Metaphor and Symbol

Volume 37, Issue 3-4, 2022

Metaphor and Symbol（SSCI二区，2021 IF：1.303）2022年第3-4期共发文10篇，主要涉及认知语言学、多模态隐喻、人性化隐喻、宗教语言等话题。欢迎转发扩散！（2022年已更完）

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刊讯｜SSCI 期刊《隐喻与象征》2022年第1-2期

目录

Issue 3

■ The Blending of Bending: How We Engage with the World of Avatar: The Last Airbender through Memes, by Thomas Van Hoey

■ The Indexical Affordance of Metaphor: Stain as a Case Example, by Thomas Wiben Jensen

■ For Better, for Worse, for Richer, for Poorer, in Sickness and in Health: A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach to Merism, by Ma Sandra Peña Cervel

■ Water Metaphors and Evaluation of Syrian Migration: The Flow of Refugees in the Spanish Press, by M. Dolores Porto

Issue 4

■ Like a Virus. Similes for a Pandemic, by Maria-Josep Cuenca, Universitat de València

■ “Noah’s Family Was on Lockdown”: Multimodal Metaphors in Religious Coronavirus-Related Internet Memes in the Nigerian WhatsApp Space, by Oluwabunmi O. Oyebode, Foluke O. Unuabonah

■ “Dizziness of Freedom”: Anxiety Disorders and Metaphorical Meaning-making, by Kalina Moskaluk, Jordan Zlatev, Joost van de Weijer

■ The Roles of Manual and non-manual Cues in Recognizing Irony in Italian Sign Language, by Beatrice Giustolisi, Lara Mantovan, Francesca Panzeri

■ (De)humanizing Metaphors of People in Pain and Their Association with the Perceived Quality of nurse-patient Relationship, by Eva Diniz, Paula Castro, Sónia F. Bernardes

■ Review of the Book:Richardson Peter, Mueller Charles M., Pihlaja Stephen, “Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language. An Introduction,” New York and London 2021: Routledge, by Marcin Kuczok

摘要

The Blending of Bending: How We Engage with the World of Avatar: The Last Airbender through Memes

Thomas Van Hoey, The University of Hong Kong

Abstract People often use memes to express their ideological stance on real world events. This study departs from a recent COVID-19-related meme which makes use of elements known from the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) and Avatar: Legend of Korra (LOK), and asks how it came to be and how stance is conveyed through them. After acknowledging the impact of the series, conceptual blending theory is adopted to investigate the worldbuilding of the macrocosm in ATLA. This is identified as a correlative network, which acts as the blended space of multiple input spaces consisting of intertextual references. The world of ATLA then functions as a new input space which is updated with modern elements, resulting in the blend of LOK. Minor blends are identified in the hybrid animals that occupy the fictional world. Lastly, it is shown how the selection of a particular input element for participation in meme blends already conveys an ideological stance, rather than only emerging through readers’ eyes.

The Indexical Affordance of Metaphor: Stain as a Case Example

Thomas Wiben Jensen, University of Southern Denmark

Abstract This paper investigates an unexplored indexical dimension inherent in the mapping structure of metaphor. The empirical focus is on the metaphor of stain but the scope of indexicality in relation to metaphor might be on a more general level. Based on analyses of a political statement as well as transcripts from a therapy session it is argued that previous accounts on the stain metaphor within CMT are insufficient and only covers parts of the cognitive structures and social aspects of the metaphor. Hitherto, the stain metaphor has been analyzed as part of a larger framework on moral reasoning related to the conceptual metaphors GOOD IS CLEAN, BAD IS DIRTY. This cognitive schema relies on a dichotomy between clean and dirty objects claiming that we understand and experience unmoral, or socially unacceptable behaviors in terms of (interaction with) dirty or filthy objects. However, the analyses in this paper clarify that this account only addresses one dimensions of stains, that is, their tendency to be perceived as dirt, and thereby misses their status as traces or signs. Thus, the accounts offered by CMT miss the fundamental indexical constraints of the stain expression. The source domain of physical stains is in itself constrained by a relation of contiguity (spatiotemporal proximity and association) between the stain and the actions leading to the stain. Thus, in a single expression, the stain metaphor indicates temporal and causal relations in an easily accessible way. Further, the figurative use of “stain” can also be captured as a EFFECT FOR CAUSE metonymy allowing for an intuitive sense of causal relations as well. The central claim of the paper is that metaphor research needs to pay closer attention the kinds of perception of reality that metaphors make possible in-and-through their indexical constraint.

For Better, for Worse, for Richer, for Poorer, in Sickness and in Health: A Cognitive-Linguistic Approach to Merism

Ma Sandra Peña Cervel, University of La Rioja

Abstract This paper is a qualitative usage-based treatment of merism from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. Considered a minor or non-basic figure of speech, especially if compared to the master tropes, metaphor and metonymy, merism is approached here as a figure of speech whose complexity has been largely and unfairly underestimated. We provide a principled account of the relationship of merism with metonymy starting off from the well-known assumption that merism is a particular kind of synecdoche. The notion of merism is delimited and used in its etymological sense, which serves as a starting point for a two-fold classification of this figurative use into contrast-based merism and merism in which contrast plays no role (bare merism). We also explore the constructions which might trigger meristic uses and the characteristics of the terms involved in meristic binomials and trinomials which make them readily available for fusion into specific syntactic patterns like “X and Y,” “both X and Y,” “X and Y alike,” “X as well as Y,” and “X, Y, and Z.”

Water Metaphors and Evaluation of Syrian Migration: The Flow of Refugees in the Spanish Press

M. Dolores Porto, Universidad de Alcalá

Abstract In 2015 and 2016, European newspapers covered the Syrian migration into Europe in great detail, describing the path followed by millions of refugees as European authorities put up both physical and metaphorical obstacles to stop their advance. Water metaphors, a common resource in immigration discourse, were extensively used in the media during this period. Apparently neutral, expressions like the flow of refugees or a new wave of immigrants seemed to be devoid of ideological bias, and so an objective, factual way to present the news about it. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the contexts in which water metaphors were used in two ideologically opposed Spanish newspapers in this period. Results show that their descriptive function was surpassed by the evaluative one, as revealed by the high frequency of force dynamic schemas underlying the flow metaphor, the most frequent one in the sample. Negatively charged, the frequent use of flow to refer to Syrian refugees could have affected public opinion on the event. Also, a contrastive analysis suggests that there are subtle differences between the right and the left wing when using these metaphors, but they are not as significant as expected, since both newspapers tend to avoid overt negativity in their discourse on Syrian migration. Considering the relatively small size of the sample, further work needs to be done to confirm these results in the Spanish press and also to extend the analysis to other European media.

Like a Virus. Similes for a Pandemic

Maria-Josep Cuenca, Universitat de València

Manuela Romano, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Abstract The Covid-19 pandemic has had a great impact on the life of every inhabitant of the planet. During 2020 and 2021 a significant amount of work on how the pandemic is being conceptualized and communicated has been done. Most work has focused on the role of metaphor in the construal of specific cognitive frames. In this paper, we turn to a similar but different conceptualization mechanism, i.e. simile. Drawing from recent socio-cognitive and discursive empirical approaches to similes, this paper focuses on “target is like source” constructions in English and Spanish containing (corona)virus either as target or source of the simile. The analysis is based on 200 examples found in the digital media during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. First, the constructions, conceptualizations and mappings are analyzed. Second, the relevant discourse features (genre type, relation to subjectivity, text location and structuring properties) are described. Finally, the cross-linguistic English-Spanish analysis shows that, despite the many coincidences in both datasets, there are different tendencies as for the use of culture-specific mappings and the genres where the similes occur in. The study aims at testing to what extent the general features characterizing similes also hold in the case of (corona)virus, both as source and as target. The corpus analysis contributes, in addition, to the emerging line of research on the use of figuration in the communication of the pandemic, as well as to the study of the discursive dimensions of similes in real settings.

“Noah’s Family Was on Lockdown”: Multimodal Metaphors in Religious Coronavirus-Related Internet Memes in the Nigerian WhatsApp Space

Oluwabunmi O. Oyebode, Obafemi Awolowo University

Foluke O. Unuabonah, Redeemer’s University

Abstract This paper examines the forms and functions of religious Internet memes that relate to Covid-19, with a view to identifying the conceptual metaphors that underlie the creation of the memes. The data, which consist of thirty religious Internet memes shared in the Nigerian WhatsApp space, are analyzed qualitatively using the categorization of religious Internet memes, and the concept of multimodal metaphors. The memes contain (non-)linguistic metaphors such as the picture of Biblical Noah’s ark and expressions such as Noah’s family was on lockdown, which reveal underlying conceptual metaphors such as LOCKDOWN IS A GODLY INSTRUCTION and COVID-19 IS A WAR. The memes are used to allay the fears of people in the face of the disease, and encourage adherence to lockdown orders, amongst others. The study concludes that the forms and functions of these religious memes assist in revealing the multimodal conceptual metaphors underlying the memes.

“Dizziness of Freedom”: Anxiety Disorders and Metaphorical Meaning-making

Kalina Moskaluk, Lund University

Jordan Zlatev, Lund University

Joost van de Weijer, Lund University

Abstract Would metaphors used in the context of psychotherapy by people who experience various forms of anxiety disorders differ from those used by people who experience stress? We investigated this question with the help of the Motivation & Sedimentation Model (MSM), a theory of meaning-making developed within the synthetic new discipline of cognitive semiotics. The analysis of a sample of ten transcripts of psychotherapy sessions concerning the topic of anxiety, and a comparable sample concerning stress, showed a significantly stronger proportion of conventionalized metaphors in the stress sample, and a marginally significant difference in the number of innovative metaphors in the anxiety sample. These results suggest that lived experience of an anxiety disorder or another form of maladaptive anxiety affects metaphorical meaning-making, and manifests itself in spontaneous metaphor use. Furthermore, as a result of the conceptual and the empirical investigations of the topic, we propose novel theoretical and operational definitions of the notion of metaphoricity.

The Roles of Manual and non-manual Cues in Recognizing Irony in Italian Sign Language

Beatrice Giustolisi, University of Milano-Bicocca

Lara Mantovan, Ca’ Foscari University Venice

Francesca Panzeri, University of Milano-Bicocca

Abstract In a previous study, our research group investigated the expression of irony in Italian Sign Language (LIS) and suggested that specific manual and non-manual markers signaled the signer’s meaning and attitude. The present research aimed at expanding those findings by analyzing whether these markers are used in irony recognition and whether they are language-specific. We designed an experiment in which we compared recognition of ironic remarks out of context considering three groups of Italians: Deaf signers, hearing signers, and hearing non-signers. Our aim was to verify whether the manual and non-manual markers we associated with the expression of irony in LIS constitute a reliable cue to detect irony and whether these cues were accessible to signers more than to non-signers sharing the same cultural background. Although the ironic intent in LIS was accessible also to hearing non-signers, we found, among hearing participants, that knowledge of LIS does improve accuracy in recognizing ironic remarks in LIS. This suggests that signers’ facial expressions and bodily movements do not solve a purely affective function, but are grammaticalized, at least to some degree.

(De)humanizing Metaphors of People in Pain and Their Association with the Perceived Quality of nurse-patient Relationship

Eva Diniz, William James Center for Reasearch, Ispa-Instituto Universitário

Paula Castro, Centro de Investigação e de Intervenção Social (CIS-IUL), iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Sónia F. Bernardes, Centro de Investigação e de Intervenção Social (CIS-IUL), iscte-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa

Abstract Metaphors are central in communication and sense-making processes in health-related contexts. Yet how the metaphors used by health-care-professionals to make sense of their patients and their relations to them are associated to the perceived valence of their clinical encounters is underexplored. Drawing-upon the ABC Model of Dehumanization, this study investigated how the humanizing or dehumanizing metaphors nurses’ use for making sense of their pain patients are associated with how they perceived their relationships with them. Fifty female nurses undertook individual narrative-episodic interviews about easy/difficult cases in pain care. A content analysis classified the metaphors, identifying eight classes reflecting different types of patients (de)humanization. A multiple correspondence analysis extracted patterns of metaphors and their association with the perceived characteristics of the patient-nurse relationship. It showed how these patterns were not associated with patient sex or socioeconomic status (SES) but were related to the perceived valence of the clinical relationship. By uncovering how patient metaphors guide nurses’ sense-making and potentially modulate interactions in clinical encounters, these findings may contribute to improve quality of pain care.

Review of the Book:Richardson Peter, Mueller Charles M., Pihlaja Stephen, “Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language. An Introduction,” New York and London 2021: Routledge.

Marcin Kuczok, University of Silesia;b Institute of Linguistics

Abstract In their seminal work on cognitive semantics, Lakoff and Johnson (Citation1980, p. 40) state that “the conceptual systems of cultures and religions are metaphorical in nature.” Moreover, when it comes to religious symbols, it is held that they constitute metonymic links between everyday experiences and the metaphorical systems that characterize religions. For instance, as those two scholars show, in Christianity the Dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit, which is motivated by our experience of a dove as a beautiful, gentle, and peaceful bird coming out of the sky that in turn metonymically stands for heaven. Furthermore, in their philosophy of embodied realism, Lakoff and Johnson (Citation1999, pp. 562–563) argue that in fact, the concept of “disembodied” mind, which in religion is called soul or spirit, arises from people’s everyday “embodied” experiences by means of metaphor. It is through metaphor that “the vividness, intensity, and meaningfulness of ordinary experience become the basis for a passionate spirituality,” and “the ineffable God becomes vital,” so He can be “approached, exhorted, evaded, confronted, struggled with, and loved” (Lakoff & Johnson, Citation1999, p. 567). Although the metaphorical nature of religious language is a fact theologians have been aware of, cognitivism definitely has shed new light on the functioning and role of metaphor in religion. In fact, the possibility of applying cognitive semantics in the studies of religious discourse has been a topic undertaken by numerous linguists in the last few decades. Interestingly, when commenting on the usefulness of the Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy Theory in Christian theology, Boeve (Citation2003, pp. 33–34) reformulates the medieval motto of theological investigations “philosophia ancilla theologiae” (philosophy is the servant of theology) into “linguistica ancilla theologiae” (linguistics is the servant of theology).

期刊简介

Metaphor and Symbol A Quarterly Journal is an innovative, multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the study of metaphor and other figurative devices in language (e.g., metonymy, irony) and other expressive forms (e.g., gesture and bodily actions, artworks, music, multimodal media). The journal is interested in original, empirical, and theoretical research that incorporates psychological experimental studies, linguistic and corpus linguistic studies, cross-cultural/linguistic comparisons, computational modeling, philosophical analyzes, and literary/artistic interpretations. A common theme connecting published work in the journal is the examination of the interface of figurative language and expression with cognitive, bodily, and cultural experience; hence, the journal's international editorial board is composed of scholars and experts in the fields of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, literature, and media studies.

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