Metaphor in discourse

对隐喻的研究有着悠久的传统，至少可以追溯到希腊和罗马古代。近年来，语言学、心理学和哲学的进步重新引起了人们对隐喻的兴趣。更具体地说，学者们指出，我们在日常语言中系统地使用传统的隐喻表达(例如：“我正处在人生的十字路口”，“她需要一种新的方向感”)，并声称这些模式反映了传统的思维模式，即所谓的“概念隐喻”(例如，生活就是一次旅行)。这一研究路线已经启发了一些关于隐喻在各种体裁中的常规使用以及关于小说中隐喻在文学中的使用的重要工作。特别是，有人声称文学作家创造性地利用了我们所有人在日常语言中使用的隐喻。在我的研究中，我研究了属于不同社会文化领域的一系列体裁中隐喻的形式和功能，包括文学、政治、科学、教育和广告。我将对具有代表性的文本样本进行密切的文本分析与开发被称为语料库的大型语言数据库相结合。我的目的是要说明以下几点：隐喻的习惯性和创造性之间的相互作用是许多不同体裁和使用语境的特征，而不是一种专门或主要的文学现象；尽管隐喻在不同的体裁中具有不同的主导功能(例如，在政治演讲中的说服，在教育材料中的解释等)，但在个别文本和体裁中，隐喻的表达有不同的目的(例如，在科学文章中，隐喻经常用于说服和幽默以及解释的目的)；“这些语料库为隐喻的研究提供了宝贵的资源。我还将指出我的研究对当前隐喻理论的启示，特别是对当前对‘概念隐喻’的看法。

The study of metaphor has a long and venerable tradition, dating back at least to Greek and Roman antiquity. In recent years, advances in linguistics, psychology and philosophy have led to a resurgence of interest in metaphor. More specifically, scholars have pointed out that we systematically use conventional metaphorical expressions in everyday language (e.g. 'I'm at a crossroads in my life', 'She needs a new sense of direction'), and claimed that these patterns reflect conventional patterns of thought, known as 'conceptual metaphors' (e.g. LIFE IS A JOURNEY). This line of research has already inspired some important work on the conventional use of metaphor in a variety of genres, as well as on the novel use metaphor in literature. In particular, it is claimed that literary writers creatively exploit the metaphors that we all use in ordinary language. In my research, I investigate the forms and functions of metaphor in a range of genres belonging to a set of different socio-cultural domains, including literature, politics, science, education and advertising. I combine the close textual analysis of a representative sample of texts with the exploitation of large linguistic databases known as 'corpora'. My aim is to show the following:That interplay between conventionality and creativity in the use of metaphor is a characteristic of many different genres and contexts of use, rather than being an exclusively or primarily literary phenomenon;That, although metaphor has different dominant functions in different genres (e.g. persuasion in political speeches, explanation in educational materials, etc.), metaphorical expressions are used for a variety of purposes within individual texts and genres (e.g. in scientific articles metaphors are often used for the purposes of persuasion and humour as well as explanation);`Those corpora provide an invaluable resource for the study of metaphor.I will also point out the implications of my research for current metaphor theory, and particularly for current views on 'conceptual metaphors'.