4. “Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests”
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Gill Philip
Abstract
Existing empirical research into the role of metaphor in the foreign language learning process focuses primarily on comprehension and recall. Yet students’ ability to produce conventional metaphor in their speech and writing is considered one of the measures of advanced proficiency in a foreign language. While Danesi (1994) argues that “conceptual fluency” is fundamental if students are to achieve naturalness in their language production, Charteris-Black (2002) and others stress that conceptual knowledge does not necessarily lead to the production of acceptable linguistic forms. There is a gap to be bridged between learning the concepts and learning how they are realized linguistically. In this chapter, figurative language produced by advanced learners of English is examined with reference to general language corpora, both for the students’ mother tongue, Italian, and their foreign language, English. This mode of investigation makes it possible to identify when unusual phraseology can be ascribed to language transfer alone, and when other factors appear to be involved. The data presented in this chapter illustrate how conceptual knowledge formed in the mother tongue can interfere with the acquisition of foreign language conceptualisations, and highlight the importance of phraseology in fixing conceptual meaning.
Abstract
Existing empirical research into the role of metaphor in the foreign language learning process focuses primarily on comprehension and recall. Yet students’ ability to produce conventional metaphor in their speech and writing is considered one of the measures of advanced proficiency in a foreign language. While Danesi (1994) argues that “conceptual fluency” is fundamental if students are to achieve naturalness in their language production, Charteris-Black (2002) and others stress that conceptual knowledge does not necessarily lead to the production of acceptable linguistic forms. There is a gap to be bridged between learning the concepts and learning how they are realized linguistically. In this chapter, figurative language produced by advanced learners of English is examined with reference to general language corpora, both for the students’ mother tongue, Italian, and their foreign language, English. This mode of investigation makes it possible to identify when unusual phraseology can be ascribed to language transfer alone, and when other factors appear to be involved. The data presented in this chapter illustrate how conceptual knowledge formed in the mother tongue can interfere with the acquisition of foreign language conceptualisations, and highlight the importance of phraseology in fixing conceptual meaning.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction vii
- 1. The wonderful, chaotic, creative, heroic, challenging world of Researching and Applying Metaphor 1
-
1. Metaphor and language learning
- 2. Can people be cold and warm? 21
- 3. Grasping the point 35
- 4. “Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests” 63
- 5. The gaps to be filled 81
- 6. A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding 105
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2. Capturing and analysing metaphors
- 7. Love, metaphor and responsibility 125
- 8. A critical look at the desktop metaphor 30 years on 145
- 9. Pragglejaz in practice 165
- 10. Mapping principles for conceptual metaphors 185
- 11. Systematicity in metaphor and the use of invariant mappings 209
- 12. Attitude, style and context 245
- 13. A genre approach to imagery in winespeak 265
-
3. The function of metaphor in discourse
- 14. Wot no similes? 291
- 15. Metaphor marking and metaphor typological and functional ranges in business periodicals 309
- 16. Critical analysis of creative metaphors in political speeches 321
- 17. Metaphor in physical-and-speech action expressions 333
- 18. The evaluative properties of metaphors 357
- Index of names 375
- Index of terms 381
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction vii
- 1. The wonderful, chaotic, creative, heroic, challenging world of Researching and Applying Metaphor 1
-
1. Metaphor and language learning
- 2. Can people be cold and warm? 21
- 3. Grasping the point 35
- 4. “Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests” 63
- 5. The gaps to be filled 81
- 6. A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding 105
-
2. Capturing and analysing metaphors
- 7. Love, metaphor and responsibility 125
- 8. A critical look at the desktop metaphor 30 years on 145
- 9. Pragglejaz in practice 165
- 10. Mapping principles for conceptual metaphors 185
- 11. Systematicity in metaphor and the use of invariant mappings 209
- 12. Attitude, style and context 245
- 13. A genre approach to imagery in winespeak 265
-
3. The function of metaphor in discourse
- 14. Wot no similes? 291
- 15. Metaphor marking and metaphor typological and functional ranges in business periodicals 309
- 16. Critical analysis of creative metaphors in political speeches 321
- 17. Metaphor in physical-and-speech action expressions 333
- 18. The evaluative properties of metaphors 357
- Index of names 375
- Index of terms 381
