Economy is an organism – a comparative study of metaphor in English and Russian economic discourse
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Huili Wang
Wang Huili works in the School of Foreign Languages at Dalian University of Technology, China, and has been teaching English as a foreign language since 1989. She is a professor and an MA adviser in Applied Linguistics. After earning a BA from Shanghai International Studies University, she then got an MEd from Dalian University of Technology. She received her PhD in Neurolinguistics in 2008. Her research interests include English education, language cognition, and text analysis. Address for correspondence: 2 Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China.
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Tamara Runtsova
Tamara Runtsova is a PhD student of the Business Administration Department at Dalian University of Technology. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English Linguistics from Belarusian State University, and Master's degree of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Dalian University of Technology. Address for correspondence: 2 Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China.Hongjun Chen , Doctor of Medical Engineering, Associate Professor of Cognitive Linguistics and Neurolinguistics, works at the Institute for Language and Cognition, School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China. Address for correspondence: School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China.
Abstract
In the present study a corpus-based approach is employed to compare the use of metaphor describing the global economic crisis of 2008 in the mainstream economic press in Britain and in Russia. The analysis is carried out within the framework of cognitive metaphor theory, involving a comparative study of conceptual metaphors and frequency analysis. The results indicate that a considerable similarity exists in terms of high-level conceptual metaphors, but find subtle differences in terms of frequency and linguistic expression. We particularly focus on economic crisis is a living organism and economy is a sick organism models. The study also points at the universal and culture-specific aspects of the crisis metaphor. It is found that metaphoric expressions are more frequent in English than in Russian articles, which may be attributed to the fact that some metaphors used in Russian economic discourse have been borrowed from English by means of transliteration and have become terms; to some extent, this may also be due to differences in the writing traditions of economic articles. The pragmatic analysis shows that, in the Russian corpus, metaphors of the economic crisis bear more pragmatic force and diversity than in the English one. The results obtained may be useful for economists, financial experts, translators, journalists, and ESP learners.
About the authors
Wang Huili works in the School of Foreign Languages at Dalian University of Technology, China, and has been teaching English as a foreign language since 1989. She is a professor and an MA adviser in Applied Linguistics. After earning a BA from Shanghai International Studies University, she then got an MEd from Dalian University of Technology. She received her PhD in Neurolinguistics in 2008. Her research interests include English education, language cognition, and text analysis. Address for correspondence: 2 Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China.
Tamara Runtsova is a PhD student of the Business Administration Department at Dalian University of Technology. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English Linguistics from Belarusian State University, and Master's degree of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Dalian University of Technology. Address for correspondence: 2 Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China.
Hongjun Chen, Doctor of Medical Engineering, Associate Professor of Cognitive Linguistics and Neurolinguistics, works at the Institute for Language and Cognition, School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China. Address for correspondence: School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, P.R. China.
©[2013] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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- Masthead
- Interaction in early modern news discourse: the case of English witchcraft pamphlets and their prefaces (1566–1621)
- Constructing “Remorse”: the preparation of social discourses for public consumption
- Narrating organizational change: an applied psycholinguistic perspective on organizational identity
- Personification and ideology in the American media coverage of the Iranian Green Revolution
- Economy is an organism – a comparative study of metaphor in English and Russian economic discourse
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Interaction in early modern news discourse: the case of English witchcraft pamphlets and their prefaces (1566–1621)
- Constructing “Remorse”: the preparation of social discourses for public consumption
- Narrating organizational change: an applied psycholinguistic perspective on organizational identity
- Personification and ideology in the American media coverage of the Iranian Green Revolution
- Economy is an organism – a comparative study of metaphor in English and Russian economic discourse
