A comparative study of the metaphor used in the economic news articles in Britain and Hong Kong
As cognitive linguistics argues, the meaning construction processes that we employ to understand and interact with the world around us are dynamic processes and are highly metaphorical. Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson appears to be insufficient to explain the fuzziness in categorization and the emergence of mixed metaphors. Categorization theory indicates that meaning construction processes are not fixed while the presence of mixed metaphor casts doubt on the idea whether metaphor production is simply a cross domain mapping. Moreover, metaphor is also cultural-cognitive that it is a good tool to explore the ways of thinking, evaluations, values and attitudes of the people speaking the metaphor. On the pragmatic level, the choice of metaphor helps deliver the stance and achieve the persuasive ends of the writers. In my study, I compare how the commonly used word âeconomyâ is construed with metaphors in the economic discourse in two locations, Britain and Hong Kong, in an attempt to illustrate the above mentioned ideas. Firstly, on the cognitive level, I compare the conceptual metaphors manifested in shaping the concepts concerning âeconomyâ. I argue that primary metaphors are
Chow, Mei Yung Vanliza
PE English
A comparative study of the metaphor used in the economic news articles in Britain and Hong Kong. As cognitive linguistics argues, the meaning construction processes that we employ to understand and interact with the world around us are dynamic processes and are highly metaphorical. Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson appears to be insufficient to explain the fuzziness in categorization and the emergence of mixed metaphors. Categorization theory indicates that meaning construction processes are not fixed while the presence of mixed metaphor casts doubt on the idea whether metaphor production is simply a cross domain mapping. Moreover, metaphor is also cultural-cognitive that it is a good tool to explore the ways of thinking, evaluations, values and attitudes of the people speaking the metaphor. On the pragmatic level, the choice of metaphor helps deliver the stance and achieve the persuasive ends of the writers. In my study, I compare how the commonly used word âeconomyâ is construed with metaphors in the economic discourse in two locations, Britain and Hong Kong, in an attempt to illustrate the above mentioned ideas. Firstly, on the cognitive level, I compare the conceptual metaphors manifested in shaping the concepts concerning âeconomyâ. I argue that primary metaphors are
comparative_study metaphor use economic news_article britain hong_kong cognitive_linguistics argues mean construction process employ interact world_around dynamic_process highly metaphorical conceptual_metaphor_theory propose lakoff_johnson appear insufficient explain categorization emergence mixed metaphor categorization theory indicate mean construction process fix presence mixed metaphor cast_doubt idea whether metaphor production simply cross domain mapping moreover metaphor also cultural cognitive good tool_explore way_think evaluation value attitudes people speak metaphor pragmatic level choice metaphor help deliver stance achieve persuasive end writer study compare commonly_use word economy construe metaphor economic discourse location britain hong_kong attempt illustrate mention idea firstly cognitive level compare conceptual_metaphor manifest shape concept concern economy argue primary metaphor