Abstract
Great importance has been attached to exploring metaphors in discourses because they are conducive to discourse coherence and can enact a textual aesthetic simultaneously. In order to interpret its essence in discourses, researchers utilize several effective technological approaches and tools. Current Approaches to Metaphor Analysis in Discourse is such a book dedicated to this issue, which aims to promote the latest research on the working mechanism and the classification of metaphors (p.6).
The book introduces a way to improve the efficiency of metaphor analyses in theoretical and practical approaches like mental-space-theory and frame-based approaches, etc.
Structurally, the volume consists of 16 chapters and is divided into three parts. Part I is the introduction. It outlines the contributions of this volume, from which we can get a general understanding of metaphorical knowledge. Kovecses initially interprets a schematic hierarchy of terms in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) like ‘image schema’ and ‘domain’ to discuss the creation of metaphorical thinking in human mind. Oster’s and Cai and Deignan’s research delivers cross-cultural descriptions of metaphorical words in different languages and inspires the researchers with the cross-culture approach, indicating the connections between genres, cultures and metaphors. Isaeva, Burdina, Apresjan, Blasco, Garcia and Renau take the cognitive-discursive approach to discuss the etymological and metaphorical consistency of professional terms in medical, pharmaceutical and computer discourses, summarizing the latest progress in the study of the examination for conceptual structures of metaphorical terms. Based on these studies, the readers can understand the correlation between semantics of specific phrases and their morphosyntactic properties. Dilai and Serafin shed light on cognitive models underlying metaphors in political discourses. Contemporary Conceptual Metaphor Theory offers strong theoretical support for this analysis. These metaphors mirror the influence of history, culture and society on the metaphorical expressions in the Euromaidan discourse.
Part II is devoted to the consciousness in human mind to structure metaphors in real contexts. ‘Deliberate metaphor’ is the key concept of this part. Cuccio and Steen explain the conscious intentionality of metaphor and interpret the relations between language and neurophysiological activity. Silvestre-Lopez delivers an array of deliberate metaphor formulas in a selection of Buddhist writings on meditation to indicate that metaphors may constitute some resources in instructional settings for therapeutic applications. Cuberos, Rosado and Perera make efforts to explore the influence of age, L2 proficiency level, discourse genre and modality of production in the production of deliberate metaphor in discourses with the assistance of Deliberate Metaphor Identification Procedure (DMIP; Reijnierse and Burgers, 2018) and MIPVU guideline. It interprets potential metaphorical mappings, utilizing the bottom-up and top-down approaches in DMIP in the discovery of explicit metaphors. Ruiz reveals the role of figurative language in the construction of an alternative reality for ideological persuasion.
Part III offers a blueprint of metaphor. It interprets the essence and acquisition of metaphors and explains the relation between metaphor and ideology. Gorska’s meticulous study of metaphors in cartoons shows that they also carry a massive load of image schematic inferences. This research allows for a creative reconstructing of conventional conceptual metaphors, which enlightens well-established explanations of metaphorical mappings in paintings. Coegnarts discusses metaphors in relation to visual manifestation level of films. Through the combination between image and text, we can examine the pervasiveness and the communicative competence of metaphors in vision, especially those in economic discourses.
This volume is a collection of selected papers from the 4th International Conference on Metaphor and Discourse (p.13). It introduces us the latest research approaches to conceptual metaphors. And there are four crucial points that are especially relevant to the reader. First, it offers cognitive devices like ‘image schema’ to interpret the construction of metaphors. For novice researchers, it is quite friendly and attractive. These devices underline the conceptual nature of metaphorical thinking and goes beyond the written form of metaphors and explains that metaphors can be represented in multiple modes. It is a paradigm that ‘provides a broad panorama of perspectives tackling diverse aspects of metaphor analysis’ (p.6).
Second, it explains the connections among metaphor, the human mind, conceptual mappings, and metaphorical discourse analysis from multiple perspectives. For identifying metaphors, there are MIPVU and Deliberate Metaphor Identification Procedure, etc. Some researches in this chapter use corpus to code metaphorical expressions. In addition, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Deliberate Metaphor Theory and Ideal Cognitive Model build the theoretical frameworks in describing metaphors from the cognitive perspective. From this volume on, more researchers can make some innovations with the theoretical support to resolve the questions of metaphors in different domains. Last but not least, this book involves various discourses in different genres, including medical texts, TV series, website comments, etc. The researches in the volume also discuss the multi-modal and trans-modal metaphors, shedding lights on the development of cross-field metaphor studies.
However, the various studies of multi-modal metaphors included in this volume are not all equally developed. Some of them are pilot studies and offer only preliminary conclusions (e.g. Coegnarts’s study, Muelaas-Gil’s study), which need to be further verified by future studies based on a larger amount of materials. Despite the minor limitation, Current Approaches to Metaphor in Discourse Analysis is still a highly recommended book for researchers, lecturers, and professionals who are interested in conceptual metaphors, cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis.