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- Volume 12, Issue 1, 2022
Metaphor and the Social World - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2022
Volume 12, Issue 1, 2022
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How visual metaphors can contradict verbal occurrences
Author(s): Anaïs Augépp.: 1–22 (22)More LessAbstractWe investigate the different interpretations related to the metaphorical imprint of climate change in English and French media discourses. This cross-linguistic perspective is motivated by the particularities of both languages which have been assumed to promote different understandings of climate change-related concepts. We focus on the metaphor carbon footprint whose meaning can be compared to another climate change metaphor in English: fingerprint. These two source domains share a highly specific and concrete meaning interpreted from lexical constructions enabled by the English language. In French, however, such a specification cannot be interpreted from the meaning of the metaphor empreinte carbone (carbon imprint) which defines a similar concept. We rely on visual representations of these metaphorical expressions in English and French to discuss the characteristics associated with each source domain: we show that visual metaphors can contradict expectations emerging from the interpretations of verbal metaphors.
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Gestural metaphorical scenarios and coming out narratives
Author(s): Tomasz Dyrmopp.: 23–45 (23)More LessAbstractThis article extends the framework of metaphorical scenarios proposed by Musolff (2006, 2016) by adding a gestural component. Coming out videos, serving as the source of data for the present analysis, help to uncover the conceptual mechanisms that shape the understanding and conceptualisation of this phenomenon. The extended framework of gestural metaphorical scenarios reveals that conceptual metaphors create cognitively and communicatively coherent wholes that are expressed multimodally, via speech and gesture. The article proposes that coming out, a highly individualised process, is conceptualised at various levels by both generic and specific metaphors. The analysis shows that metaphorical variation is present not only at the level of lexical scenarios, but also at the level of gesture, giving rise to multimodal discourse fragments. The extended framework, therefore, might be useful in analysing multimodal discourse.
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Metaphors of cultural diversity at UNESCO
Author(s): Irit S. Kornblitpp.: 46–68 (23)More LessAbstractThis paper analyses metaphors and analogies of cultural diversity at UNESCO in a discursive and rhetorical-argumentative framework, to answer the following question: How do these rhetorical devices play a legitimizing role when introducing a new keyword into the public sphere? Conventional and creative metaphors are analyzed separately to examine if they represent different legitimization strategies. Conventional metaphors and analogies include variations on treasure, heritage, and biodiversity; creative metaphors include cultural diversity as a living treasure and a Rainbow River. The findings suggest that the wealth metaphor fulfills an evaluative meliorative function, while the heritage metaphor constructs a collective identity devoid of internal conflict, thereby depoliticizing the concept of cultural diversity. The biodiversity analogy further depoliticizes cultural diversity via naturalization and the invocation of the authority of science. Legitimization is also achieved by invoking past discourse and shared knowledge, and by tapping into UNESCO’s “discursive memory.” In contrast, the creative metaphors living treasure and Rainbow River play a different argumentative role: they offer a rhetorical solution of coexistence to two contradicting views on culture; one as a static, closed entity to be protected from extinction, and the other as a changing, dynamic process. They do so by fusing both views, represented by different metaphors, into one creative metaphor.
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Socio-pragmatic potential of (verbo)-visual metaphtonymy in Internet memes featuring Donald Trump
Author(s): Alla Martynyuk and Olga Meleshchenkopp.: 69–91 (23)More LessAbstractThe present study explores (verbo)-visual metaphtonymy in Twitter-based Internet memes featuring Donald Trump, focusing both on the patterns of conceptual interaction of metaphor and metonymy and their socio-pragmatic potential to influence Internet users. The results of the study reveal four types of (verbo)-visual metaphtonymy employed in the analyzed Internet memes. The types are differentiated in accordance with the complexity of the metaphoric source: metaphtonymy with a simple metaphoric source, metaphtonymy with a metaphoric source structured by simple metonymy, metaphtonymy with a metaphoric source structured by metonymic chain, and metaphtonymy with a metaphoric source structured by radial metonymy. In all the four types, the metaphoric target is structured by metonymic amalgam – a metonymic complex in which metonymies that are based on different ICMs merge due to the association of contiguity that is relevant in the current communicative and social/political context. Besides metonymic amalgam, the study introduces the notion of radial metonymy – a metonymic complex that emerges when one metonymic source gives access to several metonymic targets. We argue that the analyzed metaphtonymies rest on conceptual incongruity created to trigger negative evaluative inferences and emotional responses to shape Trump’s image.
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Do metaphors make opinions?
Author(s): Margaux Mohnke, Ursula Christmann, Yannick Roos and Chris Thomalepp.: 92–114 (23)More LessAbstractIntroduction: A frame makes specific information about a topic more salient. Metaphors can be used as frames to influence people’s opinions on controversial political topics as well as on health-related topics. This study aims to determine the influence of metaphorical frames on the opinion towards surrogacy and examines whether specific aspects of surrogacy are more prone to the influence than others.
Method: 236 participants were assigned to one of three groups with different metaphorical frames for surrogacy and thereafter completed the Attitude Towards Surrogacy Questionnaire. To investigate if participants’ opinions on surrogacy were influenced by the frame used for surrogacy, three ANOVAS were conducted.
Result: The main effect of the ANOVAS revealed that opinion towards payment of the surrogate mothers, but not the attitude towards surrogacy in general, was influenced by the metaphorical frame used for surrogacy.
Discussion: The results support the idea that a metaphorical frame can evoke reactance regarding the payment of surrogate mothers. Participants might resist the frame of the metaphorical term for surrogacy as an unemotional business act, by favouring less monetary compensation of the surrogate mother, when the metaphorical frame implies that surrogates only help intended parents for the monetary compensation.
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The affect bias in the metaphorical representation of anticipated events
Author(s): Anna Piata and Cristina Sorianopp.: 115–137 (23)More LessAbstractWhen talking about anticipated events, speakers can conceptualize them either as destinations towards which they are moving or as entities moving towards them, which correspond to the Ego- and the Time-moving metaphors, respectively (cf. ‘We are approaching Christmas’ and ‘Christmas is approaching’). Research in psycholinguistics has shown affective valence, i.e. whether the conceptualized event is perceived as positive or negative, to be one of the factors that modulate metaphor choice; positive anticipation is preferentially associated with Ego-moving expressions, whereas negative anticipation is predominantly associated with Time-moving metaphors. This paper sets out to test if the time-affect association surfaces in naturally-occurring language use when both metaphorical patterns are available. By focusing on the temporal usage of the verb approach, we provide linguistic evidence in favor of such an affective bias in time representations. In addition, the language data point to a semantic preference for a particular type of event (i.e., personal vs social) under each metaphorical pattern. We interpret this finding as preliminary evidence for a possible semantic bias in time representations to be further investigated.
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Contested paths
Author(s): Peter Richardson and Charles M. Muellerpp.: 138–158 (21)More LessAbstractRecent studies of metaphor usage (e.g., Cameron, 2011; Semino et al., 2013) have shifted focus from relatively static mappings between source and target domains towards an emphasis on how metaphors are appropriated and recontextualized across different genres to convey new meanings and serve new functions. More recently, this emphasis has begun to be applied to the study of metaphor usage in religious discourse (Pihlaja, 2014; Richardson, 2017; Richardson et al., 2021). The current article investigates how metaphors of movement are used in conjunction with metonymy, force dynamics, and conceptual blending to create particular rhetorical effects in a debate between the atheist Richard Dawkins and the Christian apologist John Lennox. It demonstrates how previous figurative language is expanded and reconfigured during the course of the debate in an attempt to establish situated, dominant conceptualizations.
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Review of Winter (2019): Sensory Linguistics: Language, Perception and Metaphor
Author(s): Magdalena Zawisławskapp.: 159–164 (6)More LessThis article reviews Sensory Linguistics: Language, Perception and Metaphor
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Review of Müller & Kappelhoff (2018): Cinematic Metaphor: Experience–Affectivity–Temporality
Author(s): Lorena Bort-Mirpp.: 165–170 (6)More LessThis article reviews Cinematic Metaphor: Experience–Affectivity–Temporality
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Review of Bolognesi, Brdar & Despot (2019): Metaphor and Metonymy in the Digital Age
Author(s): Christopher R. Karzmarkpp.: 171–179 (9)More LessThis article reviews Metaphor and Metonymy in the Digital Age
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