Metaphor In Business Discourse And Business-specific Lexis Memorization--From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor

The traditional views of metaphor define metaphor as a figure of speech, playing adecorative but inessential role. Under the influence of these views, the research in metaphorhad been confined to the surface level of language. As a deviant of everyday language,metaphor had been marginalized for long. The development of cognitive linguistics paved theway for the breakthrough of metaphor research. The publication of the epoch-making classicMetaphor We Live By, written by Lakoff, marked the real cognitive turning of metaphorresearch. The theory of cognitive metaphor argues that metaphor is the fundamental cognitive toolby which people are able to conceptualize the strange and abstract categories in terms of thefamiliar and concrete ones. Human cognitive system is metaphorical in itself. Language, as itsreflection, naturally follows suit. Therefore, Lakoff argues that language is metaphorical innature and metaphor is prevalent in everyday language. It is the conceptual metaphors activein human cognition that motivate and structure most of our everyday language. Metaphors inlanguage are only the reflection and substantiation of conceptual metaphors at the surfacelevel. Influenced by the traditional views about metaphor, many people fail to recognize theprevalence of metaphor in our everyday language not to mention the prevalence of metaphorin business discourse. Are there any particular metaphorical models operating in businessdomain? Will awareness of these models exert any positive influence on learners who arelearning business through a foreign language? To tackle these puzzlements, a research isconducted based on the cognitive theory of metaphor. From the perspective of cognitivemetaphor, the major models of conceptual metaphors in business discourse are illustratedelaborately to present the fact that metaphors pervade in economic discourse. To find out theimplications of this fact for ESL/EFL learners'acquisition of business-specific lexis, twomemory tests are conducted. The results strongly suggest that metaphorical awareness plays apositive role in the acquisition of metaphorical business-specific lexis. However, thequestionnaire carried out among junior students majoring in business English reveals thatstudents still hold the traditional view of metaphor— the rhetoric view— and have virtually noknowledge of conceptual metaphor. Some scholars have also pointed out that metaphor hasalways been a neglected dimension in ESL/EFL teaching. It is due to this neglect that learnersfail to acquire the cognitive model inherent in the target language and thus produce non-nativelike discourse. Therefore, it stands to reason that theory of conceptual metaphor should beapplied to the pedagogical realm. Learners should foster a metaphorical awareness of thetarget language and enhance their metaphorical competence, which will pave the way for theirmastery of the target language in the real sense. Based on the research results and the theoriesof metaphor teaching, some suggestions are proposed in the aspect of business-specific lexisteaching.