1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Terminology. International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication
  4. Volume 30, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 30, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0929-9971
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9994
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This study takes a cognitive view of metaphor to investigate the terms designating vulnerable people used in two legal languages, namely English as used in the European Union and Mandarin Chinese. We applied a discourse dynamics approach to metaphor to explore the implicit connotations of the terms identifying different groups of vulnerable people (e.g., minors, disabled people, victims of human trafficking). The findings show that even when appearing in legal texts, many of the key terms for these groups are not objective, nor are they unbiased and detached from our subjective and bodily experience of the world. When these terms are connoted, they tend to have negative connotations, raising concerns about their social implications. This study highlights the entailments of embodiment theories for terminology and proposes that the identification of groups of vulnerable people is a social product motivated by unconscious relations of power rather than relations of assistance and reciprocity.

© 2024 John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/term.00080.man
2024-07-18
2025-06-14

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/term.00080.man
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Barker, Clare
    2011 Postcolonial Fiction and Disability: Exceptional Children, Metaphor and Materiality. Houndmills New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9780230360006
     https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230360006 [Google Scholar]
  2. Brezina, Vaclav
    2018 Statistics in Corpus Linguistics: A Practical Guide. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/9781316410899
     https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316410899 [Google Scholar]
  3. Brezina, Vaclav, Pierre Weill-Tessier, and Tony McEnery
    2021 “LancsBox: Lancaster University Corpus Toolbox [Software run on a MacBook Air macOs 13.0].” corpora.lancs.ac.uk/lancsbox/download.php
  4. Buta, B., D. Leder, R. Miller, N. L. Schoenborn, A. R. Green, and R. Varadhan
    2018 “The Use of Figurative Language to Describe Frailty in Older Adults.” The Journal of Frailty & Aging7 (2): 127–133.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Cameron, Lynne
    2010 “The Discourse Dynamics Framework for Metaphor.” InMetaphor Analysis: Research Practice in Applied Linguistics, Social Sciences and the Humanities, ed. byLynne Cameron and Robert Maslen, 77–94. London: Equinox.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Cameron, Lynne, Graham Low, and Robert Maslen
    2010 “Finding Systematicity in Metaphor Use.” InMetaphor Analysis: Research Practice in Applied Linguistics, Social Sciences and the Humanities, ed. byLynne Cameron and Robert Maslen, 116–146. London: Equinox.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Casasanto, Daniel
    2009 “Embodiment of Abstract Concepts: Good and Bad in Right- and Left-Handers.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General138 (3): 351–367. 10.1037/a0015854
     https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015854 [Google Scholar]
  8. Charteris-Black, Jonathan
    2004 Corpus Approaches to Critical Metaphor Analysis. Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9780230000612
     https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230000612 [Google Scholar]
  9. Condello, Angela
    2016 “Metaphor as Analogy: Reproduction of Production of Legal Concepts.” InLaw’s Metaphors: Interrogating Languages of Law, Justice, and Legitimacy, ed. byDavid Gurnham, 8–26. Malden, MA, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 10.1111/j.1467‑6478.2016.00738.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2016.00738.x [Google Scholar]
  10. Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 Laying down Standards for the Reception of Applicants for International Protection (Recast)
    Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 Laying down Standards for the Reception of Applicants for International Protection (Recast) 2013 Vol. 2013/33/EU.
  11. Dolmage, Jay
    2005 “Between the Valley and the Field: Metaphor and Disability.” Prose Studies27 (1–2): 108–119. 10.1080/01440350500068973
     https://doi.org/10.1080/01440350500068973 [Google Scholar]
  12. Entman, Robert
    1993 “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm.” Journal of Communication43 (4): 51–58. 10.1111/j.1460‑2466.1993.tb01304.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x [Google Scholar]
  13. Fairclough, Norman
    1995 Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. London, New York: Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Finkelstein, Victor
    1980 Attitudes and Disabled People: Issues for Discussion. New York: World Rehabilitation Fund.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Flusberg, Stephen J., Teenie Matlock, and Paul H. Thibodeau
    2018 “War Metaphors in Public Discourse.” Metaphor and Symbol33 (1): 1–18. 10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992 [Google Scholar]
  16. Gablasova, Dana, Vaclav Brezina, and Tony McEnery
    2017 “Collocations in Corpus-Based Language Learning Research.” Language Learning67 (S1): 155–179. 10.1111/lang.12225
     https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12225 [Google Scholar]
  17. Gedzevičienė, Dalia
    2022 “Metaphorical Terms Denoting Intellectual Disability in Lithuanian Official Documents.” InMetaphor in Legal Discourse, ed. byInesa Šeškauskienė, 50–80. New Castle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Gibbs, Raymond W.
    2005 Embodiment and Cognitive Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511805844
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805844 [Google Scholar]
  19. Gustavsson, Nora S.
    1991 “The War Metaphor: A Threat to Vulnerable Populations.” Social Work (New York)36 (4): 277–278. 10.1093/sw/36.4.277
     https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/36.4.277 [Google Scholar]
  20. Husa, Jaakko, and Mark Van Hoecke
    2013 Objectivity in law and legal reasoning. Oxford: Hart.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Kilgariff, Adam, Vít Baisa, Jan Bušta, Miloš Jakubíček, Vojtěch Kovář, Jan Michelfeit, Rychlý Pavel, and Vít Suchomel
    2014 “The Sketch Engine: Ten Years On.” Lexicography11: 7–36. doi:https://doi.org/Softwarefacility available athttps://www.sketchengine.eu
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Kövecses, Zoltán
    2010 Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. 2nd ed.Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson
    1980 Metaphors We Live By. 2nd ed.Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. 1999 Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Lakoff, George, and Mark Turner
    1989 More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226470986.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  26. Lawrence, Louise J.
    2019 “Disease and Disability Metaphors in Gospel Worlds.” Interpretation (Richmond)73 (4): 377–385. 10.1177/0020964319857608
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0020964319857608 [Google Scholar]
  27. Mannoni, Michele
    2023 “冤 Yuan! Conceptual Metaphors for Injustice in Chinese.” Asiatische Studien – Études Asiatiquestba (tba): 1–52. 10.1515/asia‑2021‑0046
     https://doi.org/10.1515/asia-2021-0046 [Google Scholar]
  28. Richards, Ivor Armstrong
    1965 The Philosophy of Rhetoric. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Rosch, Eleanor, Evan Thompson, and Francisco J. Varela
    1991 The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Rychlý, Pavel
    2008 “A Lexicographer-Friendly Association Score.” InProceedings of Recent Advances in Slavonic Natural Language Processing, RASLAN 2008, ed. byPetr Sojka and Aleš Horák, 6–9. Brno: Masaryk University.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Schalk, Sami
    2017 “Interpreting Disability Metaphor and Race in Octavia Butler’s ‘The Evening and the Morning and the Night’.” African American Review50 (2): 139–151. 10.1353/afa.2017.0018
     https://doi.org/10.1353/afa.2017.0018 [Google Scholar]
  32. Semino, Elena
    2020 “‘Not Soldiers but Fire-Fighters’ – Metaphors and Covid-19.” Health Communication36 (1): 50–58. 10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1844989 [Google Scholar]
  33. Semino, Elena, Zsófia Demjén, and Jane Demmen
    2018 “An Integrated Approach to Metaphor and Framing in Cognition, Discourse, and Practice, with an Application to Metaphors for Cancer.” Applied Linguistics39 (5): 625–645.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Steen, Gerard J., Aletta G. Dorst, J. Berenike Herrmann, Anna A. Kaal, Tina Krennmayr, and Trijntje Pasma
    2010 A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/celcr.14
     https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.14 [Google Scholar]
  35. Steen, Gerard J., W. Gudrun Reijnierse, and Christian Burgers
    . “When Do Natural Language Metaphors Influence Reasoning? A Follow-up Study to Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2013).” PLoS One 9, no.121 (2014): e113536. 10.1371/journal.pone.0113536
     https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113536 [Google Scholar]
  36. Stroch, Chani, Ravit Nussinson, Sari Mentser, and Yoav Bar-Anan
    2019 “‘Heavy of Mouth’ and ‘Heavy of Tongue’: Weight as a Conceptual Metaphor of Disability.” Metaphor and Symbol34 (4): 197–208. 10.1080/10926488.2019.1683947
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2019.1683947 [Google Scholar]
  37. Šarčević, Susan
    1997 New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Thibodeau, Paul H., and Lera Boroditsky
    2011 “Metaphors We Think with: The Role of Metaphors in Reasoning.” PLoS ONE6 (2): 1–11. 10.1371/journal.pone.0016782
     https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0016782 [Google Scholar]
  39. Thibodeau, Paul H., James L. McClelland, and Lera Boroditsky
    2009 “When a Bad Metaphor May Not Be a Victimless Crime: The Role of Metaphor in Social Policy.” InProceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 809–814. Amsterdam.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Wang, Ben Pin-Yun, Xiaofei Lu, Chan-Chia Hsu, Eric Po-Chung Lin, and Haiyang Ai
    2019 “Linguistic Metaphor Identification in Chinese.” InMetaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the World, ed. bySusan Nacey, Tina Krennmayr, Aletta G. Dorst, and W. Gudrun Reijnierse, 247–265. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/celcr.22.12wan
     https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.22.12wan [Google Scholar]
  41. Wierzbicka, Anna
    1986 “Metaphors Linguists Live by: Lakoff and Johnson Contra Aristotle.” Paper in Linguistics19 (2): 287–313. 10.1080/08351818609389260
     https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818609389260 [Google Scholar]
  42. Winter, Bodo
    2019 Sensory Linguistics: Language, Perception and Metaphor. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/celcr.20
     https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.20 [Google Scholar]
  43. Yu, Ning
    2016 “Spatial Metaphors for Morality: A Perspective from Chinese.” Metaphor and Symbol31 (2): 108–125. 10.1080/10926488.2016.1150763
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2016.1150763 [Google Scholar]
  44. Yu, Ning, Tianfang Wang, and Yinliang He
    2016 “Spatial Subsystem of Moral Metaphors: A Cognitive Semantic Study.” Metaphor and Symbol31 (4): 195–211. 10.1080/10926488.2016.1223470
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2016.1223470 [Google Scholar]
  45. Civil Procedure Law
    Civil Procedure Law (1991, 2017 amendment) (民事诉讼法)
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Criminal Law
    Criminal Law (1997) (刑法)
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China
    Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (1996, 2022 amendment) (职业教育法)
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Provisional Regulations on VAT
    Provisional Regulations on VAT (2009) (增值税暂行条例)
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Provisions on Special Protection of Minor Workers
    Provisions on Special Protection of Minor Workers (1994) (未成年工特殊保护规定)
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Regulation on Pensions and Preferential Treatments for Servicemen
    Regulation on Pensions and Preferential Treatments for Servicemen (2004) (军人抚恤优待条例)
     [Google Scholar]
  51. #ChinLaC Baby, a sub-corpus of #ChinLaC (Bisetto, B., Mannoni, M., D’Attoma, S.
    ) (https://www.dlls.univr.it/?ent=pubbdip&id=1062355)
  52. Great Dictionary of Modern Chinese (现代汉语大词典), available as an add-on through Pleco (https://www.pleco.com)
  53. EUR-Lex_LEG, a sub-corpus of EUR-Lex English 2/2016 corpus, in Kilgariff, Adam, Vít Baisa, Jan Bušta, Miloš Jakubíček, Vojtěch Kovář, Jan Michelfeit, Rychlý Pavel, and Vít Suchomel
    EUR-Lex_LEG, a sub-corpus of EUR-Lex English 2/2016 corpus, in Kilgariff, Adam, Vít Baisa, Jan Bušta, Miloš Jakubíček, Vojtěch Kovář, Jan Michelfeit, Rychlý Pavel, and Vít Suchomel 2014 ‘The Sketch Engine: Ten Years On’. Lexicography11: 7–36. doi:https://doi.org/Softwarefacility available athttps://www.sketchengine.eu
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Macmillan Dictionary
    Macmillan Dictionary (macmillandictionary.com)
/content/journals/10.1075/term.00080.man
Loading
Metaphors for legal terms concerning vulnerable people
Terminology. International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Issues in Specialized Communication 30, 134 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/term.00080.man
/content/journals/10.1075/term.00080.man
/content/journals/10.1075/term.00080.man
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): discourse dynamics framework (DDF); English and Mandarin contrastive terminology; legal linguistics; metaphor studies; vulnerable people

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error