Part of
Proverbs within Cognitive Linguistics: State of the artEdited by Sadia Belkhir
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 16] 2024
► pp. 328–348
Edited by Sadia Belkhir
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 16] 2024
► pp. 328–348
Chapter 12“We are in the same storm, not in the same boat”
Proverbial wisdom in environmental debates
The chapter proposes to investigate the implications of the proverbial phrase to be in the same boat in international debates about climate change. The study exposes the endorsed or disputed uses of the proverb. I analyse its exploitation by different discourse producers who convey different opinions. The data are extracted from various texts and speeches produced (or translated) in English. This research illustrates how the proverb can be exploited to fit different cultural traditions and different environmental concerns. The aim of the chapter is to identify the different arguments promoted by the use of the proverb. It also highlights the aspects of the proverb that may not correspond to the reality of climate change. This gives rise to argumentative exploitations using related metaphorical expressions. With reliance on cognitive metaphor theories (Lakoff 1993, 2004, 2010), and on metaphor scenarios in particular (Musolff 2004, 2016, 2019a), the occurrences discussed below demonstrate how the metaphorical image of the earth is a container has been challenged through the depiction of the earth is a boat. Indeed, the source concept boat comprises particular characteristics that can cause division among discourse producers to the extent that climate change debates may revolve around the use and misuse of the proverb. The chapter demonstrates that the proverbial phrase to be in the same boat involves precarious implications in environmental discourse.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Climate change, politics, and metaphors
- 2.1Climate change metaphors
- 2.2Proverbs and metaphors in political debates
- 2.3The journey, transport, and boat metaphors
- 3.Relevant approaches and selection of data
- 4.We are in the same boat: Same boat, different arguments
- 5.Sink or swim: Same storm, different boats
- 6.Discussion and concluding remarks
-
Notes -
References -
Online resources and data availability statement
References
Asplund, T.
(2011) Metaphors in climate discourse: An analysis of Swedish farm magazines. Journal of Science Communication, 10(4): 1–8. 
Atanasova, D., & Koteyko, N.
(2017) Metaphors in online editorials and op-eds about climate change, 2006–2013: A study of Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In K. Fløttum (Ed.). The role of language in the climate debate (pp. 71–89). London: Routledge.
Augé, A.
(2021) From scientific arguments to scepticism: Humans’ place in the GREENHOUSE. Public Understanding of Science, 31(2), 179–194.
(2022) How visual metaphors contradict expectations about verbal metaphors: A cross-linguistic and multimodal analysis. Metaphor and the Social World, 12(1), 1–22.
(2023) Metaphor and argumentation in climate crisis discourse. New York: Routledge.
Bamberg, M.
(2004) Considering counter narratives. In M. Bamberg, & M. Andrews (Eds.). Considering counter-narratives: Narrating, resisting, making sense (pp. 351–373). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Belkhir, S.
(2014) Cultural influence on the use of dog concepts in English and Kabyle proverbs. In A. Musolff, F. MacArthur, & G. Pagani (Eds.). Metaphor and intercultural communication (pp. 131–147). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Boyd, R.
(1993) Metaphor and theory change: What is ‘metaphor’ a metaphor for? In A. Ortony (Ed.). Metaphor and thought. Second Edition. (pp. 481–532). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Charteris-Black, J.
(2004) Corpus approaches to critical metaphor analysis. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
(2011) Politicians and rhetoric: The persuasive power of metaphor. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
(2019) Metaphors of Brexit: No cherries on the cake? London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cibulskiene, J.
(2012) The development of the journey metaphor in political discourse: Time-specific changes. Metaphor and the Social World, 2(2): 131–153.
Deese, R.-S.
(2009) The artefact of nature: Spaceship Earth and the dawn of global environmentalism. Endeavour. 33(2): 70–75.
Deignan, A.
(2017) Metaphors in texts about climate change. Ibérica, 34, 45–66.
Dent, S.
(2018) Brewer’s dictionary of phrase and fable. Twentieth edition. London: Chambers Harrap.
Flusberg, S.-J., Matlock, T., & Thibodeau, P.-H.
(2017) Metaphors for the war (or race) against climate change. Environmental Communication 11(6), 769–783.
Hanne, M.
(2014) An introduction to the “warring with word” project. In M. Hanne, W.-D. Crano, & J.-S. Mio (Eds.). Warring with words: Narrative and metaphor in politics (pp. 1–57). New York & London: Psychology Press.
Jucker, A.-H.
(2010) “Audacious, Brilliant! What a strike!”: Live text commentaries on the internet as real-time narratives. In C. R. Hoffmann (Ed.). Narrative revisited: Telling a story in the age of new media (pp. 57–79). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Kilgarriff A.
(2014) Sketch Engine, URL: sketchengine.eu
Kövecses, Z.
(2010) Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Labov, W.
Lakoff, G.
(1993) The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.). Metaphor and thought (pp. 202–252). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
(2004) Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate: The essential guide for progressives. Vermont: White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green.
(2010) Why it matters how we frame the environment. Environmental Communication, 4(1), 70–81.
Lovelock, J.
(2007) The revenge of Gaia: Why the earth is fighting back – and how we can still save humanity. London: Penguin.
Ly, A.
(2013) Images and roles of the European Union in the climate change debate: A cognitive approach to metaphors in the European parliament’. In K. Fløttum (Ed.). Speaking of Europe: Approaches to complexity in European political discourse (pp. 151–71). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
McCreadie, K.
(2008) Sun Tzu’s the art of war: A 52 brilliant ideas interpretation. Oxford: Infinite Ideas Limited.
Mieder, W.
(1997) The politics of proverbs: From traditional wisdom to proverbial stereotypes. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Muir, S.-A.
(1994) The web and the spaceship: Metaphors of the environment. Et cetera: A Review of General Semantics, 51(2), 145–152.
Musolff, A.
(2004) Metaphor and political discourse: Analogical reasoning in debates about Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
(2016) Political metaphor analysis: Discourse and scenarios. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
(2019a) How (not?) to quote a proverb: The role of figurative quotations and allusions in political discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 155, 135–144.
(2019b) Factual narrative and truth in political discourse. In M. Fludernik, & M.-L. Ryan (Eds.). Narrative factuality (pp. 351–67). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Nay, C. G., & Brunson, M. W.
(2013) A war of words: Do conflict metaphors affect beliefs about managing unwanted plants? Societies, 3, 158–169.
Nerlich, B.
(2010) Climate Gate: Paradoxical metaphors and political paralysis. Environmental Values, 14 (9), 419–442.
Nerlich, B., & Hellsten, I.
(2014) The greenhouse metaphor and the footprint metaphor: Climate change risk assessment and risk management seen through the lens of two prominent metaphors. Technikfolgenabschätzung: Theorie und Praxis, 23(2), 27–33.
Nerlich, B., & Koteyko, N.
(2010) Carbon gold rush and carbon cowboys: A new chapter in green mythology? Environmental Communication, 4(1), 37–53.
Robertson, T.
(2012) The Malthusian moment : Global population growth and the birth of American environmentalism. Rutgers: Rutgers University Press.
Romaine, S.
(1996) War and peace in the global greenhouse: Metaphors we die by. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 11(3), 175–194.
Schlosberg, D., & Collins, L.
(2014) From environmental to climate justice: Climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. WIREs Clim Change, 5, 359–374.
Semino, E.
(2008) Metaphor in discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shaw, C., & Nerlich, B.
(2015) Metaphor as a mechanism of global climate change governance: A study of international policies, 1992–2012. Ecological Economics, 109, 34–40.
Silaški, N., & Durovic, T.
(2019) The journey metaphor in Brexit-related political cartoons. Discourse, Context and Media, 31, 1–10.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D.
(1995) Relevance. Oxford: Blackwell.
Steen, G.-J., Dorst, A.-G., Berenike Herrmann, J., Kaal, A.-A., Krennmayr, T., & Pasma, T.
Sun Tzu
(5th century B.C.). The art of war. Trans. Butler Bowdon, T. (2010) Hoboken: Wiley.
Tognini Bonelli, E.
Williams A.
(2015) Metaphor as tools for enrolment: A case study exploration of the policy press release genre in regards to the Alberta Super Net. In J. B. Hermann, & T.-B. Sardinha (Eds.). Metaphor in specialist discourse (pp. 271–296). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.