Metaphor and the Social World - Online First

In this study the role of metonymy in relation to social identity is investigated in naturally occurring internet discourse of social groups. Two Reddit subreddits banned for promoting hate based on identity are compared with two unbanned subreddits that predominantly relate to the same gender-focused concerns. It is found that metonymies to reference social identity are more prevalent in the two banned subreddits, where they represent both social in-groups, and out-groups. Analysis of their use in conjunction with other variables identified as having psychological significance finds that each metonymy has a particular role and psychological characterisation. And consideration of diachronic change in the prevalence and cooccurrence of the metonymies provides insights into the evolution of the identity and concerns of the groups. It is concluded that metonymies at the group level support access to and reification of evolving group-specific conceptualisations, and that this in turn supports group identity. Considering metonymies of social groups in large corpora may thus support understanding of group-specific attitudes, and their evolution over time, including in relation to potential hatefulness of discourse.

Comprising metaphors of war and fight, the conflict metaphor, a revolutionary legacy, is not only prevalently employed in today’s state communication within China but also officially translated for the international community. Analysing the Chinese authority’s general use and translation of the conflict metaphor, this study aims to uncover cross-era variations and continuous patterns in these practices. The analysis is based on the Chinese governmental and Communist Party of China’s congressional reports and their official English-language translations from 2004 to 2023, a period that encompasses the Hu Jintao-Wen Jiabao era (2004–2013) and the Xi Jinping-Li Keqiang era (2014–2023). The research first quantifies the official use and translation in these reports and then, based on summary statistics of the quantified data, it reveals that the domestic use of the conflict metaphor differs substantially across the two eras but the official translation remains largely consistent. Relying on time series analysis, this study suggests that, throughout the two decades, the domestic usage in one report may be influenced by that in the immediately preceding report and is highly sensitive to contextual factors, and that the translation appears to follow a moderation mechanism, which potentially contributes to cross-era consistency.

Although Canada is reputed for being a multicultural society, Canadians’ opinions vary regarding the extent to which multiculturalism should be promoted. Examining metaphorical language in discourse about multiculturalism may reveal which metaphors are typically used to endorse it and which ones are typically used to express a more skeptical stance. This study analyzed 646 opinion pieces regarding multiculturalism published in Canadian newspapers. Linguistic metaphors were identified and then grouped under themes. The texts were categorized according to the authors’ stance, and instantiations of the metaphor themes were tallied to determine if some occur more frequently in discourse that promotes multiculturalism compared to discourse that expresses reservations. Some metaphor themes were instantiated more often either in texts painting a positive picture of multicultural society (e.g., a multicultural society is a varied, multi-component work of art or craft) or in ones expressing reservations (e.g., multiculturalism is a destabilizing or divisive force). Such contrasts were nonetheless attenuated by the way a single metaphor theme can be used to serve different rhetorical purposes. It also appears that writers are not always aware of the entailments of the metaphors they use, especially if these are conventionalized phrases.