Chapter 6

The lexical vs. corpus-based method in the study of metaphors

In the past 15–20 years, there has been an increasing tendency to study metaphors found in real data (large corpora, specific discourses, conversations, etc.). What became known as “corpus-linguistic methods” of metaphor study, distinguish themselves from a prior way of studying metaphor that is often labeled “intuitive,” “subjective,” and “eclectic.”

In this paper, we propose an updated version of this “intuitive” method, which is termed here the “lexical approach.” We compare and evaluate this approach with the corpus-based one, making use of the concept of SURPRISE (see Kövecses, 2015) for demonstrative purposes.

We conclude with some methodological suggestions, in which we argue that the two approaches reinforce and complement one another, toward the common goal of advancing metaphor theory.