A Brief Study on Metaphors_delacruz_fA SHORT ARTICLE AND SEVEN OPINIONS ON TODAY’S EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CRISIS: A BRIEF STUDY ON METAPHORS

7/27/2019 A Brief Study on Metaphors_delacruz_fA SHORT ARTICLE AND SEVEN OPINIONS ON TODAYS EUROPEAN ECONOMIC

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A SHORT ARTICLE AND SEVEN OPINIONS ON TODAYS EUROPEAN

ECONOMIC CRISIS: A BRIEF STUDY ON METAPHORS

Franklin de la Cruz.

Universidad de Chile

Facultad de Filosofa y Humanidades

Departamento de Lingstica

Programa de Magster en Lingstica mencin Lengua Inglesa

Requirement for the English linguistic seminar 2012

Professor Carlos Zenteno

Abstract:

Following the observations made by Reddy (1979) and generalized by Lakoff and Jhonsen (1980,

1993, 2003), a short study on metaphor is made with the purpose to unveil the inner concepts that

make up the frame in which the domain of the European economic crises is supported, and thus,understood by experts and ordinary people. In the two texts the norm is to map concepts such as

bank, Europe, nation, eurozone andeconomy as members of a community (PERSON) that face a

common external causer of illness: debt.


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1 Objectives

1.1 Main objective

The purpose of this study is to highlight some of the governing conceptual

metaphors that make up our knowledge about discourse on economy.

1.2 Secondary objectives

1.2.1 To detect some key words related to the domain of economy in two texts: one

formal (written by a specialist) and seven one-paragraph-long opinions about text one,

written by ordinary internet users.

1.2.2 To contrast the kind of metaphorical concepts present in the words that build up the

texts mentioned above.

2 Introduction

It was Michael Reddy in the article, The Conduit Metaphor (1979)1, the first

person to realize (by means of a great number of linguistic evidence) that when we speak

about language, metaphor stands as a pervasive mechanism present in almost every

concept we try to convey when speaking, writing or thinking about that. Nonetheless, it

was by means of Lakoff and JohnsensMetaphors We Live by (1980) that the value of this

observation was generalized and linked to a bunch of other linguistic data and most

important- to cognitive processes: the locus of metaphor is not in language at all, but in

the way we conceptualize one mental domain in terms of another. (Lakoff and Johnsen,

1980)


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3 Metaphor

3.1 Characterization

According to Lakoff and Johnsen (2003), metaphors are general mappings across

conceptual domains, in which:

Xs concept is understood in terms of Y's domain.

In other words, the term metaphorstands for that cognitive mechanism that allows

us to understand one concept by means of another concepts domain through cross-domain

mapping(s)4 in the conceptual system (Lakoff, 1993). Thus, our relationship as hit a dead-

end streetentails the conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY (Lakoff and Johnsen,

1980.)

By domain, it will be understood a context for the characterization of a semantic

unit (Langacker 1987a: 147. Reference back to Ungerer and Schmid 1996:46), thus, what

is transferred by a metaphor is the structure, the internal relations of the logic of a cognitive

model [] cognitive linguists have called this transfer a mapping from a source to a

target (Ungerer and Schmid, 1996: 120)

The LOVE-AS-JOURNEY mapping is a set of ontological correspondences that

characterize epistemic correspondences by mapping knowledge about journeys onto

knoledge about love. Such correspondences permit us to reason about love using the

knoledge we use to reason about journeys. (Lakoff 1993)


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Source: journey

Target: love

LOVE IS A JOURNEY

The drawing represents the way in which we experience the concept of love by

means of the source domain mapping corresponding to journey. Lakoff states that a

CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR does not equal our experiences across different domains,

but that we built up our cognitive knowledge of concepts at least partially, by analogical

extensions of the experiences we have from a source to a target. Thus:

Look how far we've come. It's been a long, bumpy road. We can't turn back now. We're at

crossroads. Were spinning our wheels. Our relationship is off the track... are possible

because:

The fact that the LOVE IS A JOURNEY mapping is fixed part of our conceptual

system explains why new and imaginative uses of the mapping can be understood

instantly, given the ontological correspondences and other knowledge about journeys

(Lakoff, 1993).

Finally, a few generalizations should be mentioned:


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Lakoff and Johnsen (2003) recognize this usual path when metaphorical expressions

take place:

Source-to-target domain5

They share the next main characteristics (Lakoff and Johnsen, 1980):

The systematicity in the linguistic correspondences.

The use of metaphor to govern reasoning and behavior based on that reasoning.

The possibility for understanding novel extensions in terms of the conventional

correspondences.

At last, we are going to mention the invariance hypothesis (Lakoff and Turner, 1989)

which imposes a main constraint in metaphorical mappings:

Both domains share at least in part their image schematic structure, then the

mapping is possible.

4 Methodology

The main text (text 1) is an overview on todays European economic crisis and it

was written by the European commission. It was chosen randomly within the first three

alternatives given by the web searching tool from google. Text 2, corresponds to seven one-

paragraph-long opinions about text 1 written by ordinary internet users, thus, a change in

tenor (from formal to informal discourse) is present. Due to methodological reasons, text 2

was handled as being only one text made up by seven paragraphs. Once the texts were

chosen, they were transferred into Windows Microsofts Word 2003. There the number of


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Debt DEBT IS AN

EXTERNAL CAUSER

debt defaults could triggera 2008-like calamity

Europe EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe's inability to resolveitsfinancial problems

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe-led downturn could cost him his own job

EUROPE IS A

REAL/CONCRETE

ENTITY

Europe accounts for 21% of all U.S. exports

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe'sprecarious financial state

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe's woes can be measured

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe is behind up and downs

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe'sproblems will be resolved

EUROPE IS A PERSON European authorities

EUROPE IS A

CONTAINNER/PERSON

Europe, decentralizedand unable to move quickly, neverforced

its banks

EUROPE IS A PERSON The U.S. has many advantages overEurope

EUROPE IS A

CONTAINER

the crisis in Europe suggests

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe's crisis

EUROPE IS A PERSON Europe's choices

Eurozone EUROZONE IS A

PERSON

a messy breakup of the eurozone

Nation NATION IS A PERSON several nationsstruggling to avoiddefault

NATION IS A PERSON the nightmare facedby 17 nations thatshare a common currency

without a common government

5.2 Text 2: 572 words

Concept Conceptual metaphor Context

.Bank BANK IS A PERSON Wegave U.S. and European banks $7.7 TRILLION dollars in

2008

BANK IS A PERSON the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorkout of businessBANK IS A PERSON the bank fraud

BANK IS A PERSON by the time your dead ,,you will have given 30-50 % of all your

income to banks in interest payments

Economy ECONOMI IS A

PERSON

excessive labor protections and ineffective government have

produced anemic economies

ECONOMY IS A before congress can get money out into the economy


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CONTAINER

Debt DEBT IS AN

EXTERNAL ENTITY

Executive Order 11110 could have prevented the national debt

from reachingits current level.

Europe EUROPE IS A PERSON The U.S. has many advantages overEurope

EUROPE IS A PERSON this financial mess from Europe hits america

Eurozone EUROZONE IS A

PERSON

American companies only do business with the Eurozone.

EUROZONE IS A

PERSON

China's business is with the Eurozone

EUROZONE IS AN

AGENTIVE ENTITY

When the Eurozonegoes under,we lose

Nation NATION IS A PERSON the national debt

6 Analysis

6.1 BANK IS A PERSON

In both texts, people build up the concept bankas if being a person who might be

unprepearedorget illby means ofcontagion; as persons, banks can be in danger of failing

and be rescuedfrom those situations; as people, they can beforcedto do something against

their will and they can take part in actions ofgiving and receiving. In both texts, the

conceptual metaphor BANK IS A PERSON seems to be the norm in order to understand

bank and banking processes.

6.2 ECONOMY IS A PERSON

As people, they can be affected by crisis, they can grow, develop up to be fully

developedand even become anemic (by an illness got from a contagious bank).

6.3 DEBT IS EXTERNAL CAUSER/ENTITY


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As a river, it can reach a level, or cause (trigger) calamities.

6.4 EUROPE IS A PERSON / CONCRETE ENTITY/ CONTAINER

In almost every instance EUROPE IS A PERSON metaphor stands as a pervasive

mechanism to think of Europe: itproduces a financial mess, this mess can hitothers, others

may have control overit; it can have ups and downs, crises and it can even become unable

to move.

Only in two instances this metaphor changed its focus: it was seen as a CONCRETE

ENTITY (it constitutes 21% of...) and as a CONTAINER in its banks.

6.5 EUROZONE IS A PERSON

As persons, they can dobussiness and even brakeup their relationships with

other members of a community.

6.6 NATION IS A PERSON

They struggle to avoid side effects of the crisis, they face nightmares and share

characteristics among them: they can be in debt.

7 Conclusions

7.1 A clear tendency is observed: Europe stands a PERSON/ CONTAINER of other

PERSONS such as banks, economies, nations and the Eurozone, being a special person in

it. As people, they can have ups and downs, they can be ill and even spread a disease.

7.2 The concept European economic crisis is construed mainly as the movements and

consecuenses of countries and institututions seen as if they were people in middle of


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different affairs: they can make decisions up, they can be affected by external causers, they

can grow and develop and even get very ill.

7.3 As stated by Reddy (1979) and Lakoff and Johnsen (1980), the mechanism is

pervasive: there are no instances in which the reference to the items where literal or non-

metaphorical in nature.

7.4 It can be stated that the concept EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CRISIS can only be

understood by means of the mapping proyected from our experience as human beings.

8 Bibliography

Barcelona, A. 1997. Clarifying and Applying the Notions of Metaphor and metonymy

within cognitive linguistics. Universidad de Murcia. Atlantis XIX(1)

Clausner and Croft, 2003. Domains and image schemas. EBSCO Publishing.

Evans V. & Green M. 2006. Cognitive Linguistics, an Introduction. Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Publishers. London.

Fass, D. 1988. Metonymy and Metaphor: Whats the difference? Computing Research

Laboratory, New Mexico State University, USA.

Gossens, 1990. Metaphtonymy: the interaction of metaphor and metonymy in expressions

for linguistic action.Cognitive Linguistics 1-3, 323-340.

Lakoff and Johnsen. 1980. Metaphors we live by. The University of Chicago Press.


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Lakoff, 1992. The contemporary theory of metaphor. Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge

University Press.

Lakoff, G. 1998. Metaphor and Thought. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press.

United Kingdom.

Lakoff, G. Johnsen M. 2003 Metaphors we live by. London: The university of Chicago

press.

Reddy, M. 1978. The Conduit Metaphor- A Case of Frame Conflict in Our Language about

Language.--

Romero and Soria, 2005. The notion of grammatical metaphor in Halliday. Universidad de

Granada.

Turner, M. & Fauconnier G. 1998. Metaphor, Metonymy, and Binding. Antonio Barcelona.

A volume in the series Topics in English Linguistics.

9 Notes


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1 The conduit metaphor: meanings are inside words, communication is sending.

2 This article is very important in order to complement the modern observation of this mental process.

It states that two types of interaction predominate: what I call metaphor from metonymy and

metonymy within metaphor. Metaphor from metonymy was found to be rare and metonymy from

metaphor, though not impossible in principle, was absent in my data. (Gossens ,1990: abstract)

3 Reference back to Romero and Soria, 2005. The notion of grammatical metaphor in Halliday.

Universidad de Granada.

4 The plural was added by me, and it is supported by the fact that there seems to be cross reference

between domains: "If Clinton were the Titanic, the iceberg would sink (Turner and Fauconnier, 1998)

5 See note 4

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A Brief Study on Metaphors_delacruz_fA SHORT ARTICLE AND SEVEN OPINIONS ON TODAY’S EUROPEAN ECONOMIC CRISIS: A BRIEF STUDY ON METAPHORS