Without metaphor there would be no legs on the table, no hands on the clock. These are dead metaphors. Even that expression is a metaphor, for how can something be dead that has never literally been born. It is an expression which cannot be taken literally. In its first use it was 'alive' in the sense of being new or witty or apt and memorable. Without metaphor we are reduced to the bare bones of language, to a kind of Orwellian Newspeak. One can hardly avoid using metaphors to explain them. Even scientists and mathematicians use metaphors but they usually refer to them as models. Metaphor is a function of language which enables us to be creative. Not only the person who coins, invents, or thinks of the new metaphor but also the listener or reader who constructs a personal meaning for him or her self. We speak of creativity in education, as a human capacity to be encouraged and developed. How creative can humans be? Do they ever really 'create' anything new apart from reproductions of themselves? Any creative activity such as painting, building or gardening is really re-organising elements already created. So humans enjoy 'creating' their own order, forms, or patterns which we call art. Language is capable of endless patterns. The basic patterns, usually known as grammar, appear to be innate and in speech and writing we use these 'inbuilt' structures to create new sentences of our own. At its highest level we call this literature. It has taken us some time to realise that a word in itself has no meaning as it is a symbol only. For those aspects of experience which are difficult to explain we turn to metaphor. Thus religions often use myths and symbols. Anthropology describes many human activities as metaphoric, for example myths or totemism. Practically every sphere of human activity is imbued with this magical quality of metaphor, for it extends our understanding of the world by giving us a kind of 'elastic' way of describing our experiences. It is not the prerogative of writers or poets but a power we all possess and one which has been derided and abused at times in our history. Only now is it increasingly being recognized as a human capacity worthy of study. In this work I delve into some aspects of the use of metaphor to show how we need to be aware of its potent, pervasive power, especially those of us involved in teaching for whom I will attempt to demonstrate that teaching is itself a metaphoric activity.
{"title":"Metaphor in Education","authors":"Maureen Kortens","doi":"10.1075/msw.11.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.11.2","url":null,"abstract":"Without metaphor there would be no legs on the table, no hands on the clock. These are dead metaphors. Even that expression is a metaphor, for how can something be dead that has never literally been born. It is an expression which cannot be taken literally. In its first use it was 'alive' in the sense of being new or witty or apt and memorable. Without metaphor we are reduced to the bare bones of language, to a kind of Orwellian Newspeak. One can hardly avoid using metaphors to explain them. Even scientists and mathematicians use metaphors but they usually refer to them as models. Metaphor is a function of language which enables us to be creative. Not only the person who coins, invents, or thinks of the new metaphor but also the listener or reader who constructs a personal meaning for him or her self. We speak of creativity in education, as a human capacity to be encouraged and developed. How creative can humans be? Do they ever really 'create' anything new apart from reproductions of themselves? Any creative activity such as painting, building or gardening is really re-organising elements already created. So humans enjoy 'creating' their own order, forms, or patterns which we call art. Language is capable of endless patterns. The basic patterns, usually known as grammar, appear to be innate and in speech and writing we use these 'inbuilt' structures to create new sentences of our own. At its highest level we call this literature. It has taken us some time to realise that a word in itself has no meaning as it is a symbol only. For those aspects of experience which are difficult to explain we turn to metaphor. Thus religions often use myths and symbols. Anthropology describes many human activities as metaphoric, for example myths or totemism. Practically every sphere of human activity is imbued with this magical quality of metaphor, for it extends our understanding of the world by giving us a kind of 'elastic' way of describing our experiences. It is not the prerogative of writers or poets but a power we all possess and one which has been derided and abused at times in our history. Only now is it increasingly being recognized as a human capacity worthy of study. In this work I delve into some aspects of the use of metaphor to show how we need to be aware of its potent, pervasive power, especially those of us involved in teaching for whom I will attempt to demonstrate that teaching is itself a metaphoric activity.","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42204508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article investigates the use of friendship metaphors in texts by adult second language writers, in relation to the occurrence and function of metaphor and the writers’ discursive constructions of identity. The texts come from the final assessment in Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), a language program in basic Swedish. The analysis confirmed the initial assumption that the emotional and existentially loaded theme of friendship allows for the use of metaphor. The results also showed that the experience of writers as newcomers in Sweden played out in the metaphors that were used and their contexts. In order to categorize the found metaphors, a model was developed to show how systematic metaphors reflect functions and values related to three thematic categories: guidance and help, belonging and inclusion, and sharing and solidarity. For several metaphors, the metaphoricity was created through novel and unidiomatic wording, i.e. a kind of neologism that can be considered a communication strategy. The importance of using universal and abstract themes in language testing is emphasized, to enable second language writers to express different facets of experience and knowledge through existential thoughts and attitudes – not only as language learners and newcomers, but also as social agents who create and keep transnational relations through friends.
{"title":"Second half part of the apple","authors":"Katrin Ahlgren, Ulrik Magnusson","doi":"10.1075/msw.00019.ahl","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00019.ahl","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article investigates the use of friendship metaphors in texts by adult second language writers, in relation\u0000 to the occurrence and function of metaphor and the writers’ discursive constructions of identity. The texts come from the final\u0000 assessment in Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), a language program in basic Swedish. The analysis confirmed the initial assumption\u0000 that the emotional and existentially loaded theme of friendship allows for the use of metaphor. The results also\u0000 showed that the experience of writers as newcomers in Sweden played out in the metaphors that were used and their contexts.\u0000 In order to categorize the found metaphors, a model was developed to show how systematic\u0000 metaphors reflect functions and values related to three thematic categories: guidance and help, belonging and\u0000 inclusion, and sharing and solidarity. For several metaphors, the metaphoricity was created through\u0000 novel and unidiomatic wording, i.e. a kind of neologism that can be considered a communication strategy.\u0000 The importance of using universal and abstract themes in language testing is emphasized, to enable second language\u0000 writers to express different facets of experience and knowledge through existential thoughts and attitudes – not only as language\u0000 learners and newcomers, but also as social agents who create and keep transnational relations through friends.","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47608622","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores metaphor translation strategies of novice translators: university students translating from L1 Norwegian to L2 English. We first describe the translation strategies they employ in their translated texts, thereby offering evidence of what translators do with metaphor based on multiple translations of the same metaphor-dense source text. We then go beyond this descriptive analysis to discuss why these translators make their particular choices, analyzing the students’ in-class discussion and individual written reflections about their translations. We thus illuminate the challenges that the novice translators consciously perceive (that is, is metaphor a problem?), as well as their motivation for and evaluation of their translation solutions. In this way, we shed light on the concept of the ‘successful’ translation of metaphor.
{"title":"Learner translation of metaphor","authors":"Susan Nacey, Siri Fürst Skogmo","doi":"10.1075/msw.00016.nac","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00016.nac","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article explores metaphor translation strategies of novice translators: university students translating from L1 Norwegian to L2 English. We first describe the translation strategies they employ in their translated texts, thereby offering evidence of what translators do with metaphor based on multiple translations of the same metaphor-dense source text. We then go beyond this descriptive analysis to discuss why these translators make their particular choices, analyzing the students’ in-class discussion and individual written reflections about their translations. We thus illuminate the challenges that the novice translators consciously perceive (that is, is metaphor a problem?), as well as their motivation for and evaluation of their translation solutions. In this way, we shed light on the concept of the ‘successful’ translation of metaphor.","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43990012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Afterword","authors":"Fiona MacArthur","doi":"10.1075/msw.00022.mac","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00022.mac","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42103391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article I investigate to what extent the use of metaphorical expressions in language learners’ texts vary according to the topic they have chosen to write about. The data come from the Norwegian learner corpus ASK, where the texts are from written assignments produced by adult second-language learners as part of an official Norwegian test and texts. Texts from two different prompts are selected, which are related to friendship and nature. Metaphors are defined according to conceptual metaphor theory and a triangulation of methods is used, alternating between a manual and an automatic extraction method. The results confirm the hypothesis that the two different prompts given to the learners in a language test not only triggers different metaphorical expressions but also influences the amount of metaphor used in the learners’ writing. This knowledge is important to researchers for comparing the use of metaphors between different groups, such as between different learners or between students in different stages of education. It is also important for test designers who decide on topics to be used in tests and teachers who help learners prepare for their tests. In addition, it is of interest for researchers, educators in general and the learners themselves who are interested in the effect the use of metaphors in texts have on raters’ evaluations in high-stake tests.
{"title":"The relationship between topic and metaphor in second-language learners’ essays","authors":"A. Golden","doi":"10.1075/msw.00018.gol","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00018.gol","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In this article I investigate to what extent the use of metaphorical expressions in language learners’ texts vary\u0000 according to the topic they have chosen to write about. The data come from the Norwegian learner corpus ASK, where the texts are\u0000 from written assignments produced by adult second-language learners as part of an official Norwegian test and texts. Texts from\u0000 two different prompts are selected, which are related to friendship and nature. Metaphors are defined according to conceptual\u0000 metaphor theory and a triangulation of methods is used, alternating between a manual and an automatic extraction method.\u0000 The results confirm the hypothesis that the two different prompts given to the learners in a language test not\u0000 only triggers different metaphorical expressions but also influences the amount of metaphor used in the learners’ writing. This\u0000 knowledge is important to researchers for comparing the use of metaphors between different groups, such as between different\u0000 learners or between students in different stages of education. It is also important for test designers who decide on topics to be\u0000 used in tests and teachers who help learners prepare for their tests. In addition, it is of interest for researchers, educators in general and the learners\u0000 themselves who are interested in the effect the use of metaphors in texts have on raters’ evaluations in high-stake tests.","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44888855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This special issue explores the use of metaphor in education from a multilingual perspective in two Scandinavian countries, Norway and Sweden. In this introduction, we include a brief overview of earlier research in the domain and identify common factors noteworthy to discuss in relation to the multilingual context, for instance, the notion of creativity and speaker legitimacy in a second language context. The issue includes six articles comprising multilingual school children, youth, university students, adult migrants, and indigenous minorities. Several of the articles focus on second language acquisition, use and assessment, while others deal more with social issues, including unequal power relations and prejudices that newcomers encounter in everyday life.
{"title":"Metaphor in education","authors":"Katrin Ahlgren, A. Golden, Ulrik Magnusson","doi":"10.1075/msw.00015.ahl","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00015.ahl","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This special issue explores the use of metaphor in education from a multilingual perspective in two Scandinavian\u0000 countries, Norway and Sweden. In this introduction, we include a brief overview of earlier research in the domain and identify\u0000 common factors noteworthy to discuss in relation to the multilingual context, for instance, the notion of creativity and speaker\u0000 legitimacy in a second language context. The issue includes six articles comprising multilingual school children, youth,\u0000 university students, adult migrants, and indigenous minorities. Several of the articles focus on second language acquisition, use\u0000 and assessment, while others deal more with social issues, including unequal power relations and prejudices that newcomers\u0000 encounter in everyday life.","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46625751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Piquer-Píriz & Alejo-González (2020): Metaphor in Foreign Language Instruction","authors":"Sally Zacharias","doi":"10.1075/msw.00023.zac","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00023.zac","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44574774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Nacey, Dorst, Krennmayr & Reijnierse (2019): Metaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the world","authors":"Camilla Di Biase-Dyson","doi":"10.1075/msw.00025.bia","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00025.bia","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46731107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In order to understand the process of learning new languages as adults, we need to take into account learners’ past experiences with all of their language(s), as such experiences shape attitudes and conceptualizations. In this paper, we present an analysis of metaphorical expressions in the narrated linguistic biographies of (former) refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Norway. The participants speak a multitude of languages, e.g., different local Congolese languages, Congolese national languages (Lingala or Swahili), French (the official language of the DRC), in addition to Norwegian (the language of the host society). Attention is paid to how the participants’ expressions align with conceptual metaphors emerged from work in Cognitive Linguistics, such as language is an object, language is a person and language is an identity marker, as well as specifications like language is a tool and language is a possession. We argue that awareness of conceptualizations of ‘language’ can contribute to the development of language training pedagogies that better reflect learners’ past experiences.
{"title":"Mashi – this language was in my ears","authors":"A. Golden, G. Steien","doi":"10.1075/msw.00021.gol","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00021.gol","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In order to understand the process of learning new languages as adults, we need to take into account learners’ past experiences with all of their language(s), as such experiences shape attitudes and conceptualizations. In this paper, we present an analysis of metaphorical expressions in the narrated linguistic biographies of (former) refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Norway. The participants speak a multitude of languages, e.g., different local Congolese languages, Congolese national languages (Lingala or Swahili), French (the official language of the DRC), in addition to Norwegian (the language of the host society). Attention is paid to how the participants’ expressions align with conceptual metaphors emerged from work in Cognitive Linguistics, such as language is an object, language is a person and language is an identity marker, as well as specifications like language is a tool and language is a possession. We argue that awareness of conceptualizations of ‘language’ can contribute to the development of language training pedagogies that better reflect learners’ past experiences.","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42632497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Littlemore (2019): Metaphors in the Mind. Sources of Variation in Embodied Metaphor","authors":"V. Cuccio","doi":"10.1075/msw.00024.cuc","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.00024.cuc","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51936,"journal":{"name":"Metaphor and the Social World","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2021-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48489073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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