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Article published In: Aspects of Metaphor
Edited by Maria Theodoropoulou
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 23:1] 2025
► pp. 286–312

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Conventional metaphors in English as a lingua franca

An analysis of speech metaphors in three academic seminars

ORCiD logo with link | Universidad de Extremadura
Published online: 14 December 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00168.ale
Abstract
In the present article, I study the language used in three English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) digital marketing seminars, in which the tutor and other participants gave feedback about the ‘pitches’, (i.e., short marketing speeches), presented by students in the same session. As this activity involved making reference to what students said in their ‘pitches’, the seminars provide ample evidence for the metaphorical construction of speech activity by the participants in the seminars. The analysis shows that these ELF speakers mostly adopted pre-existing and conventionalised metaphorical models used in English and that they do not attempt to incorporate other source domains, except for one, which I have labelled storytelling, as it associates pitch delivery with telling a story. However, at the level of linguistic metaphors used, greater use of unconventional metaphors can be found, although mostly adapted to and consistent with the conceptual models identified. In general terms, metaphor innovation in this English as a Lingua Franca context seems to be ‘norm following’ rather than ‘norm transcending’.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metaphor in ELF
  • 3.speech metaphors
  • 4.Methodology
    • Data and tools
    • Participants
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Metaphorical vs non-metaphorical speech
      • a.Speech or pitch
      • b.Non-metaphorical speech
      • c.Metaphorical speech
    • 5.2Main metaphorical source domains used in speech representation
      • a.Source and path of motion: Thematic initiation and progression
      • b.Goal of motion: Successful pitch
      • c.Combining motion and containment: Amount of information in the pitch
      • d.Visual metaphors: Main ideas
      • e.Reification and physical construction: Speech planning
      • f.Transfer: The audience
      • g.Storytelling or drama: Enacting the pitch
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (51)
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