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Article published In:
Issues in Humour Cognition
Edited by Marta Dynel
[Review of Cognitive Linguistics 16:1] 2018
► pp. 254–298
Regular articles

The effect of the Arab Spring on the use of metaphor and metonymy in Jordanian economic discourse

A cognitive approach

| University of Jordan

This study aims to identify the metaphors and metonymies used to describe economic concepts in Jordanian economic discourse pre- and post-Arab Spring in order to examine whether the events of the Arab Spring have had an impact on these figurative devices. This study also examines whether metaphor and metonymy can be affected by the social and cultural setting in which they are used and by politico-economic factors. In addition, this study aims to explore the notion that economic discourse uses many of the same conceptual metaphors regardless of the language and culture. To achieve this, I compiled a corpus of economic articles published in 2005 and 2008 (i.e. pre-Arab Spring) and 2012 and 2015 (i.e. post-Arab Spring) from two daily Jordanian newspapers. Frequency counts of metaphorical expressions representing the source domains and metonymies were compared to assess their saliency in the two periods and the two newspapers.

Keywords: Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphor, metonymy, economic discourse, corpus linguistics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metaphors used in economic discourse
    • 2.1 the economy is a machine
    • 2.2 the economy is an organism
    • 2.3 the economy is a natural force
    • 2.4 the economy is a journey
    • 2.5 economic activity is warfare
    • 2.6 the economy is a building
    • 2.7 the economy is a game
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Data collection
    • 3.2Stage 1: Preliminary study
      • 3.2.1Metaphor and metonymy identification procedure
    • 3.3Stage 2: Corpus-based study
  • 4.Results and discussion
    • 4.1Metaphors used in Jordanian economic discourse
      • the economy is a machine
      • the economy is an organism
      • the economy is a natural force
      • the economy is a journey
      • economic activity is warfare
      • the economy is a building
      • the economy is a game
      • negative economic factors are supernatural creatures
      • the economy is a meal/kitchen
    • 4.2Metaphors used in Jordanian economic discourse pre- and post-Arab Spring
    • 4.3The conceptual metaphors that exhibit differences pre- and post-Arab Spring
    • a. the economy is an organism
    • b. economic activity is a journey
    • c. economic activity is warfare
    • d. economic activity is a natural force
    • 4.4Metonymies used in Jordanian economic discourse
    • 4.5The impact of socio-political change on metaphor use
      • 4.5.1Changes in metaphorical expressions representing the source domain organism
      • 4.5.2Changes in metaphorical expressions representing the source domain journey
      • 4.5.3Changes in metaphorical expressions representing the source domain warfare
      • 4.5.4Changes in metaphorical expressions representing the source domain natural force
      • 4.5.5Some implications related to the effect of socio-political changes on metaphor use
  • 5.Conclusion and recommendations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 31 May 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00010.zib
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