Metaphorical Pattern Analysis and MIPVU combined

One of the constant debates within conceptual metaphors studies and metaphor in discourse concerns metaphor identification and annotation. In recent years, most metaphor studies have applied Steen et al.’s MIPVU or Pragglejazz’s MIP as the identification method, but this does not mean that they are exclusive. In fact, there are certain factors of a given study that influence the choice of one method over another, such as its design, size or language. It was precisely the particularities of our corpus (made of economic reports published in English and Spanish) that suggested the combination of other existing methods in order to obtain, in the most practical way, the most reliable outcomes for this target-based case study. Stefanowitsch’s MPA was applied and complemented with MIPVU, used to filter and confirm potentially metaphorical patterns. Apart from reviewing some of the existing methods, this paper provides a case study that supports the validity of combining identification methods or adapting them to the needs of each case, as the results obtained after analysis show concordance and agreement post-combination.