Cover not available
Article published In:
International Journal of Language and Culture
Vol. 1:1 (2014) ► pp.42–59

Metaphors: Sources for intercultural misunderstanding?

| University of East Anglia

Over the last two decades, questions of languages’ cultural specificity, diversity, and of linguistic universalism versus relativism, have increasingly been applied to the study of metaphor in analyses that take data from a wide range of languages into account. After reviewing existing research on cross-cultural metaphor variation, this paper focuses on the phenomenon of ‘false-friend metaphors,’ i.e., seemingly identical mappings which reveal hidden culture-specific differences when used in intercultural communication and in contrastive analysis. Examples of this phenomenon are drawn (1) from interpretations tasks concerning the metaphor THE STATE IS A (HUMAN) BODY, and (2) from cross-cultural research on the concept of SOCIAL FACE. In conclusion, a preliminary categorization of types of metaphor-induced intercultural misunderstanding is proposed.

Keywords: culture, false friends, intercultural communication, metaphor, miscommunication
Published online: 22 August 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.1.1.03mus
References
Bachem, R., & Battke, K
(1991) Strukturen und Funktionen der Metapher Unser Gemeinsames Haus Europa im aktuellen politischen Diskurs. In F. Liedtke, M. Wengeler & K. Böke (Eds.), Begriffe besetzen. Strategien des Sprachgebrauchs in der Politik (pp. 295-307). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bertelli, S
(2001) The king’s body: Sacred rituals of power in medieval and early modern Europe. Translated by R.B. Litchfield. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, P., & Levinson, S.C
(1987) Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chamizo Domínguez, P. J., & Nerlich, B
(2002) False friends: Their origin and semantics in some selected languages. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(12), 1833-1849. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chang, Y.-F
(2011) Interlanguage pragmatic development: The relation between pragmalinguistic competence and sociopragmatic competence. Language Sciences, 33(5), 786-798. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chávez, E.A
(2010) The gaps to be filled: The (mis)treatment of the polysemous senses of hand, cool and run in EFL text books. In G. Low, Z. Todd, A. Deignan & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and applying metaphor in the real world (pp. 81-104). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chilton, P., & Ilyin, M
(1993) Metaphor in political discourse: The case of the ‘Common European House.’ Discourse and Society, 4(1), 7-31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chilton, P., & Lakoff, G
(1995) Foreign policy by metaphor. In C. Schäffner & A. Wenden (Eds.), Language and peace (pp. 37-59). Aldershot: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
de Baecque, A
(1997) The body politic: Corporeal metaphor in revolutionary France 1770-1800. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Deignan, A
(1995) COBUILD English guides, vol. 7: Metaphor dictionary. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Ehlich, K
(2005) On the historicity of politeness. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide & K. Ehlich (Eds.), Politeness in language: Studies in its history, theory and practice (pp. 71-108). Berlin/New York: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeraerts, D., & Grondelaers, S
(1995) Looking back at anger: Cultural traditions and metaphorical patterns. In J.R. Taylor & R.E. MacLaury (Eds.), Language and the cognitive construal of the world (153-179). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, R.W., Jr
(2005) Embodiment and cognitive science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gorbachev, M
(1989) Perestroika: Die zweite russische Revolution. Munich: Knaur.Google Scholar
Gudykunst, W.B
(Ed.) (2003) Crosscultural and intercultural communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hale, D.G
(1971) The body politic: A political metaphor in Renaissance English literature. The Hague/Paris: Mouton.Google Scholar
Hansford, G.F
(2012) Numbers that Chumburung people count on. In A. Idström & E. Piirainen (Eds.), in cooperation with T. F.M. Falzett, Endangered metaphors (pp. 221-252). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harris, J.G
(1998) Foreign bodies and the body politic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harvey, A.D
(2007) Body politic: Political metaphor and political violence. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Hill, R.J
(1982) A dictionary of false friends. London: Macmillan Press.Google Scholar
Holliday, A
(1999) Small cultures. Applied Linguistics 20(2): 237-264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Idström, A., & Piirainen, E
(Eds.) in cooperation with with T. F.M. Falzett (2012) Endangered metaphors. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jia, W
(1997) Facework as a Chinese conflict-preventive mechanism: A cultural/discourse analysis. Intercultural Communication Studies 7(1), 43-58.Google Scholar
Johnson, M
(1987) The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kantorowicz, E.H
(1997) The king’s two bodies: A study in mediaeval political theology. With a new Preface by W.C. Jordan. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
(1990) Emotion concepts. New York: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002) Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2005) Metaphor in culture: Universality and variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006) Language, mind and culture: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2009) Metaphor, culture and discourse: The pressure of coherence. In A. Musolff & J. Zinken (Eds.), Metaphor and discourse (pp. 11-24). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G
(1996) Moral politics: What conservatives know that liberals don’t. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(2004a) Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate: The essential guide for progressives. Foreword by H. Dean. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.Google Scholar
(2004b) Interview with George Lakoff on “Cogling” internet discussion list ([email protected]) 8 June 2004 Accessed 9 June 2004.
(2008) The neural theory of metaphor. In R.W. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 17-38). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M
(1980/2003) Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1989) More than cool reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Littlemore, J
(2003) The effect of cultural background on metaphor interpretation. Metaphor and Symbol, 181, 273-88. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Littlemore, J., Chen, P., Koester, A., & Barnden, J
(2011) Difficulties in metaphor comprehension faced by international students whose first language is not English. Applied Linguistics, 32(4), 408-429. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Longmailai, M., & Rabha, L
(2012) Metaphors in Dimasa and Rabha: A comparative study. In A. Idström & E. Piirainen (Eds.), in cooperation with T. F.M. Falzett, Endangered Metaphors (pp. 205-219). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lovejoy, A.O
(1936) The great chain of being. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lovick, O
(2012) Walking like a porcupine, talking like a raven: Figurative language in Upper Tanana Athabaskan, In A. Idström and E. Piirainen (Eds.), in cooperation with T. F.M. Falzett, Endangered metaphors (pp. 103-121). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacArthur, F., Littlemore, J., & Krennmayr, T
(2013) seeing is not just understanding: Sight metaphors in undergraduate office hours’ consultations. Paper, 3rd International Conference Meaning Construction, Meaning Interpretation: Applications and Implications (CILAP/CRAL) . Logroño, Spain.
Musolff, A
(2000) Political imagery of Europe: A house without exit doors? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 21(3), 216-229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010a) Political metaphor and bodies politic . In U. Okulska & P. Cap (Eds.), Perspectives in politics and discourse (pp. 23-41). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010b) Metaphor, nation and the Holocaust: The concept of the body politic. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) Cultural differences in the understanding of the metaphor of the ‘Body Politic.’ In S. Kleinke, Z. Kövecses, A. Musolff & V. Szelid (Eds.), Cognition and culture: The role of metaphor and metonymy (pp. 145-153). Budapest: Eötvös University Press.Google Scholar
Nedermann, C.J
(Ed.) (1992) Medieval political thought: A reader: The quest for the body politic. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Niemeier, S
(2000) Straight from the heart: Metonymic and metaphorical explorations. In A. Barcelona (Ed.), Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads: A cognitive perspective (pp. 195-213). Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Niemeier, S., & Dirven, R
(Eds.) (1997) The language of emotions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(Eds.) (2000) Evidence for linguistic relativity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Obama, B
(2007) The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on reclaiming the American dream. Edinburgh: Canongate.Google Scholar
Pan, Y
(2000) Politeness in Chinese face-to-face interaction. Greenwich: Ablex.Google Scholar
Pan, Y., & Kádár, D.Z
(2012) Politeness in historical and contemporary Chinese. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Paprotté, W., & Dirven, R
(Eds.) (1985) The ubiquity of metaphor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pasamonik, C
(2012) “My heart falls out”: Conceptualizations of body parts and emotion expressions in Beaver Athabaskan. In A. Idström & E. Piirainen (Eds.), in cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett, Endangered metaphors (pp. 77-101). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Philip, G
(2010) “Drugs, traffic, and many other dirty interests”: Metaphor and the language learner. In G. Low, Z. Todd, A. Deignan, & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and applying metaphor in the real world (pp. 63-80). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piquer-Piriz, A.M
(2010) Can people be cold and warm? Developing understanding of figurative meanings of temperature terms in early EFL. In G. Low, Z. Todd, A. Deignan, & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and applying metaphor in the real world (pp. 21-34). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piller, I
(2011) Intercultural communication: A critical introduction. Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Rice, S
(2012) “Our language is very literal”: Figurative expression in Dene Sųłiné [Athapaskan]. In A. Idström & E. Piirainen (Eds.), in cooperation with Tiber F.M. Falzett, Endangered metaphors (pp. 21-76). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rigato, E., & Minelli, A
(2013) The great chain of being is still here. Evolution: Education & Outreach, 61, 18. [URL]. Accessed 11 October 2013. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R., Wong Scollon, S., & Jones, R.H
(2012) Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Selinker, L
(1992) Rediscovering interlanguage. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Sharifian, F., Dirven, R., Yu, N., & Niemeier, S
(Eds.) (2008) Culture, body, and language: Conceptualizations of internal body organs across cultures and languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharifian, F., & Jamarani, M
(Eds.) (2013) Language and intercultural communication in the new era. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spencer-Oatey, H., & Franklin, P
(2009) Intercultural interaction: A multidisciplinary approach to intercultural communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J.R
(1995) Linguistic categorization: Prototypes in linguistic theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, J
(1983) Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics 4(2): 91-112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tillyard, E.M.W
(1982) The Elizabethan world picture. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Ting-Toomey, S
(Ed.) (1994) The challenge of face work. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Wang, C., & Dowker. A
(2010) A cross-cultural study of metaphoric understanding. In G. Low, Z. Todd, A. Deignan, & L. Cameron (Eds.), Researching and applying metaphor in the real world (pp. 105-122). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, N
(1998) The contemporary theory of metaphor: A perspective from Chinese. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008a) The relationship between metaphor, body and culture. In R.M. Frank, R. Dirven, T. Ziemke, & E. Bernárdez (Eds.), Body, Language and Mind, vol. 2: Sociocultural situatedness (pp. 387-407). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2008b) Metaphor from body and culture. In R.W. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 247-261). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 11 other publications

A'Beckett, Ludmilla
2018. Chapter 7. Dissuasion by characterization. In Persuasion in Public Discourse [Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture, 79], ► pp. 149 ff. DOI logo
Harries, Jim
2018. Theology that Emerges from Cognitive Science: Applied to African Development. Open Theology 4:1 ► pp. 15 ff. DOI logo
Littlemore, Jeannette
2019. Metaphors in the Mind, DOI logo
Macagno, Fabrizio & Maria Grazia Rossi
2019. Metaphors and problematic understanding in chronic care communication. Journal of Pragmatics 151 ► pp. 103 ff. DOI logo
Markowitz, David M., Brittany Shoots-Reinhard, Ellen Peters, Michael C. Silverstein, Raleigh Goodwin & Pär Bjälkebring
2021. Dehumanization During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology 12 DOI logo
Markowitz, David M. & Paul Slovic
2020. Social, psychological, and demographic characteristics of dehumanization toward immigrants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117:17 ► pp. 9260 ff. DOI logo
Musolff, Andreas
2016. Cross-cultural variation in deliberate metaphor interpretation. Metaphor and the Social World 6:2 ► pp. 205 ff. DOI logo
Rossi, Maria Grazia
2021. Metaphors and Persuasion in Healthcare Communication. Langages N° 222:2 ► pp. 59 ff. DOI logo
Senkbeil, Karsten
2017. Image schemas across modes and across cultures: Communicating horror in Philip Roth’sNemesisand Ridley Scott’sAlien. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 26:4 ► pp. 323 ff. DOI logo
Song-Eun Lee & 민수정
2018. An Alternative Approach for Understanding Second Language Texts: Prototype Effects in L2 Writing. The Journal of Studies in Language 34:2 ► pp. 233 ff. DOI logo
민수정
2017. The Korean Cultural Conceptualizations in L2 Learning and Intercultural Communication. Journal of the Korea English Education Society 16:3 ► pp. 119 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.