A Study On Conceptual Metaphors In Markets Column Of The Wall Street Journal

Metaphor is always a hot issue for study. In traditional studies, metaphor has always been taken as a figure of speech. But when conceptual metaphor theory was put forward by Lakoff(1980), the traditional views of metaphor which considers it as a linguistic phenomenon were totally overthrown. Lakoff’s theory considers metaphor from a cognitive perspective, which figures out that metaphor is a process of conceptualization or a way of thinking. That is to say, metaphor is the tool for people to know and understand the world. In the theory, the language’s cognition is emphasized. Since Lakoffs theory of metaphor, a great number of studies of metaphors in different discourses have emerged.In the era of globalization and economic changes, the language of finance is subject to constant changes and innovations. Due to the abstractness and complexity of finance, abundant metaphors exist in financial reporting, which has attracted scholars’ much attention in the cognitive linguistic field. Although people are closely connected with the financial information in their daily life, the financial phenomena are not simple and concrete enough for common people to understand. In order to facilitate the readers to comprehend financial discourse, abundant metaphors have to be employed in this field.The present study, starting from the metaphorical nature of language and on a basis of Lakoff’s conceptual theory and fruits of previous researches, explores the conceptual metaphors in financial reporting. Adopting the combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, this thesis attempts to explore the working mechanism of conceptual metaphors and disclose the typical conceptual metaphors employed in financial reporting and their functions as well as the characteristics and potential ideologies conveyed.64financial reports are collected from American influential financial newspaper: The Wall Street Journal. Then, the conceptual metaphors identified are classified according to different source domains into eight main types in the studied corpus, namely, HUMAN BEING, UP-DOWN MOVEMENT, JOURNEY, WAR, LIQUID, SPORTS, MACHINE and BUILDING Based on the quantitative analysis of these conceptual metaphors, the author finds that the different frequencies of these metaphors and metaphorical expressions indicate different effects in financial reporting. The study also shows that metaphors are prevailing in English financial reporting, thus Lakoff’s conceptual theory is further confirmed. In addition, the study further reveals that people’s understanding of abstract concepts depends largely on concrete concepts based on their bodily experiences. In other words, financial reporters incline to use a great number of conceptual metaphors to express the meaning of these financial terms from abstract to concrete. It is expected that the research can offer some help to English learners in understanding the abstract financial concepts and system in financial discourses.