Metaphorical Expressions Research Articles

Multimodal Meaning Construction of Anti-Pandemic Promotion Picture from the Semiotic-Congnitive Perspective

As the major form of anti-epidemic promotion in network media, anti-epidemic promotion picture applies diversified multi-modal symbol resources in the construction of meaning. By exploring the interactive relationship between visual grammar and conceptual metaphor/metonymy, a joint multimodal research framework is created to clarify the meaning construction and mechanism contained in anti-epidemic pictures. The research shows that conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy not only provide cognitive motivation for the realization of visual grammar, but also inspire the associations of images to the real world. Visual Grammar highlights the cognitive meaning expression of conceptual metaphor and metonymy, stimulates readers’ interpretation of conceptual metaphor and metonymy. The research explores the combination of two mainstream multimodal research paths, and provides a new perspective for multimodal discourse analysis practice.

Analysis of Multimodal Metaphor and Values Representation in Children’s Picture Books

Children’s picture books, as a form of text interwoven with vision and language, carry rich cultural information and educational functions. The purpose of this article is to explore the phenomenon of multimodal metaphor in children’s picture books and reveal its influence on ideological construction. Firstly, the article compiles the research background and puts forward the research value of multimodal metaphors in children’s picture books. Then, it constructs an analytical framework for children’s picture books that integrates visual semiotics and metaphor theory, and analyzes the specific use of multimodal metaphors in children’s picture books through example analyses, including the interaction between images and words, the symbolism of colors and shapes, and the construction of metaphors in the narrative structure. These case studies reveal how children’s understanding of the world is shaped by multimodal metaphorical strategies in picture books, which in turn subconsciously convey specific values and ideologies. Future research should explore more deeply the differences of multimodal metaphors in different cultural contexts and their application strategies in children’s education, with a view to cultivating children’s critical thinking and promoting diversified development of children’s picture books.

Структурно-семантичні особливості ідіом з колірними компонентами в англомовному діловому дискурсі

In recent years, the study of language has evolved to explore the intricate nuances that shape our communication. One fascinating aspect of language is the use of idioms, which enable speakers to convey emotions indirectly through metaphorical expression. Although idioms enrich language and enhance its expressiveness and vividness, they often cause difficulties for people learning English. Among the myriad of idioms, those related to colours stand out as vibrant and captivating elements of linguistic diversity. Colour is an objective quality of the material world, encoded by language signs into a diverse array of information. Colour schemes and their designations are universal elements of the larger colour symbolic system, composed of multiple subsystems each with their own function and structure. As carriers of information about the surrounding world, colour designations are meaningful topics for cognitive, psycholinguistic, linguistic, and cultural studies. Understanding the structural and semantic features of colour idioms is essential for unravelling the intricate threads that make up effective communication, especially in the context of business discourse. The purpose of this paper is to delve into the semantic and structural features of colour idioms used in English business discourse. General methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, classification), theoretical methods (system analysis), graphical, as well as methods of logical, system-structural analysis and connections, comparative and dialectical approaches have been used. Results. Colour symbolism, like any other, is based on the peculiarities of the human psyche, on various associations, which are based on everyday human experience, fed by mythological, religious and aesthetic views. Examining business idioms with the colour component we can say that the semantics of this component often differ from the semantics of the same colour name in free use. The meanings of different colours in business idioms were scrutinized. A detailed analysis was also carried out and a certain proportion of idioms was determined by structures and colours, and the corresponding diagrams were given. The study shows the prevalence of the blue colour (17%), followed by black (15%), red and white (13% each). The yellow colour appears to be less utilized, constituting only 2% of the analysed idioms. The analysis of the syntactic characteristics of colour idioms has shown the dominance of nominal idioms (80%), followed by verbal idioms (10%) with adjectival making up 6% and the adverbial being represented by 1 lexical unit (4%). The originality of this article lies in the study of the symbolism of colours in terms of their use in business phraseological units, and a detailed structural and semantic analysis of colour idioms used in business discourse. Conclusion. The study underscores the significance of colour idioms within the business vocabulary, emphasizing their relevance. Proficiency in these expressions not only enriches one's linguistic repertoire but also enhances communication skills. Business idioms are an important segment in the business vocabulary. Colour idioms occupy a large share in business phraseology, the study of which requires further research.

Dreamers and caminantes

Migration remains a recurring yet controversial subject in today’s society. Previous research on press discourse has predominantly focused on migration metaphors from their verbal construction (Santa Ana, 1999; O’Brien, 2003) and the interplay with the visual mode in articles (Catalano & Waugh, 2013; Catalano & Mitchell-McCollough, 2019) or political cartoons (El Refaie, 2003). This genre frequently reflects an unfavorable and discriminatory representation of migrants through the lens of the host country. However, children’s picture books addressing this sensitive issue have received little attention despite their pedagogical value for promoting intercultural, positive attitudes at an early age in an increasingly multicultural and multilingual world. Our study aims to examine the metaphorical construction of migration in Yuyi Morales’ picture book Dreamers, combining the cognitive and social semiotic approaches (Forceville, 2016; Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006; Painter et al., 2013) to shed light on how both frameworks can complement each other in Critical Discourse Analysis and to demonstrate how children’s picture books can constructively contribute to social change by providing a counterbalancing voice to the dominant narrative on migration.

Conceptual Metaphor “MEDIA AS A TRAP” in Vietnamese and English online Newspapers

The study explores the conceptual metaphor of "MEDIA AS A TRAP" in Vietnamese and English, aiming to understand perceptions of media in these linguistic contexts. Using the theory of conceptual metaphor in cognitive linguistics, alongside descriptive and semantic analysis methods, the research establishes and analyzes the mapping from the source domain of "TRAP" to the target domain of "MEDIA." By examining metaphorical expressions in press texts, the study uncovers underlying cognitive models, including media as trickery and media as a scam. Survey data reveals similar frequencies of metaphorical expressions in both languages, with 110 instances in Vietnamese and 90 in English, indicating a shared understanding of the metaphor. The analysis highlights significant parallels and distinctions in the conceptual metaphor "MEDIA IS A TRAP" between Vietnamese and English, underscoring its universal cognitive and linguistic significance. Both languages employ similar conceptual metaphorical expressions, yet exhibit subtle differences reflecting distinct cultural perspectives.

The Power to Move the Eiffel Tower: Conceptual Metaphor and Persuasion in L2 Argumentative Writing

This article analyses conceptual metaphors produced in argumentative writing by learners of English as a second language (L2). Founded on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, it explores the linguistic metaphorical expressions which reflect an underlying conceptual metaphor. By drawing on Critical Metaphor Analysis, this research adopts a qualitative approach to analysing the concealed motivations behind a conceptual metaphor use. The data of this study comprise five argumentative essay samples collected from foundation year students at a private university in Malaysia. This study reveals how a conceptual metaphor is evoked to frame an argument in a way that is advantageous to the participants, particularly in establishing their stance on the proposition that social media is advantageous rather than disadvantageous to its users. Seven conceptual metaphors identified from the five samples of writing are related to social media, namely global mass gathering, loudspeaker, free society, accommodation, teacher, strong force and maze. While the first six metaphors serve as rhetorical tools to aid the participants in establishing arguments, the last metaphor is raised in the counterclaim section to illustrate how the opposition could equally rely on conceptual metaphors to establish its viewpoint. In instances where the metaphors are deployed as rhetorical devices, the participants’ covert intention to convince readers of their standpoint is achieved by utilising the conceptual metaphors to illuminate abstract ideas, arouse positive or negative emotions in readers, indicate positive or negative evaluations and evoke an ideology.

Metaphorical conceptualizations of generative artificial intelligence use by Chinese university EFL learners

The unveiling of ChatGPT 4o by OpenAI, a multimodal large language model powered by Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), has injected interest and incited debate throughout the echelon of education institutions regarding its prospective benefits and drawbacks. Nonetheless, investigations into the learners’ perceptions of GenAI use in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) remain markedly insufficient. The study adopts an explorative stance and aims to explore the attitudes and perceptions of Chinese EFL learners toward GenAI use in language learning through the application of metaphor analysis. Data were collected from 281 EFL students of varying majors in four key universities across China by completing a sentence using metaphors to elicit their attitudes and perceptions toward GenAI use in language learning. Through qualitative analysis of metaphorical constructs, including HUMANS, TOOL/MACHINE, BRAIN, RESOURCES, FOOD/DRINK, and MEDICINE metaphors, the study unveils a spectrum of attitudes toward GenAI. While some language learners perceived GenAI as supportive, helpful, and intelligent, others expressed concerns about over-reliance and potential loss of critical thinking skills. The findings underscore the importance of considering learners’ diverse attitudes and beliefs toward GenAI use and application in language learning pedagogy. The implications of these findings for the future integration of GenAI in language education are discussed, complemented by recommendations for further research and pedagogical practice.

Context, transparency and culture in motor resonance phenomena: Causal evidence of the motor cortex

A connection between language and movement information in metaphorical and literal expressions activates the motor system. Despite numerous studies exploring distinctions between idioms and metaphors, a notable research gap remains in the specific effect of idioms with different transparency levels concerning motor resonance. Our primary focus was analysing the functional role of the primary motor cortex (M1) in processing hand motor verbs both in literal expressions and in two idiomatic contexts, i.e., opaque and transparent idioms. Additionally, we explored a potential language and cultural effect by comparing Turkish and Spanish speakers. An overt priming task with self-paced reading was used to judge the relatedness of a primer and a target sentence. We implemented a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol using continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) compared to sham stimulation over the M1 in both Turkish and Spanish native speakers prior to the experimental task. Our findings reveal that the performance of Turkish and Spanish participants in processing hand motor actions was facilitated after the application of cTBS over the left M1. Moreover, brain stimulation specifically facilitated the processing of only transparent—but not opaque—idioms in both Spanish and Turkish participants. Our study reports distinct motor resonance results between different types of idioms with a parallel cross-cultural effect.

Rhetorical Construct of the Self: An Exploration of Writings of Teacher Education Students with Delayed College Enrollment

Understanding people’s thinking and actions through exploring their word choice in written discourse can provide an objective analysis of their behavioural patterns in responding to life adversities. This study utilising quantitative and qualitative approaches is an attempt to investigate the coping mechanisms as response to the challenges of pursuing a bachelor’s degree of teacher education students who had postponed their college enrollment after graduating from high school. This investigation revolved around analysing students’ written essays for personality type profiling using M. A. K. Halliday’s Transitivity Theory and exploiting their aspired professional identity employing Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The analysis of students’ written essays dealing with life challenges revealed their dominant actor, carrier and senser-personality types that reinforced their self consciousness enabling them to be reflective and strategic in addressing life challenges. Moreover, the conceptual metaphor “Teachers are Heroes”, as disclosed by the metaphorical constructs of their aspired professional identity, helped them develop motivation, as they realised the significant role which professional teachers play in the society. This self-identification derived from their projected personality types and the motivation they gained from realising their aspired professional identity served as a coping mechanism by stimulating their confidence in dealing with the challenges associated with continuing their college education. To enhance self-awareness and promote self-reflection among teacher education students, this study advocates the integration of the theories of transitivity and metaphor into teacher education curricula for professional identity development.

Orientational Metaphor in Central Kurdish

This study is entitled "Orientational Metaphor in Central Kurdish". It attempts to explicate how non-spatial concepts are metaphorised in terms of various aspects of space in Central Kurdish. The main aim of the study is to interpret spatial metaphorical expressions that express the cognitive processes of meaning-making. The study adopts the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT)within the framework of cognitive semantics. It deals with orientational metaphor as a specific type of conceptual metaphor. In cognitive semantics, language is a mirror of thought; linguistic expressions are manifestations of conceptual mappings structured in the mind. The data of the study is taken from ordinary everyday Kurdish. The data analysis illuminates the spatialization of a wide variety of abstract concepts through metaphorical uses of space. The study is in line with the cognitive linguists in that linguistic expressions that represent concepts are not semantically independent, as the Anglo-American philosophical tradition claimed, but are structured with respect to one another. Spatial concepts are first structured in thought in the form of a formula based on physical and socio-cultural experiences, and then expressed via linguistic metaphors; accordingly, metaphor is a cognitive phenomenon, it is in thought, not in language. It is patterns of thought that are echoed in patterns of language.

Conceptual Metaphors in Narrative Advertisements for Places: A Comparative Study Between English and Lithuanian

The paper examines 15 conceptual metaphors in advertisements for hotels based in Lithuania, focusing on the similarities and differences between English and Lithuanian versions of these advertisements. 21 English and Lithuanian hotel websites were analysed, resulting in 104 metaphorical expressions in English and 39 metaphorical expressions in Lithuanian. The focus was on categorizing the findings based on whether the compared texts: 1) maintained consistent metaphorical meanings in both languages; 2) featured distinct metaphorical expressions in one language; 3) lacked metaphors in one language; 4) had instances of missing metaphorical sentences. The research employed a descriptive-analytic approach to examine the source and target domains of conceptual metaphors in hotel advertisements in both English and Lithuanian. A contrastive method was utilized to compare conceptual metaphors and metaphorical expressions across the two languages. The Conceptual Metaphor Analysis method was then employed to discern the connection between identified metaphorical expressions and conceptual metaphors. Lastly, quantitative analysis was conducted to assess the frequency of conceptual metaphors present in the advertisements. This study is unique as no previous comparative research has been conducted on conceptual metaphors and their variations in English and Lithuanian hotel advertisements. The findings contribute to understanding linguistic changes in metaphorical expressions between the two languages. The analysis reveals that metaphorical expressions are more prevalent in English hotel advertisements compared to the Lithuanian ones. Furthermore, the majority of conceptual metaphors identified are related to the very hotels, objects, atmosphere, rooms, and available services, portraying them as personified entities capable of interacting with guests in an appealing and courteous manner. The most commonly observed conceptual metaphor in both languages is PLACE IS A PERSON / VIETA YRA ASMUO.

Peculiarities of Stepan Budnyi’s Artistic Works: Song and Musical Aspects

The poetic, prose and memoir works of Ukrainian writer Stepan Budnyi are considered in the article. He has left a noticeable mark in the history of Ukrainian literature of the 1950s. The focus of the research includes the analysis of the song concept, used frequently by the author and designated as a genre (in his own works). Many poetic works of S. Budnyi, characterized by melodiousness, emotionally elevated mood, simplicity of expression, vivid imagery, and the presence of striking figurative details, have a musical orientation. The frequency of the poet’s use of the song lexeme is counted in the article, indicating the folk-song character of S. Budnyi’s entire poetic heritage. This is reflected particularly in the titles of poetic works, evoking musical associations simultaneously. The poet has preferred those poetic works containing musical terminology in his translations from various languages. It is revealed that S. Budnyi’s relatively small prose heritage also includes musical motifs. Similar to poetry, the song in the writer’s prose works holds a distinct place and is a leading motif throughout his entire creative output. The author’s position and understanding of the essence of beauty are traced through the expressions of the lyrical heroes in prose sketches about music, song and dance. The author’s appeals to song and music are also considered in the writer’s epistolary. Texts by S. Budnyi, set to music by various Ukrainian composers such as Yaroslav Vyshyvanyi, Oleh Herman, Bohdan Klymchuk, Bohdan and Ivan Kravchuk brothers, Faina Moldavska, Volodymyr Obukhivskyi, Mykhailo Obleshchuk, Andrii Plishka, and others, are distinguished. Attention is drawn to the linguistic features of the writer’s artistic works, emphasizing especially that the author’s neologisms, used frequently, imbue the texts with a peculiar musicality. In general, Stepan Budnyi’s poetry has an original sound, impressing with a variety of artistic means, especially the vivid metaphorical expressions.

C. S. Lewis on Reality and Metaphor. From Myth to History and Back Again

The role of metaphor in understanding reality has been a recurring question in the field of metaphor theory. C. S. Lewis, influential scholar, author, and Christian apologist, presents a compelling perspective on metaphor as a means of understanding reality. This paper explores Lewis’s view on the possibility of speaking about reality through metaphor. By reality, Lewis understands both the physical and the supra-physical world. The first section of this article outlines how, for Lewis, metaphorical language can depict the spiritual or supra-natural world. The second section argues that a good metaphor has a meaning that is given rather than invented and the physical realm functions as a basis to understand the spiritual realm, and that this up-down-up direction of metaphorical expression conveys it most effectively. In the third section, I show how good, meaningful metaphors are true and allow us to make valuable and true statements because they convey reliable knowledge about reality. They also require action, the work of the will towards the good, and encourage stock responses. Section four presents metaphor as a linguistic tool which can unveil a connection between the observable physical world and the non-observable world. Additionally, the article briefly examines the disparities between Lewis’s views and some dominant philosophical trends, as well as two theories of metaphor, the interaction theory and the conceptual theory. The choice of these two theories of metaphor is based on their particular differences with Lewis’s view on two key aspects that are fundamental to the theory of metaphor, namely, meaning and truth.

FREQUENT CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS BY THE FORMATION OF THE IRAQ IMAGE IN THE GERMAN FEDERAL MEDIA

The conceptual metaphor as a linguistic phenomenon defining our perception and evaluation has a rich research tradition. Against the background of modern selective ideologized information and information fatigue of the mass addressee, interest in conceptual metaphor as a tool for discursive construction of social reality, including the formation and replication of the media image of the country, its stereotyping, is increasing. The purpose of the study is to identify the leading conceptual metaphors in the formation of the image of Iraq in the German federal media, to characterize their nominative fields, to identify the features they introduce into the portrait of the country. Methodology. The material of the analysis is the publications of the German federal media devoted to Iraq in the period from 2019 to the present. The object of the analysis is the contexts selected by the continuous sampling method for the implementation of frequency conceptual metaphors. Contextual, definitional analysis and quantitative calculations are used. Results. As the main conceptual metaphors involved in the formation of the image of Iraq, the metaphors "Iraq is a place of uncontrolled power", "Iraq is a living being", "Iraq is an incomplete whole", "Iraq is a theater" are highlighted. The first metaphor is dominant in terms of frequency and density of the nominative field; the least productive is the last of the named metaphors. Metaphors are implemented by constituents of certain semantic fields, and they introduce significant features into the created portrait of the country. Practical implications. The results obtained contribute to the further development of imagology, the study of discursive, metaphorical construction of reality, the relationship of mental, linguistic and social processes; they can be used in the training of specialists in the field of political communication, monitoring of media and social processes, and can also be useful to political technologists.

Factors Influencing Comprehension of Metaphors in Academic Reading Texts among Iraqi EFL Learners

Metaphor is recognized as a valuable tool for analysis and as a means to effectively convey meaning. Although metaphor is supposed to be used to effectively convey meaning, learners of English, particularly those in the foreign language context, often have difficulty comprehending metaphors in academic text. The current study aims to contribute to understand deeply of the influencing factors on metaphor comprehension among Iraqi EFL learners when they read academic texts. The study draws on Steen’s (2010) MIPVU model and Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify and analyze the metaphorical expressions. The data for the study were collected from two academic reading comprehension texts. Five Iraqi EFL university learners participated in determining the metaphors contained in the texts. The findings revealed that authors of academic texts often incorporate a wide range of metaphorical expressions. These expressions can vary in their familiarity, ranging from very familiar to less familiar and even unfamiliar, to engage readers’ cognitive processes and facilitate the conceptualization of the metaphor. The findings revealed that the factors influencing metaphor comprehension are varied and that they are of two broad types: external factors related to cultural and social considerations, and internal factors related to linguistic and educational settings. The findings could enable practitioners to devise more effective approaches for teaching metaphor comprehension to EFL learners.

Paranormal beliefs and core knowledge confusions: A meta-analysis

This meta-analysis examines the relationship between paranormal beliefs and Core Knowledge Confusions (CKC), a concept introduced by Lindeman and Aarnio (2007) to explore the link between ontological errors and belief in the paranormal. The CKC, which uses metaphor classification to assess ontological confusion, suggests that cognitive processes organize information into ontologies, and our interpretation of literal versus metaphorical expressions reflects these categorizations. Despite advancements in education, ontological confusion persists, manifesting in various forms like mentalization of matter, physicalization of the mental, and biologization of the mental. Our analysis, encompassing 25 effect sizes with 16,129 participants from 11 countries and publications over 14 years, found a significant average effect size (r = 0.40) in the relationship between paranormal beliefs and the CKC, indicating a robust and consistent association across various populations and contexts. The study observed that contextual factors specific to data from Finland enhance the estimated magnitude of the effect size. Despite considerable heterogeneity and potential influences of unexamined moderators, the results suggest a universal cognitive pattern linking paranormal beliefs with certain types of ontological confusion. This meta-analysis underscores the need for further exploration into contextual variations in understanding the complex relationship between paranormal beliefs and ontological errors.

CONCEPTUAL “HEART” METAPHORS IN AMERICAN MOMMY BLOGS

Based on the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), this study investigates the use and conceptualization of “heart” metaphors in the self-built corpus of 500 American mommy blog posts in 2021-2022 using some corpus tools namely word sketch and concordance lines. The study aims at exploring the different ways of conceptualizing the metaphorical expressions and the frequency of each category of “heart” metaphor. The results show that HEART IS AN OBJECT is the most common metaphor in the mommy blog corpus, followed by HEART IS A CONTAINER and HEART IS A PERSON.

Translating Metaphorical Expressions in Churchill’s Diary from English into Arabic

Translating Metaphorical Expressions in Churchill’s Diary from English into Arabic

SYMBOLIC METAMETAPHORS IN BORGES' "THE HOUSE OF ASTERION"

The paper examines metametaphors in Borges' "The House of Asterion", focusing on reconstructing symbolic metametaphors and derivative metaphorical constructs within a postmodernist and existentialist framework. It highlights the role of metaphorical core and periphery in encoding the narrative-semiotic structure. The study reveals that metametaphors serve as codes for interpreting and integrating images and meanings, aligning with symbolic metaphorical constants in postmodern and existential-philosophical texts.

Influence of translation on perceived metaphor features: quality, aptness, metaphoricity, and familiarity

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the effects of translating literary metaphors from Serbian to English on metaphor quality, aptness, metaphoricity, and familiarity. The research involved 55 Serbian metaphors translated into English using the A is B form, which were then evaluated by 252 participants in two separate studies. Study 1 served as an extension of a previous norming study. In it, a group of participants assessed 55 translated literary metaphorical expressions, and their evaluations were compared to those of the original Serbian versions. In Study 2, a group of participants, divided into two subgroups, rated a collection of both the original metaphorical expressions and their translated counterparts. The results indicate that the translated metaphors generally scored higher in terms of aptness, familiarity, quality, and partially in metaphoricity. These findings suggest that translating the metaphors into English had a positive impact on their perceived effectiveness and familiarity. Several factors are considered to explain these outcomes, including the nature of the English language itself, the participants’ exposure to English, and the translation process. Overall, this study highlights the influence of translation on the perception of literary metaphors and provides insights into metaphor interpretation.