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METAPHOR IN NEWSPAPER DISCOURSE IN THE LIGHT OF
COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS AND LINGUOCULTUROLOGY
Khojeev Andrey,
Associate Lecturer of Uzbekistan State World Languages University
Key words:
conceptual/cognitive metaphor, source domain, target domain, politic discourse,
economic discourse, concept, conceptsphere, Cognitive Linguistics, Linguoculturology
Having shifted the structural paradigm,
the anthropocentric one has enabled to carry
outcomplex investigationsstudying language
from different angles, from the perspective of
the human and his activities. In other words,
the linguistic means arestudied on the basis of
the assumptions of the modern trends such as
Psycholinguistics,
Discourse
Analysis,
Linguocognitive and Linguocultural Studies.
Thus, the present article is aimed at revealing
metaphors in newspaper discourse and their
classification in the light of Cognitive
linguistics and Linguoculturology.
Referring to the different scholars, we
can outline the following interpretation of
Linguoculturology: it is a complex and
interdisciplinary study of the linguistic means
which
emdiv
cultural
and
ethnical
specificity. Cultural specificity and ethnic
peculiarities are reflected both linguistically
in the notional component of language unit
and non-linguistically through its deep
semantics. In this way, Linguoculturology is
the discipline which by the use of systematic
methods investigates the language units
(linguoculturemes) that emdiv store and
transfer cultureand are usually revealed in
discourse. [Ashurova 2012, Воробьев 2006,
Красных 2002, Телия 1999]
Among all types of culturally specific
means, however,metaphor is of paramount
importance. It is worth noting, that there are
two approaches to its investigation: metaphor
as a linguistic mechanism, and metaphor as a
cognitive principle. The first mentioned
approach presumes metaphor as a stylistic
(rhetoric) device that is used for achieving
poetic imagination and consequently making
an aesthetic impact on the readers. In this case
metaphor is the property of the language.
The second approach has initially been
put forth by American linguists G. Lakoff
and M. Johnson in their work “Metaphors We
Live By”. Having introduced the notion of
conceptual metaphor theyhighlighted that it is
“pervasive in everyday life, not just in
language, but in thought and action. Our
ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which
we both think and act, is fundamentally
metaphorical in nature” [Lakoff, Jonson 1980:
4]. In this way, we enlarge our conceptual
system by acquiring the concepts through the
conceptual
metaphor.
Thus,
conceptual
metaphor enabled scholars to study it not only
as a stylistic device, but also as a phenomenon
through which language and cognition are
interrelated.
According to the theoryconceptual
metaphor is the cognitive process between
two frames (structures of knowledge) – the
source domain and the target domain. The
source domain is the structure of already
acquired notions whereas the target domain
represents the new concepts that are going to
be acquired. The acquisition of new concepts
is realized through metaphorical mapping that
transfers some of the elements from the
source domain to the target domain. In other
words, the source domain serves as a
basement for the target domain, i.e. the new
knowledge is acquired in comparison with the
old one. As a matter of fact, some of the
elements, and consequently some of the
features, of the source and target domain
implicitly coincide with each other. This
coincidence was termed as invariance.
The assumption about the cognitive
nature of metaphor and its cultural value goes
back to the Aristotle‟s times; the philosopher
claimed that metaphor is a conversion of the
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name from one kind to another by analogy
[Аристотель 1927: 39]. Sh. Bally explains
the metaphor as a way to compare substantial
objects with the abstract ones by expressing
the comparison within one sign [Балли 1961:
221]. Joining these views V.A. Maslova
considers metaphor as a powerful tool for
cognizing the abstract notions, which are
more complicated in nature. The cognition is
based on the comparison of the new (abstract)
concepts with the old (concrete) ones. She
adds that metaphor reflects fundamental
cultural values as it embodies the nationally
and culturally specific world
outlook.
[Маслова 2001: 90-91]. G. Lakoff highlights
the fact that conceptual metaphor is an
integral part of the cultural paradigm
possessed by the native speaker [Lakoff
1993:210]. Thus, the acquisition of the new
concepts is an effective means of enlarging
the conceptsphere of the native speaker and
consequently widening the national world
picture.
There distinguished three types of
conceptual metaphors: structural, ontological
and
orientational
metaphors.
Structural
metaphor presupposes the acquisition of the
concepts of the target domain by their
systematic
organization
through
the
comparison with the everyday activities.
Ontological metaphor is the way we perceive
abstract notions by outlining their shapes in
the space, or by personification. Finally, the
orientational metaphor organizes the whole
system of concepts with respect to one
another. That is to say, the concepts of the
target domain are organized according to our
experience of spatial orientation. [Lakoff,
Jonson 1980]
Conceptual metaphor is of frequent
use in political discourse. Newspapers as one
of its types present a great number of
examples. It may probably be connected with
the assumption that a person tends to react not
so to objective reality as to the cognitive
representations of the reality in his mind.
Since the cognitive frames (knowledge
structure) are usually formed by the means of
metaphor, so it may be an effective tool to
exert influence on the addressee and as a
result on his actions [Будаев, Чудинов
2008:51]. In this way, by revealing source
domain through metaphorical representation
we may reveal theattitude of the addresser
towards the issue being discussed.
To better understanding the political
nature of conceptual metaphors and their
functions in newspaper discourse, let us
consider some of the examples taken from the
Guardian newspaper:
Europe moves to end passport-free travel in
migrant row
European nations moved to reverse decades
of unfettered travel across the continent when
a majority of EU governments agreed the
need to reinstate national passport controls
amid fears of a
flood of immigrants
fleeing
the upheaval in North Africa.
Thousands of Bulgarians and Romanians
'plan
to flood UK
in 2014' as employment
restrictions relax
Hordes of Romanians and Bulgarians are
already preparing
to head for
Britain in
search of work, according to a Mail on
Sunday investigation.
The
immigration invasion
that never was
No Extra flights, empty seats – the lack of
stampeding Bulgarians and Romanians shows
the rightwing hysteria for what it was.
The metaphorical expressions:
flood of
immigrants, to flood UK, to head for Britain,
immigration invasion
conceptually link with
the image of invaders that form the structural
metaphor –IMMIGRANTS ARE INVADERS.
Indeed, the immigration has become a
sensitive topic for the British nowadays; as a
consequence, their arrival is compared with
invasion or even with the natural disasters. By
using these metaphorical expressions the
editors form a respective image in this way
influencing the public opinion. Thus, the
conceptual metaphor works towards cognition
forming a certain concept in the readers‟
conceptsphere
through
the
image
of
INVADER.
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The
examples
bellow
represent
metaphors connected with the electing
process (The Guardian Newspaper):
German
election
: Angela Merkel secures
historic third
win
The Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin
Netanyahu, has declared a „
great victory
‟ for
his Likud party, as his
rival
Isaac Herzog
refused to concede
defeat
. With more than
90% of the vote countered, Likud has scored
what many are calling an
emphatic victory
,
but Herzog said he was still focused on
forming „a socially- minded government‟ for
Israel.
Abbas
wins landslide victory
Mahmoud Abbas today began his work as
Yasser Arafat's successor after
winning a
landslide victory
in the Palestinian
presidential
election
. […]Final results
announced today gave Mr Abbas 62% of the
vote. His nearest
rival
, Mustafa Barghouti,
had 19% of the vote and
conceded defeat
.
In the above given extracts the
phrases:
win an election, great victory, rival,
defeat, emphatic victory, conceded defeat,
win landscape victory
enable us to presume
another conceptual metaphor that has been
found to be of frequent usage in newspaper
discourse ELECTION IS FIGHT. It has
become a long lasting tradition for newspaper
editors toassociate the electing process with
the FIGHT and the candidates for the post
with the rivals. As in any fight one wins and
another loses so in any election one gains the
victory and others get defeated.
It is worth noting that metaphors made
their own way in highlighting economic
issues either. The economic metaphor has
been widely investigated by the Western
scholar. Hence, McClockey claims that
economics is metaphorical in nature. In his
manual “The Rhetoric of Economics” he
claims that metaphor is the most frequent
rhetoric that expends the essence of economic
thinking –“to say that markets are represented
by supply and demand „curve‟ is no less than
metaphor, than to say that the west wing is
„the breath of autumn‟ being [McClockey,
1983: 502]. Another scholar C. Bicchieri
points out that there is a strong correlation
between circulation and distribution of the
goods and the div part. So, he presumes the
circulation money originated from the
circulation of blood in the div [Bicchieri,
1988]. Another assumption proposed is that
the economic system is metaphorically
compared with the living organisms [Marshall,
1920:56]. As the latest one the economic
system grows, changes and decays. Having
conducted a research, W. Ormerod comes to
the conclusion that the conception of
economy as a piece of machinery in the XIX
century was an outcome of the parallel
advances in the natural science achieved at
that time, consequently, leading to the
shaping the views about the world in general
and about economy in particular[Ormerod,
1997]. Thus, metaphors in economic content
of newspaper discourse are created for the
sake of understanding complicated economic
theories and economic phenomenon and in
this way being more persuasive for the
potential readers.
Some of the economic metaphors due
to their frequent usage turned out to be well-
established in the humans‟ conceptsphere and,
consequently, became cliché-like. Here are
some of them:
There are three closely interrelated sources of
instability in the present system: the volatility
of
international capital flows
,
bubbles in
stock market prices
and exchange rate
instability. In a typical crisis,
inflows of
foreign capital
and
booms in share prices
feed oneach other
and put upward pressure
on exchange rates.
The passage illustrates several types of
metaphor in the economic context. The first is
the ontological metaphor –CAPITAL IS A
RIVER, the expressions like „
international
capital flow‟
, „
inflows of foreign capital‟
conceptually link them to the stream of the
river. The other subtype of ontological
metaphor is personification –PRICE IS A
HUMAN can be found in the expression
„
share prices feed on each other‟
. Another
ontological metaphor is PRICES ARE
BUBBLES that hints to the instability in the
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stock market. Finally, the last expression
„
booms in share prices‟
is of the orientational
type –BOOM IS UP.
However, some of the metaphorical
expressions in theeconomic context are
unique. They are created to form a certain
concept in the conceptual frame of the
addressee; therefore, they tend to be of a high
sense of imagination. The next examples
demonstrate it:
a.
Vodafone boosted by weak pound but
struggling in
mature markets
b.
Obama puts housing at the
heart of
economy
c.
Markets’ nerve
on fears of end to
quantitative easing
d.
[…]There is still a great need to
address the plight of Kenya‟s poor
people, as agriculture remains the
backbone of the economy
. […]
e.
Europe: Zapatero tries urgent
remedy
for
Spain's
economy
f.
A growing
headachefor
the Chinese
economy
In the examples listed above the ontological
metaphor –ECONOMY IS A HUMAN
BEING was used. Thus, in the first example
the expression
„mature market‟
denotes
„developed market‟
, that conceptually links
them to the milestone in human life process
consequently forming the target domain
STAGES OF ECONOMIC SYSTEM and the
source domain STAGES OF HUMAN
BEING. In the next three examples the
expressions
„heart of economy‟, „markets‟
nerve‟, „backbone of the economy‟
denote
„vital part of economy‟ , „the most sensitive
part of the market‟, „a support for the
economy‟
reflect the structure of economic
system forming the target domain THE
STRUCTURE OF ECONOMIC SYSTEM
and the source domain THE STRUCTURE
OF PHYSICAL BODY. Finally, in the last
two examples the expressions „remedy for
economy‟ and „headache for economy‟ refer
to the human‟s state forming the target
domain THE CONDITION OF ECONOMY
and the source domain THE CONDITION OF
THE HUMAN ORGANISM.
Thus, in the article we have examined
metaphor which is not only a stylistic device
but also a complex cognitive process for
cognizing the world and designating new
concepts. It has been found that metaphor is
closely connected with culture as a tool
serving for widening the conceptual world
picture. The conceptual metaphorisation in
newspaper discourse is a two- fold process. It,
on the one hand, is used to invoke certain
concepts in the readers‟ conceptual frame,
while, on the other, is used as the form of
unique expressions aiming at creating new
concepts and images for the sake of
provoking certain pragmatic effect. Having
charged pragmatically, conceptual metaphor,
as a result, is of frequent usage in politic,
social and economic content.
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Хожеев А. Газета дискурсидаги метафоранинг когнитив ва лингвокультурологик
жиҳатлари.
Мақола газета матнидаги турли хил типдаги метафораларни когнитив ва
лингвокультурологик жиҳатдан тадқиқ этилган. Хусусан, мақолада газета матни аниқ
прагматик интенцияларни воқелантирувчи турли концептуал метафораларга бой эканлиги
аниқланган.
Хожеев А. Когнитивный и лингвокультурологический аспекты метафоры в
газетном дискурсе
. В статье рассматривается функционирование различных типов
метафоры в газетном дискурсе в свете новых направлений лингвистики. Установлено, что в
газетном дискурсе функционируют различные типы концептуальных метафор,
выполняющих определенную прагматическую функцию.