Metaphors In English Economics Texts

Previous studies of metaphor in English economics texts mainly focus on economics books. Metaphor in English media economics (economics from the business pages of newspapers and magazines) tends to be neglected and the study on it is incomplete. Therefore this dissertation attempts to bridge the gap by presenting a comparatively thorough and systematic analysis of the most common metaphors in economics texts on the basis of the contemporary theory of metaphor mainly expounded by Lakoff and Johnson. Metaphor, as a language phenomenon, has attracted the attention of scholars since the ancient Greek time. The traditional rhetoricians viewed metaphor as decorative in nature and independent of human cognition. Therefore, the study of metaphor is mainly reserved to the realm of literary works. However, with the rising of cognitive linguistics, the contemporary theory of metaphors emerges in which metaphor is viewed as product of bodily experience and a main mechanism for human to perform abstract reasoning and comprehend abstract concepts. It is based on the contemporary cognitive view of metaphor that this dissertation studies metaphors in non-literary texts with special reference to economics texts.This study is done on samples of 20 economics texts selected from the business section of some eminent English newspapers and magazines. In this study a large number of metaphorical expressions are collected and classified in accordance with their source domains. On the basis of metaphorical expressions and their source domains conceptual metaphors are formulated. Then the study analyzes the metaphorical expressions, source domains and functions of conceptual metaphors in the comprehension of abstract economic concepts and phenomena.The study shows that metaphor in economics texts is not merely used for explanatory purpose, instead, it is one of the main mechanisms used to reason about those abstract economic phenomena. The study also indicates that metaphors in economics texts are grounded in our bodily experience and abstract economic concepts are understood by concrete terms from the physical world. All these findings contribute to a better understanding ofpervasiveness and the role of metaphor in economics texts and reinforce some views claimed by the contemporary theory of metaphor.The finding of the study is considered useful to the students of economics and English teachers.