Cover not available

In:Metaphor in Specialist Discourse:
Edited by J. Berenike Herrmann and Tony Berber Sardinha
[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication 4] 2015
► pp. 3–14

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Metaphor in specialist discourse

 | Göttingen University, Germany
ORCiD logo with link | São Paulo Catholic University, Brazil
Published online: 16 December 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.4.01her
This chapter introduces the overall purpose, theoretical background, and structure of this collective volume. We start with our initial motivation, advancing the empirical study of metaphor in specialist discourse. Matching our goal, depicting metaphor use across a range of specialist domains and communities of discourse, we give an overview of the individual articles. The main emphasis, however, is on sketching a model of metaphor use in specific and popularized discourse settings that serves as a framework for the volume. Specifically, we draw on the latest discourse- and cognition-oriented metaphor studies, in particular conceptual metaphor theory, which we link to genre and register studies. We propose that aspects of discourse variability are the beginning, not an afterthought, of accurate empirical metaphor studies.
References (54)
References
Bahtia, V., Sánchez Hernández, P., & Pérez-Paredes, P. (2011). Corpora, meta-analyses and applications. In V. Bahtia, P. Sánchez Hernández, & P. Pérez-Paredes (Eds.), Researching specialized languages (pp. 1–8). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D. (1988). Variation across speech and writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1994). An analytical framework for register studies. In D. Biber & E. Finegan (Eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 31–58). New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1995). Dimensions of register variation – A sociolinguistic comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2012). Register as a predictor of linguistic variation. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory, 8(1), 9–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D., & Conrad, S. (2009). Register, genre, and style. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). The Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowles, H. (2012). Analyzing languages for specific purposes discourse. The Modern Language Journal, 96, 43–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, L. (2003). Metaphor in educational discourse. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, L., & Low, G. (Eds.). (1999). Researching and applying metaphor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, L., & Maslen, R. (Eds.). (2010). Metaphor analysis. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deignan, A., Littlemore, J., & Semino, E. (2013). Figurative language, genre and register. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dorst, A.G. (2011). Metaphor in fiction: Language, thought and communication. Oisterwijk: Box Press Uitgeverij.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eggins, S., & Martin, J.R. (1997). Genres and registers of discourse. In T.A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as structure and process (pp. 230–256). London: SAGE.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. (1994). Dialect, register, and genre: Working assumptions about conventionalization. In D. Biber & E. Finegan (Eds.), Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 15–30). New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giles, T.D. (2008). Motives for metaphor in scientific and technical communication. Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goatly, A. (1997). The language of metaphors. London/New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grishman, R., & Kittredge, R. (Eds.). (1986). Analyzing language in restricted domains: Sublanguage description and processing. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grove Ditlevsen, M., & Kastberg, P. (Eds.). (2011). Knowledge asymmetries. Fachsprache, 34(3–4).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. The social interpretation of language and meaning. London: Arnold.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1985/1989). Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herrmann, J.B. (2013). Metaphor in academic discourse: Linguistic forms, conceptual structures, communicative functions and cognitive representations. Utrecht: LOT dissertation series.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaal, A.A. (2012). Metaphor in conversation. Oisterwijk: Uitgeverij BOX Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krennmayr, T. (2011). Metaphor in newspapers. Utrecht: LOT dissertation series.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (pp. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Littlemore, J. (2012). The use of verbal and gestural metaphor in explanations of management theory. In M. White & H. Herrero (Eds.) Metaphor and mills: The use of figurative language in business and economics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Low, G., Cameron, L., Deignan, A., & Todd, Z. (Eds.). (2010). Researching and applying metaphor in the real world. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Low, G., & Todd, Z. (2010). Good practice in metaphor analysis: Guidelines and pitfalls. In L. Cameron & R. Maslen (Eds.), Metaphor analysis: Research practice in applied linguistics, social sciences and the humanities (pp. 217–229). London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacArthur, F., Oncins-Martínez, J.L., Sánchez-García, M., & Piquer-Píriz, A.M. (Eds.). (2012). Metaphor in use: Context, culture, and communication. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muschard, J. (2007). Approaches to metaphor and analogy in the language of linguistics as a language for special purposes (LSP). Marburg: Tectum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Musolff, A. (2004). Metaphor and political discourse: Analogical reasoning and debates about Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murphy, G.L. (1996). On metaphoric representation. Cognition, 60, 173–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1997). Reasons to doubt the present evidence for metaphoric representation. Cognition, 62, 99–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pasma, T. (2011). Metaphor and register variation. The personalization of Dutch news discourse. Oisterwijk: Uitgeverij BOXPress.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pragglejaz group. (2007). MIP: A practical and flexible method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1–39. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richardt, S. (2005). Metaphor in languages for specific purposes. The function of conceptual metaphor in written expert language and expert-lay communication in the domains of economics, medicine and computing. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ritchie, D. (2003). “ARGUMENT IS WAR” – Or is it a game of chess? Multiple meanings in the analysis of implicit metaphors. Metaphor and Symbol, 18, 125–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004). Common ground in metaphor theory: Continuing the conversation. Metaphor and Symbol, 19, 233–244. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schulze, R., & Römer, U. (2008). Introduction: Patterns, meaningful units and specialized discourses. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 13(3), 265–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Semino, E. (2008). Metaphor in discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steen, G.J., Dorst, A.G., Herrmann, J.B., Kaal, A.A., & Krennmayr, T. (2010a). Metaphor in usage. Cognitive Linguistics, 21(4). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2010b). VU Amsterdam metaphor corpus. Oxford: Oxford Text Archives. Available at [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steen, G.J., Dorst, A.G., Kaal, A.A., Herrmann, J.B., Tina, K., & Pasma, T. (2010c). A method for linguistic metaphor identification: From MIP to MIPVU. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vervaeke, J., & Kennedy, J.M. (1996). Metaphors in language and thought: Falsification and multiple meanings. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 11(4), 273–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004). Conceptual metaphor and abstract thought. Metaphor and Symbol, 19(3), 213–232. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
White, M., & Herrero, H. (Eds.). (2012). Metaphor and mills: The use of figurative language in business and economics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zanotto, M.S., Cameron, L., & Cavalcanti, M.C. (Eds.). (2008). Confronting metaphor in use: An applied linguistic approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zinken, J., & Musolff, A. (Eds.). (2009). Metaphor and discourse. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Andryukhina, T. V.
2023. Cognitive research in pedagogy: conceptual metaphor in CLIL-economics. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies 9:2 ► pp. 103 ff. DOI logo
Musolff, Andreas
2022. Universality and/or Cultural Specificity of Metaphors and Analogies? NATIONS as BODIES/PERSONS. In Metaphors and Analogies in Sciences and Humanities [Synthese Library, 453], ► pp. 401 ff. DOI logo
Musolff, Andreas
2025. Divergent conceptualizations of the COVID-19 pandemic and its management as a war in Britain and Germany. In COVID-19 [Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication, 11], ► pp. 170 ff. DOI logo
Nissi, Riikka & Kati Dlaske
2020. Empowerment as an affective-discursive technology in contemporary capitalism: insights from a play. Critical Discourse Studies 17:4 ► pp. 447 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2022. Motion metaphors in music criticism [Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication, 10], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue