Metaphorical Uses of Language in Native and Nonnative Student Writing: A corpusbased study

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Metaphorical Uses
of Language in Native and Non-native
Student Writing
A corpus-based study

• By Claudia Marcela Chapetón Castro
  
• M.A. in Applied Linguistics to TEFL. (Bogotá,
  Colombia)
• PhD Student at The University of Barcelona

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Origin of the Proposal

• Introduction to Corpus Linguistics as a student
  of the PhD Program in Applied Linguistics at UB
• Advanced Seminar on New Trends in Lexicology at
  the University of Barcelona
• My interest in Pragmatic Uses of Language and
  Metaphorical Competence

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Main Objectives

• Identify and investigate native and non-native
  students use of metaphorical language in their
  written production. (Their use of conceptual
  metaphors)
• Conduct research on metaphorical competence and
  corpus linguistics by the analysis of learner and
  native corpora.

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Specific Objectives

• To select an appropriate theoretical and analytic
  framework for metaphor identification.
• To gain understanding of the role and functions
  of metaphor in a specific context of language in
  use argumentative student writing.
• To find out categories of use/meaning that
  differentiate learner from native use of
  metaphorical language.
• To assess the usefulness of linguistic software
  tools for this type of study.

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Data

• Computer Learner Corpus
• International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE)
• The Spanish subcorpus
• Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays
  (LOCNESS)
• American university students' essays

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Data

• Native and Non-native Student Corpora
• Texts Type Argumentative Essays
• Similar Range of Topics
• EFL Learners with an advanced proficiency level

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Research Questions

• To what extent are conceptual metaphors used by
  native and non-native students?
• What is the frequency, density and distribution
  of conceptual metaphors in the two corpus
  samples?
• Which purposes do conceptual metaphors fulfill in
  the argumentative writing of native and
  non-native students?
• Are there qualitative or quantitative differences
  in the way they employ metaphor?

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Why Metaphor?

• Metaphor is a property of concepts, and not of
  words.
• The function of metaphor goes beyond artistic or
  esthetic purposes
• It helps to better understand certain abstract
  concepts
• It is used effortlessly in everyday life by
  ordinary people.
• It is not just a pleasing linguistic ornament
  but a process of human thought and reasoning.
• Lakoff and Johnson (1980)

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Why metaphorical competence?

• Metaphor is an intrinsic feature of discourse
  (Kövecses, 2002).
• The programming of discourse in metaphorical ways
  is a basic feature of native-speaker competence.
  (Danesi, 1993)
• Metaphorical language can be studied in contexts
  of use connecting the cognitive with the
  socio-cultural. (Cameron, 1999)
• Metaphoric competence has a central role to play
  in all areas of communicative competence.
  (Littlemore and Low, 2006)

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Conceptual Metaphor

• Metaphor is defined as understanding and
  experiencing one conceptual domain in terms of
  another conceptual domain. (A
  is B LOVE IS A JOURNEY)
• Metaphorical linguistic expressions make manifest
  particular conceptual metaphors
• Look how far weve come
• The target domain is the one we try to understand
  through the use of the source domain.
• Lakoff and Johnson (1980)

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Kinds of Metaphor

• Conceptual Metaphors are classified according to
  the cognitive functions they perform. Lakoff and
  Johnson (1980)

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MR A Shift in Focus

• A renewed focus on the language of metaphors
• The development of discourse and corpus
  approaches. (Cameron Deignan Semino Steen)
• Cognitive metaphor theory applied to empirical
  discourse data.
• Gerard Steen (1999) CR is crucial
• To discriminate between different types of
  metaphor.
• To differentiate between literary and
  non-literary metaphor.
• To identify their properties and functions.

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Metaphor and Language Use

• Metaphor should be a matter of underlying
  propositions, not linguistic expressions
• The construction of inferences between clauses.
• Implicit and Explicit Metaphors. Gerard Steen
  (1999)

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Summary

• In this presentation I have outlined my initial
  plans to develop my PhD research project.
• I have given you an idea about the seminal work
  of Lakoff and mentioned some of the new
  approaches to metaphor research.
• I have just started walking through the
  fascinating
• path of research into metaphor and corpus
  linguistics.

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THANK YOU

• cmchapeton_at_gmail.com