Gerard J. Steen
List of John Benjamins publications in which Gerard J. Steen is involved.
Yearbook
ISSN 1572-0268 | E‑ISSN 1572‑0276
Journals
Functions of Language
Edited by J. Lachlan Mackenzie, Elena Smirnova and Sumin Zhao
ISSN 0929-998X | E‑ISSN 1569‑9765
Metaphor and the Social World
Edited by Susan Nacey, Dennis Tay and Sarah Turner
ISSN 2210-4070 | E‑ISSN 2210‑4097
Review of Cognitive Linguistics
Published under the auspices of the Spanish Cognitive Linguistics Association
Edited by Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
ISSN 1877-9751 | E‑ISSN 1877‑976X
Book series
Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts
Edited by Ning Yu and Hans-Georg Wolf
ISSN 1879-8047
Slowing Metaphor Down: Elaborating Deliberate Metaphor Theory
Gerard J. Steen
If thinking can be fast or slow, metaphorical thinking can be fast and slow too. But metaphorical thinking does not occur as often and in the ways that many metaphor scholars today think. Slow metaphorical thinking does mean, however, that we can exert more control over metaphor than has previously… read more[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 26] 2023. xv, 355 pp.
Dynamism in Metaphor and Beyond
Edited by Herbert L. Colston, Teenie Matlock and Gerard J. Steen
The last half century witnessed an upheaval in scientific investigation of human meaning-making and meaning-sharing. Dynamism in Metaphor and Beyond, is offered as a snapshot of the status of this multidisciplinary endeavor—a peak under the umbrella of what Cognitive Linguistics, Psycholinguistics,… read more[Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication, 9] 2022. vii, 359 pp.
Perspectives on Abstract Concepts: Cognition, language and communication
Edited by Marianna Bolognesi and Gerard J. Steen
Human language is the most powerful communication system that evolution has produced. Within this system, we can talk about things we can physically see, such as cats and tables, but also about more abstract entities, such as theories and feelings. But how are these abstract concepts grounded in… read more[Human Cognitive Processing, 65] 2019. xii, 315 pp.
Visual Metaphor: Structure and process
Edited by Gerard J. Steen
Metaphor has recently been reconceptualised as a fundamental part of the human conceptual system. It can hence be expressed in language but also in other modalities and media of communication, including gesture and body language, sound and music, and film and visuals. In spite of this theoretical… read more[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 18] 2018. vii, 198 pp.
A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU
Gerard J. Steen, Aletta G. Dorst, J. Berenike Herrmann, Anna A. Kaal, Tina Krennmayr and Tryntje Pasma
This book presents a complete method for the identification of metaphor in language at the level of word use. It is based on extensive methodological and empirical corpus-linguistic research in two languages, English and Dutch. The method is formulated as an explicit manual of instructions covering… read more[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 14] 2010. xi, 238 pp.
Structural-Functional Studies in English Grammar: In honour of Lachlan Mackenzie
Edited by Mike Hannay and Gerard J. Steen
This collection presents a number of studies in the lexico-grammar of English which focus on the one hand on close reading of language in context and on the other hand on current functional theoretical concerns. The various contributions represent distinct functionalist models of language,… read more[Studies in Language Companion Series, 83] 2007. vi, 393 pp.
Finding Metaphor in Grammar and Usage: A methodological analysis of theory and research
Gerard J. Steen
Cognitive linguists have proposed that metaphor is not just a matter of language but of thought, and that metaphorical thought displays a high degree of conventionalization. In order to produce converging evidence for this theory of metaphor, a wide range of data is currently being studied with a… read more[Converging Evidence in Language and Communication Research, 10] 2007. xvi, 430 pp.
The Psychology and Sociology of Literature: In honor of Elrud Ibsch
Edited by Dick Schram and Gerard J. Steen
The Psychology and Sociology of Literature is a collection of 25 chapters on literature by some of the leading psychologists, sociologists, and literary scholars in the field of the empirical study of literature. Contributors include Ziva Ben-Porat, Gerry Cupchik, Art Graesser, Rachel Giora,… read more[Utrecht Publications in General and Comparative Literature, 35] 2001. viii, 478 pp.
Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics: Selected papers from the 5th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997
Edited by Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. and Gerard J. Steen
This book contains a selection of refereed and revised papers originally presented at the 5th ICLC. After an introduction by the editors, the book opens with a long-needed chapter on historical precedents for the Cognitive Linguistic theory of metaphor. Two chapters demonstrate the method of… read more[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 175] 1999. viii, 226 pp.
2025 Peace talks as a card game: What can metaphor researchers do? Metaphor and the Social World 16:1, pp. 172–178 | Article
This contribution offers an analysis of the role of the card game metaphor used by President Trump in his fiery exchange with President Zelensky during their meeting in the White House to discuss the possibility of peace talks for the war in Ukraine. It aims to show what metaphor researchers can… read more
2025 Chapter 10. Bob Dylan’s world of words: Beginning to map the linguistic terrain Style as Motivated Choice: In memory of Peter Verdonk (1934–2021), Burke, Michael and Joanna Gavins (eds.), pp. 159–180 | Chapter
This chapter asks how Bob Dylan’s lyrics can be analysed as motivated style. It examines the output of Wmatrix for six of Dylan’s most appreciated albums across four decades, taking a close look at quantitative patterns of overuse of semantic fields in comparison with a small reference corpus of… read more
2022 Introduction Dynamism in Metaphor and Beyond, Colston, Herbert L., Teenie Matlock and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 11–28 | Chapter
2022 Metaphor in The Cancer Poetry Project Dynamism in Metaphor and Beyond, Colston, Herbert L., Teenie Matlock and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 31–44 | Chapter
In this paper I discuss the relation between metaphor and its role in the poetry written by cancer patients and their caregivers as reflected in the two volumes of The Cancer Poetry Project, edited by Karen Miller. I suggest that metaphor may be less important than is assumed by either Susan… read more
2021 How do scientists criticize the computer metaphor of the brain? Using an argumentative pattern for reconstructing resistance to metaphor Journal of Argumentation in Context 10:2, pp. 171–201 | Article
The central metaphor in cognitive science is the computer metaphor of the brain. In previous work, we reconstructed the metaphor in a novel way, guided by the assumption that it functions as an explanatory hypothesis. We developed an argumentative pattern for justifying scientific explanations… read more
2020 The role of co-text in the analysis of potentially deliberate metaphor Drawing Attention to Metaphor: Case studies across time periods, cultures and modalities, Di Biase-Dyson, Camilla and Markus Egg (eds.), pp. 15–38 | Chapter
Taking Deliberate Metaphor Theory (Steen, 2015) as a starting point, this chapter investigates the way in which co-text influences the identification and analysis of potentially deliberate metaphor in discourse. While co-text plays a role in the identification and analysis of the linguistic and… read more
2020 Violence metaphors for cancer: Pragmatic and symptomatic arguments against Metaphor and the Social World 10:1, pp. 121–140 | Article
The use of violence metaphors for cancer has been widely criticised both in academic and non-academic contexts (see Harrington, 2012; Semino et al., 2015). Whereas previous research on violence metaphors for cancer has focused on the use and functions of these metaphors by and for different… read more
2019 Introduction Perspectives on Abstract Concepts: Cognition, language and communication, Bolognesi, Marianna and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 1–13 | Chapter
2019 An argumentative reconstruction of the computer metaphor of the brain Journal of Argumentation in Context 8:3, pp. 317–335 | Article
The computer metaphor of the brain is frequently criticized by scientists and philosophers outside the computational paradigm. Proponents of the metaphor may then seek to defend its explanatory merits, in which case the metaphor functions as a standpoint. Insofar as previous research in… read more
2019 Chapter 1. MIPVU in multiple languages Metaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the world, Nacey, Susan, Aletta G. Dorst, Tina Krennmayr and W. Gudrun Reijnierse (eds.), pp. 1–21 | Chapter
2019 Figurative analogies and how they are resisted in British Public Bill Committee debates Metaphor and the Social World 9:1, pp. 107–130 | Article
This paper studies metaphor use in British Public Bill Committee debates. It focuses on the way in which legislators frame their arguments in metaphorical terms under the form of figurative analogies. Because these figurative analogies can be misleading by oversimplifying the issue under… read more
2019 I did not say that the government should be plundering anybody’s savings: Resistance to metaphors expressing starting points in parliamentary debates Journal of Language and Politics 18:5, pp. 718–738 | Article
This paper examines how politicians employ metaphors to express starting points in British parliamentary debates. Because these metaphors are conceptual tools that may have presuppositions and entailments that are not in line with the ideas and values of all discussion parties, political… read more
2019 Chapter 2. MIPVU: A manual for identifying metaphor-related words Metaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the world, Nacey, Susan, Aletta G. Dorst, Tina Krennmayr and W. Gudrun Reijnierse (eds.), pp. 23–40 | Chapter
2018 On metaphorical views, dynamite, and doodlings: Functions of domain adjectives in metaphorical domain constructions Review of Cognitive Linguistics 16:2, pp. 431–454 | Article
This paper offers a systematic, bottom-up, investigation of the role of adjectives as metaphor signals in metaphorical domain constructions (MDCs) such as ‘budgetary anorexia’ and ‘economic crash’ within the framework of Deliberate Metaphor Theory (e.g., Steen, 2017). To this end, we analyse all… read more
2018 Chapter 8. Conclusion Visual Metaphor: Structure and process, Steen, Gerard J. (ed.), pp. 185–196 | Chapter
2018 Chapter 5. Behavioral evidence for VISMIP Visual Metaphor: Structure and process, Steen, Gerard J. (ed.), pp. 117–146 | Chapter
2018 Chapter 3. VISMIP: Towards a method for visual metaphor identification Visual Metaphor: Structure and process, Steen, Gerard J. (ed.), pp. 47–88 | Chapter
2017 Chapter 4. Introducing a three-dimensional model of verbal irony: Irony in language, in thought, and in communication Irony in Language Use and Communication, Athanasiadou, Angeliki and Herbert L. Colston (eds.), pp. 87–108 | Chapter
We introduce a three-dimensional model for irony research, which is an extension of Steen’s (2008, 2011) three-dimensional model of metaphor and similarly argues that the study of irony requires three distinct dimensions: (1) language, (2) thought and (3) communication. Irony in language requires… read more
2016 Chapter 6. Mixed metaphor is a question of deliberateness Mixing Metaphor, Gibbs, Jr., Raymond W. (ed.), pp. 113–132 | Article
This paper aims to explore the interaction between mixed metaphor and deliberateness in order to throw some new light on the nature of mixed metaphor. The basic claim is that the typical or strongest experience of mixed metaphor arises when two metaphors conflict that are both used deliberately as… read more
2015 How viruses and beasts affect our opinions (or not): The role of extendedness in metaphorical framing The political impact of metaphors, Perrez, Julien and Min Reuchamps (eds.), pp. 245–263 | Article
Based on the assumption that extended metaphor may constitute a case of deliberate metaphor and therefore has the potential to influence people’s opinions, this paper investigates whether extending a metaphorical frame in a text leads people to perceive policy measures that are in line with that… read more
2014 Economic competition is like auto racing: Building metaphorical schemas when reading text Metaphor and the Social World 4:1, pp. 65–89 | Article
Even though our language is pervaded by metaphor, we do not necessarily think metaphorically. Knowing whether people make conceptual connections between a source and a target domain, and if so under which conditions, is of theoretical as well as practical interest, for example in text design. This… read more
2013 The contemporary theory of metaphor — now new and improved! Metaphor and Metonymy revisited beyond the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: Recent developments and applications, Gonzálvez-García, Francisco, María Sandra Peña-Cervel and Lorena Pérez-Hernández (eds.), pp. 27–65 | Article
This paper outlines a multi-dimensional/multi-disciplinary framework for the study of metaphor. It expands on the cognitive linguistic approach to metaphor in language and thought by adding the dimension of communication, and it expands on the predominantly linguistic and psychological approaches… read more
2013 Processing visual metaphor: A study in thinking out loud Metaphor and the Social World 3:1, pp. 1–34 | Article
This article explores the mental operations people undertake when they encounter a visual metaphor. First, an integrated theoretical model of visual metaphor processing is proposed. The model is then empirically evaluated: in a think aloud task, six participants were presented with twelve pictures… read more
2011 Recognition of personifications in fiction by non-expert readers Metaphor and the Social World 1:2, pp. 174–200 | Article
This paper offers an integrated typology for the classification of personifications in discourse, based on existing methods for linguistic metaphor identification such as MIP (Pragglejaz Group, 2007) and MIPVU (Steen et al., 2010). The psychological relevance of the proposed typology is explored… read more
2011 Genre between the humanities and the sciences Bi-Directionality in the Cognitive Sciences: Avenues, challenges, and limitations, Callies, Marcus, Wolfram R. Keller and Astrid Lohöfer (eds.), pp. 21–42 | Article
This chapter outlines an approach to genre as the driving force behind language, cognition, and communication. Genre can and has been studied in the humanities as well as the cognitive and social sciences, but the present chapter presents a theoretical integration of these approaches and offers a… read more
2011 Issues in collecting converging evidence: Is metaphor always a matter of thought? Converging Evidence: Methodological and theoretical issues for linguistic research, Schönefeld, Doris (ed.), pp. 33–54 | Article
In empirical research, metaphor constitutes a showcase for the difficulties involved in handling converging evidence, which typically displays a conflation between two scientific phenomena, ‘phenomenological pluralism’ and ‘methodological pluralism’. Phenomenological pluralism is exciting but… read more
2011 Metaphor in language and thought: How do we map the field? Cognitive Linguistics: Convergence and Expansion, Brdar, Mario, Stefan Th. Gries and Milena Žic Fuchs (eds.), pp. 67–86 | Article
This chapter suggests that metaphor research can benefit from a clearer description of the field of research. Three dimensions of doing metaphor research are distinguished: metaphor can be studied as part of grammar or usage, it can be studied as part of language or thought, and it can be studied… read more
2011 The contemporary theory of metaphor — now new and improved! Metaphor and metonymy revisited beyond the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: Recent developments and applications, Gonzálvez-García, Francisco, María Sandra Peña-Cervel and Lorena Pérez-Hernández (eds.), pp. 26–64 | Article
This paper outlines a multi-dimensional/multi-disciplinary framework for the study of metaphor. It expands on the cognitive linguistic approach to metaphor in language and thought by adding the dimension of communication, and it expands on the predominantly linguistic and psychological approaches… read more
2010 Researching And Applying Metaphor Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen 83, pp. 91–102 | Article
Metaphor has become an important area of investigation where fundamental and applied research on language and its use meet. This article presents metaphor as a rapidly developing area of study for applied linguists who are adding an interventionist dimension to the more fundamental research on… read more
2010 9. Pragglejaz in practice: Finding metaphorically used words in natural discourse Researching and Applying Metaphor in the Real World, Low, Graham, Zazie Todd, Alice Deignan and Lynne Cameron (eds.), pp. 165–184 | Article
This paper aims to present the application of a new method for metaphor identification in discourse, the Pragglejaz Metaphor Identification Procedure, in two corpus-linguistic projects. It provides background information to the method and then demonstrates its basic workings by means of three… read more
2007 Review of Kepser & Reis (2005): Linguistic evidence: Empirical, theoretical, and computational perspectives Ditransitivity, Siewierska, Anna and Willem B. Hollmann (eds.), pp. 165–171 | Review
2002 Metaphor in Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane”: Genre, language, and style Cognitive Stylistics: Language and cognition in text analysis, Semino, Elena and Jonathan Culpeper (eds.), pp. 183–209 | Chapter
2001 A rhetoric of metaphor: Conceptual and linguistic metaphor and the psychology of literature The Psychology and Sociology of Literature: In honor of Elrud Ibsch, Schram, Dick and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 145–163 | Article
2001 The empirical study of literature: Psychology, sociology, and other disciplines The Psychology and Sociology of Literature: In honor of Elrud Ibsch, Schram, Dick and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 1–16 | Article
1999 From linguistic to conceptual metaphor in five steps Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics: Selected papers from the 5th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997, Gibbs, Jr., Raymond W. and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 57–78 | Article
1999 Introduction Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics: Selected papers from the 5th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997, Gibbs, Jr., Raymond W. and Gerard J. Steen (eds.), pp. 1–8 | Article