production involves similar brain network dynamics as other forms of goal-directed, self-generated cognition.

On the production of metaphors and metonymies by Jordanian EFL learners: acquisition and implications

Abstract This study explores the ability of Jordanian learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to produce English metaphorical and metonymical expressions, using a completion task. It also examines whether the use of conceptual and linguistic knowledge of the participants’ first language, i.e. Jordanian Arabic (JA) would facilitate the production task. The study adopts a contrastive model to compare and contrast figurative devices in English and JA, consisting of six types that vary in relation to the conceptual bases and linguistic expressions involved. The results reveal that even though the participants’ scores were poor, the participants exhibited a general capacity to produce metaphorical/metonymical expressions that are similar in meaning to the ones required on the test, utilizing their L1 conceptual and linguistic knowledge. It was suggested that three important factors need to be satisfied to enable EFL learners to produce English figurative devices correctly, i.e. knowledge of the conceptual bases involved, a good command of English collocational knowledge and familiarity with the concept of partial synonymy, and continuous exposure to the figurative expressions in real-life English. Based on these results, the study proposes some pedagogical implications that may assist EFL learners to familiarize themselves with metaphorical/metonymical expressions in English and it concludes with recommendations for further research.

Cross-cultural variation in deliberate metaphor interpretation

The distinction between ‘deliberate’ and ‘non deliberate’ metaphors has been developed within a five-step framework (Steen) of metaphor production. Deliberate metaphors invite the addressee to pay special attention to their cross-domain structure mapping rather than focusing primarily on the topical proposition. This paper presents results of a pilot survey eliciting interpretations for the metaphors a nation is a body/a nation is a person from an international sample of respondents in 10 different countries. ESL/EFL users from diverse cultural and/or linguistic backgrounds were asked to apply the metaphorical idiombody politicto their home nations. The responses show systematic variation in preferred metaphor interpretations, some of which can be linked to dominant cultural traditions, as well as evidence of polemical and/or ironic elaboration. Neither of these findings is predicted by classic conceptualist models that describe metaphor understanding as an automatic and unconscious process. Instead, when paying special attention to metaphoricity, informants seem to have chosen between diverse interpretation versions and in some cases to have elaborated them further to achieve social pragmatic effects. These findings provide new supporting evidence for Deliberate Metaphor Theory by highlighting deliberateness in metaphor interpretation and outlining perspectives for further empirical testing of metaphor understanding in specific registers and usage contexts (e.g., political discourse, EFL/ESL acquisition).

Evaluación Multidimensional de la Superdotación: Criterios de validez de la Batería de Inteligencia y Creatividad para predecirlos talentos artísticos y académicos

<p class="Abstract">We test the utility of the Battery for Giftedness Assessment (BaAH/S) in identifying differences in two groups of already known gifted students in the areas of academic and artistic talents. Four latent factors were assessed (a) fluid intelligence, (b) metaphor production (verbal creativity), (c) figural fluency (figural creativity), and (d) divergent thinking figural task quality (figural creativity). A sample of 987 children and adolescents, 464 boys and 523 girls, of ages ranging from 8 to 17 of two groups: regular students (N=866) and gifted students (N= 67 academic abilities, N=34 artistic abilities and N=20 no domain identified). Academic giftedness group of have higher reasoning, can produce more remote/original metaphors, high figural fluency and drawings rated as more original. Children in the group of artistic giftedness have higher reasoning, high figural fluency and drawings rated as more original. Reasoning abilities are relatively higher in academic giftedness group than artistic (<em>r </em>= .39 vs <em>r </em>=.14). Within artistic group figural fluency and ratings of originality are relatively more important than reasoning (<em>r </em>= .25 and <em>r</em> = .21 vs .14). We emphasizes the importance of assessing creativity in different domains in addition to intelligence to improve the understanding of giftedness and talent.</p>

Metaphors Production and Comprehension by Qatari EFL Learners: A Cognitive Approach

The present study investigates the problems that face Qatari learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the production and comprehension of the metaphorical expressions. It aims to reach pedagogical insights related to EFL curriculum design and teaching metaphors. The sample of the study consisted of 40 Qatari students study English courses in the Department of Language and Literature as a requirement for their associate degree at the community college of Qatar. A questionnaire, writing test and interviews were used as instruments of the study. The findings of the study showed that the Qatari learners of EFL encountered difficulties in the comprehension and production of the conceptual metaphors due to their unfamiliarity with the culture of the English Language and their incapability to evaluate whether a statement is meant to be a metaphor or a literal one. Therefore, to raise the EFL learners’ awareness of the conceptual metaphors the materials of teaching EFL should focus on the social and cultural dimensions of the language.

Conceptualisation of English teachers’ professional identity and comprehension of its dynamics

This study attempts to conceptualise English teachers’ professional identity based on an understanding of identity in a socio-psychological framework, and thereby reveal the attributes and dynamics of professional identity by investigating Korean English teachers’ cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses to their national English curriculum and related policies. Based on a narrative approach within the qualitative research framework, three modes of narrative were used for data gathering and analysis. Two in-depth interviews were conducted and responses to descriptive questionnaires and metaphor production of a teacher-self required of five academic high school English teachers. Examination of those data disclosed that seven different identities constitute their professional identity, and these identities and their meaning systems interplay within a self, as well as interact with an English language teaching environment. Conceptualisation of English teachers’ professional identity and comprehension of its dynamics may help policy-makers or curriculum designers comprehend the mechanisms and rationales of policy success or failure in relation to teacher roles and values, and furthermore will provide several implications to consider for successful curriculum reform.

Metaphors Production and Comprehension by Qatari EFL learners: A Cognitive Approach

The present study investigates the problems that face Qatari learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in the production and comprehension of the metaphorical expressions. It aims to reach pedagogical insights related to EFL curriculum design and teaching metaphors. The sample of the study consisted of 40 Qatari students study English courses in the Department of Language and Literature as a requirement for their associate degree at the community college of Qatar. A questionnaire, writing test and interviews were used as instruments of the study. The findings of the study showed that the Qatari learners of EFL encountered difficulties in the comprehension and production of the conceptual metaphors due to their unfamiliarity with the culture of the English Language and their incapability to evaluate whether a statement is meant to be a metaphor or a literal one. Therefore, to raise the EFL learners’ awareness of the conceptual metaphors the materials of teaching EFL should focus on the social and cultural dimensions of the language.

Aptness Predicts Metaphor Preference in the Lab and on the Internet

ABSTRACTExperimental studies have suggested that variables such as aptness (Chiappe & Kennedy, 2001) or conventionality (Gentner & Bowdle, 2008) are predictors of people’s preference for expressing a particular topic–vehicle pair (e.g., “time–money”) as either a metaphor (“TIME IS MONEY”) or a simile (“TIME IS LIKE MONEY”). In the present study, we investigated if such variables would also be predictive within a more naturalistic context, where other variables, such as the intention to include an explanation (Roncero, Kennedy, & Smyth, 2006), may also influence people’s decision. Specifically, we investigated the production of metaphor and simile expressions on the Internet via the Google search engine and checked for accompanying explanations, as well as the properties they expressed, to examine whether ratings such as aptness, conventionality, as well as participants’ own stated preference or the intention to produce an explanation, would predict which topic–vehicle pairs appeared more often as metaphors. We found that participants’ stated preference predicted metaphor dominance on the Internet, and that apt topic–vehicles occurred more often as metaphors. The explanations collected, however, occurred 82% of the time after similes, and familiar expressions were the most explained. Finally, comparing the properties expressed in these explanations to normed property lists, we found that simile explanations typically expressed a novel conception of the topic–vehicle relationship. Therefore, we found that Internet posters use metaphors to convey an apt relationship, as found in previous laboratory studies, but prefer using a simile frame when they want to express a relationship that readers will find novel.

Elaboración metafórica en una intervención narrativo-conversacional de tratamiento del uso de drogas

En el presente trabajo se describe el proceso elaborativo suscitado a partir de una intervención narrativo-conversacional breve, dirigida a reforzar el tratamiento y la reintegración social de personas con uso problemático de drogas. La intervención comprendió tres sesiones centradas en la reconstrucción de la experiencia en tratamiento y de las expectativas respecto de la próxima reintegración social, a partir de un ejercicio narrativo basado en una metáfora del tratamiento como viaje. Participaron 10 personas captadas en dos unidades de tratamiento en Ciudad de México. El ejercicio de una escucha activa propició la integración cognitivo-afectiva de la experiencia en el tratamiento, así como el esclarecimiento de expectativas, temores o deseos suscitados por el próximo término del mismo. Se observó una abundante producción metafórica, vinculada con nuevas formas de significar la experiencia, una amplia expresión de afectos y una mayor claridad ante el futuro.

Metaphor Interpretation and Cultural Linguistics

Metaphor use is characterised by conceptual variation that can be explained with reference to culture-specific discourse traditions. Cognitively oriented metaphor analyses that are interested in cultural relativity have so far concentrated mainly on the production side of metaphors and their misunderstanding by ESL learners. This study, by contrast, focuses on variation in metaphor interpretation across groups of ESL/EFL users from 31 cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Its data consist of a questionnaire survey, administered in 10 countries, which gave students the task of applying the metaphor of the “body politic” to one’s home nation. The results show systematic variation between four interpretation models for this metaphor, i.e. NATION AS GEOBODY, NATION AS FUNCTIONAL WHOLE, NATION AS PART OF SELF and NATION AS PART OF INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL STRUCTURE, as well as some evidence of elaborate polemical and/or political elaboration. The two main versions, i.e. NATION AS GEOBODY and NATION AS FUNCTIONAL WHOLE, were represented across all cohorts but exhibited opposite frequency patterns across Chinese v. Western cohorts, with the former favouring GEOBODY-based, the latter functional interpretations. This finding and the evidence of elaborate metaphor interpretations lead to culture-specific motivations of variation in metaphor interpretation (as well as in metaphor production), specifically with regard to the frequency and distribution patterns of source concepts. Metaphor interpretation analysis can thus contribute to a cognitive metaphor analysis in general and especially to “cultural linguistics” approach to metaphor.

On the Global Imaginary: Visualizing and Interpreting Aesthetics of Global Change in Melbourne, Australia and Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

In the last few decades, China's largest city, Shanghai, has been rapidly growing. The city's increasing financial power and China's rapid economic development are reflected by the ever-changing and super-modern Pudong skyline, as well as by the display of luxury goods and the abundance of shopping malls dotting the urban social fabric. Melbourne, the fastest growing and globalizing city of Australia, presently shows the exhaustion of its multicultural philosophy and a heavy transformation of its symbolic environment. Indeed, the pervades and alters the urban social fabric of both cities through hybrid cultural assemblages. These particular types of images, identified as condensation symbols and ideological markers of globality, have the power to create the imaginary in a single place. This investigation approaches globalization as a material and ideational process from an alternative aesthetic standpoint. In particular, the inquiry deals with the increasing global consciousness, the production, circulation and consumption of images and metaphors that constitute the common sense of the global. This image-driven investigation is carried out through a strategic research methodology that combines fieldwork, new theoretical frameworks and case studies method. The research attempts to grasp how the imaginary is symbolically and socially produced in Melbourne and Shanghai, while explaining why condensation symbols are deeply relevant to the field of global studies.

The Poetry of the World

This text focus on Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of “co-appearing.” We claim that Nancy understands “co-appearing” as a non-subjective process of original synthesis, which provides the ultimate ontological grounds for a post-hermeneutical understanding of Being. We also suggests that “co-appearing” allows to elaborate a reinterpretation of transcendental logic. As original synthetic process, “co-appearing” describes the way in which meaning produces itself, without involving the category of a subjective, or even existential, “understanding.” We identify the production of meaning through an analysis of metaphors in Aristotle’s Poetics. Metaphors create meaning by opposing terms that “appear with” one another. My hypothesis is that the production of metaphors offers a clear example of how meaning is produced abandoning any presupposition concerning self-reflection and subjectivity. It is in that sense that “co-appearing” challenges transcendental logic and pushes us to reinvent it.

Economy is a living organism

This paper presents results from a qualitative corpus-based study on Spanish EFL learners’ metaphorical production. The analysis of a learner corpus of business English, which included essays written by undergraduates, showed that learners do make use of metaphorical language and that the metaphorical expressions identified in their texts — economy/business is a living organism, business is war, business is a relationship, and economic success and failure are movements on a vertical axis — match those used by native speakers, as stated in the literature (Burcea, 2010; Kovács, 2006; Kövecses, 2002; White, 2003; among others). In addition, data also confirmed that even in learner’s language metaphors are connected in large networks within the same text, which contribute to enhancing text global coherence, as pointed out by Semino (2008). Finally, the potential benefits of raising learners’ metaphorical awareness and making explicit to them cross-linguistic differences in the expression of general conceptual metaphors are highlighted.