10 Figurative language in domain-specific communication
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Rita Temmerman
Abstract
Human comprehension largely results from human perception (Gibbs 1994). Human perception is embodied and often extended through imaginative processes in the mind. In language these imaginative processes are expressed using figurative language like metaphor and metonymy.
Metaphorical and metonymic words and expressions are omnipresent in communication, also in specialized communication, in which specialists express their knowledge using domain-specific terminology.
Some domains of knowledge are framed metaphorically. This implies that their terminology is inspired by a domain metaphorical frame or cognitive model and that neologisms are largely based on that metaphorically framed thinking. A new phenomenon is understood and referred to in terms of a phenomenon that was already understood. Terminological metonyms are the result of a perceived contiguous relationship within a domain as such, not across fields (e.g., part for whole: the head of state).
This chapter gives examples of how metaphor and metonymy have been studied and described in language at large and in the terminology of specialized communication on investment banking, politics, and biodiversity. We highlight how accurate scientific data often are the “first frame” for any public debate on a topic whereas metaphors carrying emotional load can be a powerful force in shaping a “second frame” of personal ideology and self-interest in an attempt at influencing policy decisions.
The question of translatability of metaphor and metonymy is briefly discussed as well.
Abstract
Human comprehension largely results from human perception (Gibbs 1994). Human perception is embodied and often extended through imaginative processes in the mind. In language these imaginative processes are expressed using figurative language like metaphor and metonymy.
Metaphorical and metonymic words and expressions are omnipresent in communication, also in specialized communication, in which specialists express their knowledge using domain-specific terminology.
Some domains of knowledge are framed metaphorically. This implies that their terminology is inspired by a domain metaphorical frame or cognitive model and that neologisms are largely based on that metaphorically framed thinking. A new phenomenon is understood and referred to in terms of a phenomenon that was already understood. Terminological metonyms are the result of a perceived contiguous relationship within a domain as such, not across fields (e.g., part for whole: the head of state).
This chapter gives examples of how metaphor and metonymy have been studied and described in language at large and in the terminology of specialized communication on investment banking, politics, and biodiversity. We highlight how accurate scientific data often are the “first frame” for any public debate on a topic whereas metaphors carrying emotional load can be a powerful force in shaping a “second frame” of personal ideology and self-interest in an attempt at influencing policy decisions.
The question of translatability of metaphor and metonymy is briefly discussed as well.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Content i
- Preface xiii
-
I General aspects
- 1 Models and concepts of Specialized Communication 3
- 2 Typology of Languages for Special Purposes and Specialized Communication 31
- 3 Communication about specialized knowledge 51
- 4 Specialized Communication and cognition 67
- 5 Inter- and transdisciplinarity 87
- 6 Multilingual Specialized Communication 107
- 7 Intercultural Specialized Communication 125
- 8 Linguae francae in Specialized Communication 143
-
II Functional aspects
- 9 Efficiency of Specialized Communication 169
- 10 Figurative language in domain-specific communication 191
- 11 The cognition of credibility in Specialized Communication 213
- 12 The multimodal complexity of Specialized Communication: Examples and approaches 237
- 13 Cohesion and coherence in specialized written communication 257
- 14 Gender aspects in Specialized Communication 277
- 15 Authorship and anonymity in Specialized Communication 297
- 16 Power in Specialized Communication 319
- 17 Epistemicide and Open Science Communication 339
-
III Methodological aspects
- 18 Critical Genre Analysis of specialized texts: Demystifying professional practices 361
- 19 Terminology and terminography in Specialized Communication 385
- 20 Corpus linguistics in Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) 407
- 21 Academic language and content development for multilingual learners: the SIOP model 433
- 22 Research and didactics of Specialized Communication: Content and Language Integrated Learning 453
- 23 Ethnography and ethnographic methods in Specialized Communication 475
- 24 Conversation Analysis and Specialized Communication 495
- 25 Needs analysis 513
- 26 Communication in multilingual workplaces: A mixed methods approach 529
- 27 Qualitative and quantitative text analysis 545
-
IV Media aspects
- 28 Specialized Communication in literary texts 563
- 29 Orality (and/as media) in Specialized Communication 589
- 30 Towards collaborative journalism in Specialized Communication 611
- 31 Specialized Communication in the press 625
- 32 Specialized Communication in the World Wide Web 645
- 33 Specialized Communication in social media 665
- 34 Language construction and Specialized Communication 687
- 35 Languages of logical calculation 707
- 36 Open Access publishing 725
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter i
- Content i
- Preface xiii
-
I General aspects
- 1 Models and concepts of Specialized Communication 3
- 2 Typology of Languages for Special Purposes and Specialized Communication 31
- 3 Communication about specialized knowledge 51
- 4 Specialized Communication and cognition 67
- 5 Inter- and transdisciplinarity 87
- 6 Multilingual Specialized Communication 107
- 7 Intercultural Specialized Communication 125
- 8 Linguae francae in Specialized Communication 143
-
II Functional aspects
- 9 Efficiency of Specialized Communication 169
- 10 Figurative language in domain-specific communication 191
- 11 The cognition of credibility in Specialized Communication 213
- 12 The multimodal complexity of Specialized Communication: Examples and approaches 237
- 13 Cohesion and coherence in specialized written communication 257
- 14 Gender aspects in Specialized Communication 277
- 15 Authorship and anonymity in Specialized Communication 297
- 16 Power in Specialized Communication 319
- 17 Epistemicide and Open Science Communication 339
-
III Methodological aspects
- 18 Critical Genre Analysis of specialized texts: Demystifying professional practices 361
- 19 Terminology and terminography in Specialized Communication 385
- 20 Corpus linguistics in Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) 407
- 21 Academic language and content development for multilingual learners: the SIOP model 433
- 22 Research and didactics of Specialized Communication: Content and Language Integrated Learning 453
- 23 Ethnography and ethnographic methods in Specialized Communication 475
- 24 Conversation Analysis and Specialized Communication 495
- 25 Needs analysis 513
- 26 Communication in multilingual workplaces: A mixed methods approach 529
- 27 Qualitative and quantitative text analysis 545
-
IV Media aspects
- 28 Specialized Communication in literary texts 563
- 29 Orality (and/as media) in Specialized Communication 589
- 30 Towards collaborative journalism in Specialized Communication 611
- 31 Specialized Communication in the press 625
- 32 Specialized Communication in the World Wide Web 645
- 33 Specialized Communication in social media 665
- 34 Language construction and Specialized Communication 687
- 35 Languages of logical calculation 707
- 36 Open Access publishing 725
