The use of metaphors in english business news articles by vietnamese and foreign journalists

MASTER’S THESIS REPORTHCMC, July, 2020 Student name: Ngo Thu Thao Sex: Female Date of birth: 24/01/1991 Place of birth: HCMC Major: English Language Student code: 1741900065 I- Thesis t

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NGO THU THAO

THE USE OF METAPHORS IN ENGLISH BUSINESS NEWS ARTICLES BY VIETNAMESE

AND FOREIGN JOURNALISTS

Major: English Language Course code: 60220201

HCM City, July 2020

in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language

The thesis entitled

The Use of Metaphors in English Business News Articles by Vietnamese and

Foreign Journalists

was defended and approved on

28 May, 2020 at Hochiminh City University of Technology (HUTECH)

Academic supervisor : Tran Quoc Thao, PhD Signature: ………

Examination Committee

1 Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PhD Chair

2 Nguyen Thu Nhu Ngoc, PhD Reader 1

3 Cao Thi Phuong Dung, PhD Reader 2

4 Nguyen Tien Hung, PhD Member

5 Le Van Tuyen, PhD Secretary Member

On behalf of the Examination Committee

Chair

Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PhD

MASTER’S THESIS REPORT

HCMC, July, 2020

Student name: Ngo Thu Thao Sex: Female

Date of birth: 24/01/1991 Place of birth: HCMC

Major: English Language Student code: 1741900065

I- Thesis title:

The Use of Metaphors in English Business News Articles by Vietnamese and

Foreign Journalists

II- Objectives and contents:

This study was conducted with the aim of exploring the differences in the use

of metaphors in business news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists Specifically, the three objectives of this study are to investigate what types of metaphors are used, what functions they serve, and whether Vietnamese and foreign journalists differ in the use of metaphors The research findings indicate that there are quite a few differences in the language and the functions of metaphors deployed

by two groups, although they use the same categories of structures of metaphor In specific, Vietnamese journalists used metaphorical language less frequently and less variously, and employed fewer functions of metaphors These reflect a few limitations in the use of English metaphors by Vietnamese advanced EFL learners

III- Starting date: 04/05/2019

IV- Completing date: /7/2020

V- Academic supervisor: Tran Quoc Thao, PhD

Tran Quoc Thao, PhD Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, PhD

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:

THE USE OF METAPHORS IN ENGLISH BUSINESS NEWS

ARTICLES BY VIETNAMESE AND FOREIGN

JOURNALISTS

In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

Ho Chi Minh City, July 2020

Signature ………

NGO THU THAO

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, NGO THU THAO, being a candidate for the degree of Master

reproduction for theses

Ho Chi Minh City, July 2020

Signature ………

NGO THU THAO

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not have been possible without the support from many individuals I consider myself very fortunate to receive the valuable guidance and assistance during my research Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to them

First and foremost, I am heartily grateful to my supervisor Dr Tran Quoc Thao for his valuable guidance through all the subtleties of my scientific writing I cannot forget his insightful comments and constructive approach He was always available there, with big doses of patience, to offer us constant feedbacks and encouragements which helped us developed knowledge and ideas

I would like to extend my deep gratitude to the Board of Examination including Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Dr Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, Dr Cao Thi Phuong Dung, Dr Nguyen Tien Hung, Dr Le Van Tuyen, and all of our MA lecturers in the Department of English Language at HCM University of Technology Their valuable suggestions, comments, and guidance helped develop

my academic writing skills and improve the quality of my Linguistic research

Many thanks also go to my dear colleagues, Mr Ngo Minh Hien, Mr Nguyen Thanh Phuong, and Ms Nguyen Thi Binh An, who spent their precious time to help me deliberate and crosscheck during the data analyses, in order to ensure the reliability and objectivity of the results Without their assistance, these phases could have not been completed

The last and surely the most, I am greatly indebted to my family for their love and unconditional support My parents have always been a great source of encouragement throughout my academic journey Words cannot express my gratitude and thankfulness to them

ABSTRACT

Metaphors have been considered as powerful tools to strengthen the attractive and persuasive effects in communication, especially in newspaper discourse Recognizing their vital roles, this study aims to examine the use of metaphors in English news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists Accordingly, the three research questions include what types, what functions, and what differences in terms of types and functions of metaphors used in business news by two groups Research sample contained 60 English business news articles written by Vietnamese and foreign journalists collected from 4 popular newspapers

in Vietnam, UK, and US The type analysis in this study was based on the conceptual categorization adapted from Lakoff and Johnson (2003) and Kheovichai (2010); while the functions of metaphors were analyzed using the frameworks adapted from Searle (1990), Stefanowitsch (2005), and Krennmayr (2011) The findings showed that although both groups shared the same types of structures of metaphors, Vietnamese journalists used English metaphorical language less frequently and less variously, and employed fewer functions of English metaphors compared to foreign journalists These findings imply a number of limitations that Vietnamese EFL learners should overcome to better their communication and writing in English

Keywords: business news articles, foreign journalists, functions, metaphors, types, Vietnamese journalists

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES xi

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS xii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Statement of the problem 3

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 4

1.4 Research questions 4

1.5 The scope of the study 5

1.6 Significance of the study 5

1.7 Definitions of key terms 6

1.8 Organization of the thesis 8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10

2.1 Definition and general features of metaphors 10

2.2 Vital roles of metaphors in newspaper discourse 13

2.3 Types of metaphor 14

2.3.1 The classification based on level of representation 14

2.3.1.1 Conceptual Metaphor 15

2.3.1.2 Visual metaphor 16

2.3.1.3 Linguistic metaphor 17

2.3.1.3.1 Distinguish Explicit Metaphors from Similes and Metonymies 19

2.3.1.3.2 Distinguish Implicit Metaphors from Metonymies 19

2.3.2 The classification based on source-target mapping of metaphors 20

2.3.2.1 ONTOLOGICAL METAPHOR 22

2.3.2.2 ORIENTATIONAL METAPHOR 22

2.3.2.3 STRUCTURAL METAPHOR 23

2.3.2.3.1 WAR metaphors 23

2.3.2.3.2 GAME metaphors 24

2.3.2.3.3 JOURNEY metaphors 24

2.3.2.3.4 MACHINE metaphors 25

2.3.2.3.5 ORGANISM metaphors 25

2.3.2.3.6 BUILDING metaphors 26

2.3.2.3.7 Other PHYSICAL metaphors 27

2.4 A cognitive linguistic approach to metaphor 28

2.4.1 The identification of metaphor 29

2.4.2 Impacts of linguistic conventionality on the analyses of metaphors 31

2.4.2.1 Impacts of linguistic conventionality on MIP 31

2.4.2.2 Conventional metaphors and their secondary use 33

2.5 Functions of metaphors 35

2.6 Previous research on the use of metaphors 38

2.6.1 Research on the use of metaphor in newspaper 39

2.6.2 Research on the metaphor production of non-native speakers 42

2.6.3 Research on metaphors in the context of Vietnam 44

2.7 Conceptual framework 46

2.8 Summary 48

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 50

3.1 Research design 50

3.2 Research sample 51

3.3 Data collection procedures 53

3.4 Framework for data analysis 54

3.5 Validity and reliability 58

3.5.1 Validity and reliability of the sampling 58

3.5.2 Validity and reliability of the data analyses 60

3.6 Summary 64

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 65

4.1 Introduction 65

4.2 Results 65

4.2.1 Types of metaphors 65

4.2.1.1 Simple Ontological metaphors 70

4.2.1.2 Orientational metaphors 73

4.2.1.3 LIVING ORGANISM metaphors 76

4.2.1.4 JOURNEY metaphor 78

4.2.1.5 PHYSICAL SENSORY metaphor 81

4.2.1.6 WAR metaphor 83

4.2.1.7 GAME metaphor 86

4.2.1.8 BUILDING metaphor 88

4.2.1.9 MACHINE metaphor 90

4.2.1.10 WEATHER metaphor 91

4.2.2 Functions of metaphors 93

4.2.2.1 Stylistic functions of metaphors 93

4.2.2.2 Cognitive functions of metaphors 98

4.2.2.2.1 Informative functions of metaphors 98

4.2.2.2.2 Expressive functions of metaphors 104

4.2.2.2.3 Directive functions of metaphors 107

4.2.3 Differences in terms of types and functions of metaphors used by two groups 112

4.3 Discussion 114

4.4 Summary 119

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 120

5.1 Implications 120

5.2 Limitations of the study 122

5.3 Recommendations for further research 123

LIST OF REFERENCES 125

APPENDICES 132

Appendix 3.1: Publication information of Corpus A 132

Appendix 3.2: Publication information of Corpus B 135

Appendix 3.3: Sample of articles by Vietnamese journalists 138

Appendix 3.4: Sample of articles by foreign journalists 139

Appendix 4.1: Sample of metaphor identification and categorization 140

Appendix 4.2: Frequencies of root-words in A and B 142

Appendix 4.3: Sample of function analysis 143

PLAGIARISM CHECKING REPORT 146

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Example for the use of MIP by Pragglejaz Group (2007) 30 Table 2.2 Example for the vague metaphorical use of prepositions 32 Table 2.3 Major functions of metaphors in newspaper discourse synthesized from Searle (1990), Stefanowitsch (2005), and Krennmayr (2011) 38 Table 3.1 Sources and sizes of business news articles in two corpora 52 Table 3.2 Example of comparing basic and contextual meanings in MIP 54 Table 3.3 Principles for categorizing metaphors adapted from Lakoff and Johnson (2003) and Kheovichai (2010) 56 Table 3.4 Results across the replications of metaphor identification 61 Table 3.5 Results across the replications of the categorizations of structures of metaphors 62 Table 4.1 The numbers and types of English metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 66 Table 4.2 Distribution of metaphors among major categories 67 Table 4.3 Numbers of root words of simple Ontological metaphors used by

Vietnamese and foreign journalists 71 Table 4.4 Numbers of root words of Orientational metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 74 Table 4.5 Numbers of root words of LIVING ORGANISM metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 76 Table 4.6 Numbers of root words of JOURNEY metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 79 Table 4.7 Numbers of root words of PHYSICAL SENSORY metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 81 Table 4.8 Numbers of root words of WAR metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 84 Table 4.9 Numbers of root words of GAME metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 86

Table 4.10 Numbers of root words of BUILDING metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 88 Table 4.11 Numbers of root words of MACHINE metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 90 Table 4.12 Numbers of root words of WEATHER metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 92 Table 4.13 Functions of metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 110

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework 48 Figure 3.1: Framework for data analysis 58 Figure 4.1: Frequencies per 1000 words of English structural metaphors used by Vietnamese and foreign journalists 70

LIST OF ABREVIATIONS

EBNA: English business news articles

EFL: English as foreign language

ENL: English as native language

ESL: English as second language

ESP: English for specific purposes

EU: European Union

MIP: metaphor identification procedures

UK: United Kingdom

US: United States

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

to a major worldwide trend that newspapers and businesses build their websites in the global language – English, in order to disseminate news and ideas beyond linguistic frontiers and reach out to a wider global audience

In the context of Vietnam, publishing English newspapers has been an inseparable part of the country’s promotion and marketing campaigns, providing foreign readers with latest information about the country’s socio-economic situations and culture According to Hang and Loi (2011), social media, online newspaper, and their English versions have constituted the effective channels for promoting Vietnam’s image to the world Therefore, the era of globalization has assigned Vietnamese journalists a principal mission of continually enhancing their expertise, especially their English writing skills, in order to sustain the community connection and Vietnam’s integration Discussing this issue, Aribisala (2011) holds

a view that the wide spread of English news on internet platforms has been creating favourable conditions for the non-native journalists and editors to perfect their English writing techniques Accordingly, the non-native (such as Vietnamese journalists and editors) can utilize internet and “Google scholar” to deepen their understandings on English culture and to widen their specialized terminology as well as conventional figurative language This means that Vietnamese journalists

can definitely ensure a basic quality of their English news works by making use of their exposure to journalistic and literary style of the English native writers

However, Hoa and Mai (2016) argue that acquiring the adequate English levels for professional purposes like journalism is never simple for Vietnamese, due

to the a large gap between the cultural backgrounds of Vietnamese and English languages They emphasize that the socio-cultural differences are the key factors hindering the understanding and production of English vocabulary, such as etymology or figurative language Meanwhile, a prerequisite in writing the newspaper genre requires the journalists to master the flexible use of figurative language, especially metaphors, in order to maintain the attractiveness and the persuasiveness of news articles (Krennmayr, 2011) As recognized by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), metaphors are used unconsciously by the native as a vital tool for implying abstract ideas, while learning them is considered as a challenge for non-native speakers Kecskes (2003, as cited in Sasaki, 2010) explains that, because non-native speakers usually map language forms on the conceptual model shaped

by their mother tongue fluency, they have difficulties comprehending and producing metaphors in target language Littlemore, Chen, Koester, and Barnden (2011) also observed the difficulties experienced by non-natives when interpreting metaphors in English professional materials They claim that, although metaphors are intrinsic in humans’ conceptual system, the metaphor competence of advanced EFL leaners are about 22% to 26% lower than that of the native, due to their insufficient exposure to the target language and culture The lack of knowledge on metaphors can negatively affect the English comprehension and production of these non-natives, resulting in their ineffective communication (Sasaki, 2010) These assertions point at possible shortcomings in the use of English metaphors by the EFL learners like Vietnamese journalists, which may restrict and lower the quality of their English news articles

Considering the assumptions on the difficulties of the non-native in learning metaphors, this thesis aims to address this issue in the context of Vietnam’s

business journalism, in order to examine the English metaphorical language used by Vietnamese journalists As a vital tool for conceptual innovation, metaphors are expected to be used effectively by Vietnamese journalists, in order to deepen the connection with their international audience and strengthen the persuasiveness of their news articles However, it seems that Vietnamese journalists, with their sporadic exposure to target culture and the interference from Vietnamese metaphorical models, may encounter quite a few difficulties to master their use of English metaphors This theoretical recognition, coupled with the lack of empirical research into the metaphor production of Vietnamese journalists, has raised doubts concerning the limitations in their English writing skills Therefore, this study is set out to fill the gap by exploring and comparing the types and functions of metaphors used in English business news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists, in order to find out the restrictions in their metaphor production These outcomes may help the researcher draw out implications for the teaching, learning and using English metaphorical language of EFL learners in general and Vietnamese journalists in specific

1.2 Statement of the problem

Metaphors are vital tools for conveying implicit meanings and abstract ideas, helping us maintain the attractiveness and the persuasiveness of discourse, especially in the field of newspaper However, learning and using this type of trope have been considered as the key challenges for EFL learners like Vietnamese journalists, due to the cultural interference of their source language (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003; Kecskes, 2003) Accordingly, the inefficient use of metaphors by Vietnamese journalists may restrict or lower the quality of their English news articles, thus lessen the attraction to international audience Clearly, the difficulties and weaknesses of these advanced EFL learners in using English metaphors are still

in need of further research

Therefore, this study aims to examine and compare the types and functions

of metaphors used in English business news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists Findings on the differences between two groups may provide insights into the shortcomings in the metaphor production of Vietnamese EFL learners, hence help draw out implications for the teaching and learning of English in Vietnam

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims at providing an insight into the types and functions of metaphors used in English business news articles by Vietnamese journalists and foreign journalists in English-speaking countries, in order to draw out conclusions

on the similarities and differences in the way Vietnamese and native writers make use of metaphorical language for their informative and persuasive purposes in the field of journalism

The objectives of this study include:

 To identify the types of metaphors in English business news articles written

by Vietnamese and journalists;

 To examine the functions of metaphors in English business news articles written by Vietnamese and foreign journalists;

 To find out differences in the use of metaphors in English business news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists, in terms of types and functions

1.4 Research questions

Given the purpose of the study, the fundamental questions guiding it are as follows:

1 What types of metaphors are used in English business news articles written

by Vietnamese and foreign journalists?

2 What are the functions of metaphors used in English business news articles written by Vietnamese and foreign journalists?

3 What are the differences in the use of metaphors in English business news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists, in terms of types and functions (if any)?

1.5 The scope of the study

This thesis aims to investigate the use of metaphors in the latest online English news articles in field of business which are written by Vietnamese and foreign journalists in English speaking countries

The scope of the study focuses on examining and comparing the types and functions of metaphors that are deployed in economic newspaper discourse by Vietnamese and foreign journalists The discourse analysis is conducted on two corpora: the corpus A involving 30 business news articles published by online newspapers in Vietnam, and the corpus B involving 30 articles written by journalists in English speaking countries including US and UK Metaphors used in news articles unrelated to the columns of business are outside the scope of the study Furthermore, it should be noticed that the ultimate aims of this study is to highlights the differences between the use of metaphors by Vietnamese journalists and that of foreign journalists whose English writing production and journalistic specialization are proven to be positively received worldwide Therefore, the comparisons between the English metaphors used by foreign journalists across dialects or across levels of English writing proficiency are all out of scope for this paper

1.6 Significance of the study

With the continuing progress of globalization greatly increasing the importance of English news articles in Vietnamese journalism, there is a need for solid empirical research into the English writing skills of our journalists, in order to

provide useful insights for the development of journalism in Vietnam This thesis aims at contributing to such understanding through the empirical study on the use of metaphors in English business news articles written by Vietnamese and foreign journalists

Findings on the way foreign journalists make use of English metaphors for their informative and persuasive purposes, and the limitations of Vietnamese journalists in using English metaphors, are expected to benefit the teaching and learning of EFL and ESP in Vietnam These findings may also help EFL and ESP teachers recognize the Vietnamese’s disadvantages in learning English as well as their difficulties in perceiving and producing English metaphorical language Accordingly, teachers and educators may develop appropriate teaching materials to overcome these barriers Besides, understanding on the types and functions of metaphors might benefit Vietnamese learners, translators and writers of English, by raising their awareness on why, what, and how metaphors are used as a powerful tool to attain the fluency, the attractiveness, and the persuasiveness in communication This might help them recognize the importance of learning metaphors and exploring the cultural knowledge embedded in metaphors, in order

to enhance their English competence as a whole

Moreover, this study also contributes to further research on metaphor, by synthesizing different theories on the categorization of metaphors and their theoretical and practical functions in discourse Future researchers might base on the review and findings of this study as useful references to carry out deeper research into the related areas

1.7 Definitions of key terms

This section provides the definitions for key terms used throughout the document, in order to clarify the intended perspective on the issues discussed

Corpus (plural corpora) is defined by Richards and Schmidt (2002) as a collection

of naturally occurring samples of language used for analysis purpose, which may vary from a few sentences to a set of texts In this study, corpus refers to the collection of English business news articles written by Vietnamese or foreign journalists

Metaphor is defined by Lakoff and Johnson (2003) as “a way of concieving one

thing by referring to another” (p.36) In other word, metaphor is a mechanism to

“provide a partial understanding of one kind of experience in terms of another kind

of experience” (p.153)

Business news articles refer to those published in the business columns of

newspapers, providing readers with temporary information, reports, or professional assessments about economic events

English business news articles by Vietnamese journalists refer to those English

business news articles written and revised by Vietnamese journalists for publishing

in Vietnam newspapers This is because it is difficult to prove that journalists complete their own English news articles without the assistance and revision of editorials/translators, whether or not their names are cited in the news Nguyen (2006) and Grant (2003) explain that each publication in Vietnam’s newspapers is a result of the collaboration between its author, the editorials, and senior managers: the editorials first edit English articles submitted by journalists (or even translate from Vietnamese versions) to ensure their literacy; before submitting those to deputy chiefs (who are senior journalists) for final revision These steps of revision are for ensuring the standard quality of publications, and do not mean any poor writing skill of author journalists, because each journalist in Vietnam’s English newspapers graduated with an English certificate (Nguyen, 2006) In this sense, for the revision of news is unavoidable, English news produced by Vietnam’s editorials reflect the best ideal English production of author journalists, hence can make up the appropriate representative of Vietnam’s English journalism when comparing to the world

English business news articles by foreign journalists, used in contrast to those

“by Vietnamese journalists”, refer to business news written in English by journalists

in foreign countries, typically in US and UK News items produced by native journalists in US and UK are chosen as representatives for comparing with those by Vietnamese because English writing productions of these native authors are at the ideal standards that leaners all over the world are striving for (Aribisala, 2011) For

a sake examining differences and shortcomings of Vietnam’s English journalistic language, a comparison between two samples of the top English writing productions

of the native and Vietnamese may help highlight the typical limitations of Vietnamese journalists

1.8 Organization of the thesis

The first chapter, or Introduction, provides a general overview of the study This chapter introduces the importance of metaphors in discourse and different assumptions about the limitations on metaphor competence of the nonnative in general and of Vietnamese journalists in specific It then sets out the research objectives and research questions Scope of this study is illustrated afterwards, followed by Significance of the study and the definitions of major key terms

Chapter 2 attempts to review the relevant literature and research related to the types and functions of metaphors in different genres of discourse This chapter begins with the characteristics of metaphors which have been observed by previous scholars In the next part, different types of metaphors are reviewed It is followed

by the approaches to categorizing functions metaphors Empirical research on the types and functions of metaphors in English newspaper discourse and experimental studies on the metaphor competence of nonnative speakers are also reviewed as well This chapter ends with the conceptual framework for this study

Chapter 3 first introduces the research design and materials of this study including the sources and the size of two corpora Next, data collection and data

analysis procedures are described Lastly, reliability and validity of the sampling and data analysis are discussed

Chapter 4 presents the in-depth analyses of metaphors used in business news articles by Vietnamese and foreign journalists The descriptive analyses focus on the types, the functions, the similarities and differences between the use of metaphors by Vietnamese and foreign journalists

Finally, the chapter 5 shows the conclusions and implications of this study, followed by its limitations and recommendations for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition and general features of metaphors

The term “Metaphor” originates from Greek “metapherein” which means

“carry over” In a general sense, this type of trope is a mechanism “for understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p.5) Discussing the structure of a cognitive metaphor, Lakoff and

Johnson (2003) claim that a metaphor involves two domains: “the target domain, which is constituted by the immediate subject matter, and the source domain, in

which important metaphorical reasoning takes place and that provides the source concepts used in that reasoning” (p.265) Regarding the linguistic aspect of metaphor, Cameron (2003) points out that alternative labels for “source and target domains” are “Topic and vehicle”: “I will use the ‘Topic domain/Vehicle domain’ whenever I am referring to conceptual or content domains, and ‘Topic/Vehicle” to

refer to lexical items.(p.5) “Vehicle” is the lexical item refering the “source

domain” (also called “vehicle domain”) which refers the concrete thing(s) whose

attributes are borrowed (p.5) “Topic” is “the content of the on-going discourse” to which attributes are ascribed to (also called “topic domain” or “target domain”)

(p.5) For example, in metaphor “justice is blind”, “justice” is the topic, which refers to an abstract concept of which characteristic is concretized by the vehicle

“blindness”, a concrete state of human losing his ability to see thing The

characteristic shared between them can be understood as “a state of being unable to

discriminate things”

According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), “imaginative rationality” is one of the key characteristics of metaphors “Metaphor is a matter of imaginative rationality It permits an understanding of one kind of experience in terms of another, creating coherences by virtue of imposing gestalts that are structured by natural dimensions of experience” (p.236) The mechanism of comparing things that belong to different categories used in metaphors is not simply for a purpose of

making the description intelligible, but also allows speakers/writers to highlight the characteristic(s) shared between source and target domains These special effects are unachievable by using literal language, because an unconventional cross-domain comparison requires the hearer/reader to visualize and figure out the characteristics

of things Thus, the nature of imaginativeness also explains for the creativeness, vividness, and aesthetical pleasure of unconventional metaphors

Another key feature distinguishing metaphors from similes is conciseness Fadaee (2011) cites different works to prove that metaphors serve as a tool to make communication concisely and efficiently, not merely as a descriptive-device like similes and other rhetorical figures In a metaphor, on one hand, the comparison between things is presented without the use of any function words such as “like” or

“as”, making metaphors more compact than similes On the other hand, the compared characteristic(s) between two domains is also excluded from metaphorical language, allowing the speaker/writer to convey a large amount of descriptive information to their audiences by means of succinct metaphorical language Consider how interlocutors extend the linguistic resources available in metaphor “Justice is blind” This idiom mentions the “state of being unable to see”

of a goddess in the Greek myth for alluding to the neutrality of the dispensing of justice, i.e “justice is impartial and objective” Clearly, a story about an ancient goddess and the detailed characteristics of the abstract concept “justice” are condensed in just a short idiom of three words

Lakoff and Johnson (2003) also mention “cultural coherence” (p.23) as an important aspect of metaphors Essentially, the implicit comparisons in metaphors need to be grounded basing on a common system of understanding shared by the interlocutors; so that reader/hearer can recognize easily the values(s) shared by the two domains and interpret the metaphors in compliance with the purpose of the speaker/writer “There are many possible physical and social bases for metaphor Coherence within the overall system seems to be part of the reason why one is chosen and not another” (p.18) For example, in most cultures, the condition “blind” (unable to see) is usually chosen to imply a negative quality such as “unreasonable,

lacking perception and awareness” (e.g “blind faith”, “He was blind with fury”) Hence, this metaphor is coherent with other common systems of metaphors and values such as “UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING” (p.48), “more is better” (p.32) Clearly, if discourse participants do not share a system of understanding when perceiving metaphors, the similarity between source and target domains might not

be recognized homogeneously, which leads to different interpretations of the metaphor For example, when interpreting metaphor “justice is blind”, if readers know about the myth to recognize that the source and target domains share a

similarity of “being unable to discriminate things”, they can interpret the metaphor

as “justice is impartial and objective” Otherwise, readers may base on their common system of values to consider that, both “justice” and “blindness” share a

common ground of “being unable to perceive the whole characteristics of thing” This leads to an interpretation that “justice system is flawed” (maybe because the

dispensing of justice is based merely on the existence of evidence but not the whole truth) In this sense, the production of metaphor requires the speaker/writer to choose the source domain in accordance with the cultural background of the audience in order to facilitate their reasoning of target domain Meanwhile, the comprehension of metaphor entails the audience to understand the system of values grounded in the ideology of the speaker/writer, in order to recognize the suitable similarity shared across domains and interpret correctly the implied meaning These again point at the potential differences existing in the perception and production of metaphors by the English speakers of different cultures such as the natives and the nonnatives, who have distinct experiences and ideologies about the world

This section has outlined the general structure and features of metaphors, which make them distinguished from other types of figurative language To conclude, the implicit comparison between two domains embedded in each metaphor explains for their special effects The prominent features of metaphors including imaginative rationality, conciseness, and cultural coherence, which are not found at once in any other types of figures, make them vital for every genre of discourse

2.2 Vital roles of metaphors in newspaper discourse

Language is the quintessence of distributed cognition; and the formation of figurative language is a natural consequence of human’s cognitive evolution Metaphors provide a concise way to communicate on abstract concepts such as complex properties, ideas, feelings, emotions, etc., which are impossible to be described by literal language However, it was not until Wilgod (1971), Lakoff, and Johhnson (1980) laid the foundations for the cognitive theories of metaphors that their vital roles were recognized Accordingly, metaphors are considered as an intrinsic part of humans’ conceptual and linguistic systems, rather than merely a rhetorical device in literary (Wilgod, 1972; Lakoff & Johnson, 2003) As explained

by Wilgod (1971), as language is a vehicle of thought, the incidental existence of universal metaphorical content in hundreds languages worldwide implies that metaphor is an inalienable process of human expressing thought itself Lakoff and Johnson (2003) add that, because abstract concepts such as emotions, ideas, time, etc need to be perceived by human’s brain without any material referent in reality,

we thus have to construct those abstract concepts by means of the characteristics of other concrete things that we understand in clearer terms, in order to concretize, rationalize, and communicate on them “Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms

of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.” (p.3)

“They [metaphors] are among our principal vehicles for understanding And they play a central role in the construction of social and political reality.” (p.159)

Although it may sound complicated to verbalize the process of interpreting a given metaphor, data from the analyses of news discourse shows that people of a same culture use metaphors effortlessly or unconsciously to communicate Chwesiuk (2011) observes that the native of English use around 74 metaphors per

1000 words in radio-broadcast Krennmayr (2011) found that the numbers of metaphors in textual journalism discourse are even higher, accounting for 18.1% of the words in politico-economic newspapers, outpacing the numbers of metaphors in

fictions (12%) or spoken language (7.7%) Explaining why metaphors are used more in newspaper discourse compared to other genres, Krennmayr (2011) argues that the reasons lie in the natures of news discourse News discourse is a form of public communication that serves various purposes, such as to inform, to explain, to evaluate, to persuade, to entertain, etc As news discourse is a written genre, the lack of direct contact between the journalists and the audience entails the language

of articles to be highly informative, while the competitiveness of newspaper requires the headlines to be as striking as possible, without exceeding the word limits As mentioned in previous section, metaphors are able to provide interlocutors with a concise and efficient way to communicate on complicated experiences, which may help news discourse stay highly effective but “space-saving” Thus, the use of metaphors may determine in the quality and success of news articles To conclude, metaphors are intrinsic to human’s conceptual system and play a vital role in all genres of communication, especially for newspaper discourse

2.3 Types of metaphor

Metaphors can be classified in different way based on various approaches and principles, such as: the mode of cognitive representation of vehicle, the cross-domain mapping in metaphors, etc Details on a few major categories of metaphors are presented in the following sections

2.3.1 The classification based on level of representation

According to Casasanto (2009), metaphors can be categorized based on their modes of presentation, including conceptual metaphor, visual metaphor, and linguistic metaphor Among those, the mental representations of metaphors are considered as the most basic mode, because metaphorical ideas are firstly grounded

in human’s conceptual system, before being transmitted by means of images and languages (Casasanto, 2009; Lakoff and Johnson, 2003) In other words, visual

metaphors and linguistic metaphors are the two illustration modes of conceptual metaphors (Casasanto, 2009; Yus, 2009) Linguistic metaphors are encoded and decoded using languages – the systems of sounds and characters, while visual metaphors are coded by means of images and icons Because languages are more standardized and complicated than the iconic coding systems, linguistic metaphors allow the meanings of metaphors to be conveyed more explicitly and consistently to people of the same culture, compared to visual metaphors Following sections detail the categorization of metaphors based on their modes of representation

2.3.1.1 Conceptual Metaphor

Conceptual metaphor is a theory of mental representation set by Lakoff and Johnson, which assumes that human’s brain can structure abstract and physical experiences metaphorically without using language, because action and language are merely the interpretation of thought (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003; Casasanto, 2009)

“[ ] every experience takes place within a vast background of cultural presuppositions It can be misleading, therefore, to speak of direct physical experience as though there were some core of immediate experience which

we then "interpret" in terms of our conceptual system [ ] It would be more correct to say that all experience is cultural through and through, that we experience our "world" in such a way that our culture is already present in the very experience itself.” (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p.57)

Still, this theory remains impossible to be tested, due to an instinct nature of human perception, called “content schemata”: When our brain perceiving a new experience (i.e a new concept), for making the input data ready for processing, it has to firstly store the data by assimilating them with those already existing in mind (Richards & Schmidt, 2002) This causes us impossible to stop reflecting and relating a new concept with other available concepts which have been encoded by language, regardless whether that new concept has been perceived with or without language

However, Casasanto (2009) quoted Clark (2003) and Slobin (1987) to support Lakoff and Johnson’s theory on Conceptual metaphor, then conducted non-linguistic experiments to test the metaphorical basis of the abstract domain “time” Accordingly, he proved that Conceptual metaphors linking to time and space are structured firstly in mental representation during the process of systematizing the concepts, before being reflected in our mind by means of language In this sense, conceptual metaphors are essentially different from linguistic and visual metaphors Furthermore, the existence of universal metaphorical content in different languages worldwide also proves that humans can ground conceptual metaphors in the same way regardless the divergent coding rules of their languages For example, the cross-domain mapping of “unpleasant event - nightmare” in English culture also exists in Vietnamese culture, e.g “The whole journey was a nightmare” and “Cơn

ác mộng giá vé xe đò ngày cận Tết” (Báo Pháp luật TPHCM 2019) Therefore, it is possible to state that mental representation is the primary mode of metaphor

According to Yus (2009), imagery representation is essential for the perception of not only metaphors but also literal language “Good readers, for example, tend to create visual images as they read [ ] When we look at a page of written text, our minds tend to interpret the words as images of some sort” (p.67) This is because humans’ mind restores and retrieves experience in terms of mental images, before expressing the information by means of verbal description Therefore, the creation and interpretation of linguistic metaphors involve the

formation of visual metaphors in one’s mind, in order to delineate the comparison between source and target domains

Finson and Pederson (2011) points out that the enrichment of understanding

on the culture of visual metaphors is highly important, especially in the fields of news-media, economics, and sciences Utilizing the systems of cultural metaphorical images can help writers and journalists deepen the transportation of information, sharpen the persuasiveness of critical ideas, and appeal to readers’ attention

2.3.1.3 Linguistic metaphor

According to Casasanto (2009), linguistic metaphors are considered as the most advanced representation of conceptual metaphors The use of languages allows speakers/writers to use an abstract vehicle to refer to another abstract topic, which is nearly impossible by using visual metaphors Languages exist in the real time of communication, before being quoted in terms of texts Therefore, the interpretation

of a linguistic metaphor relies heavily on the real context that it was used An expression which is considered to be literal language in a given context can convey metaphorical meaning in another context Contextual information can help determine whether and which words of utterances are used metaphorically The two types of context include:

 Physical context: is the setting including time and space in which the speech

occurs, as well as the socio-cultural background of the collocutors For example, the phrasal verb “check in” can be used at airports or hotels with its literal meaning of “to report one’s arrival before entering”; but the term is used in social network with the metaphorical meaning “to contact someone

by making a phone call, etc.” (e.g “He checked in regularly with me”)

 Linguistic context: (i.e co-text) is the discourse surrounding the

word/expression which helps to determine its interpretation In the examples

“the spotlight is on the ceiling” and “the spotlight is on the Champion

League”, the words preceding and following the term “spotlight” provide the evidence to distinguish its literal and metaphorical meanings

Nickel (2013) holds a view that the influence of contexts on the interpretation

of language has resulted in the variety of linguistic representation of metaphors Consequently, linguistic types of metaphors can be any words or any expressions, depending on the variety of speakers’ linguistic repertoire Following are a number

of common word-classes of metaphorical language:

Noun & noun phrase: E.g community builder; US markets is the cleanest dirty

shirt;

Verb & verb phrase: E.g He devoured the book; He fell into depression;

Adjective: E.g The reasons are simple and powerful; a vulnerable issue;

Adverb: E.g Investment is going backwards; Revenues are up healthily;

Prepositional phrase: E.g on the other hand; under the weather; etc

The use of linguistic representation may result in the ambiguous cases, where the Physical-context-based meaning of a given word differs from its Linguistic-context-based meaning The ambiguity of these utterances may make it difficult to identify whether a sentence is metaphor or not For example, in the utterance

“During lockdown, visiting friends may get us in trouble.”, “get” is a metaphor (personification) if “visiting friends” refers to an activity, but is literal if “visiting friends” refer to people In this sense, when analyzing linguistic metaphors, the original linguistic background and linguistic types of metaphorical units should also

be inspected, based on which a comparison between their contextual meanings and their original meanings can be made Therefore, it is appropriate to say that, the examination of linguistic metaphors links directly to the analysis of micro linguistic types of the metaphorical language These methods for identifying and analyzing linguistic types of linguistic metaphors are further discussed in 2.4 The rest of this section, however, will introduce the theory of Steen (1999) regarding the two subcategories of linguistic metaphors: explicit and implicit metaphors, because the

identification of metaphorical language is highly dependent on the differentiation of explicit and implicit metaphors from similes and metonymies

2.3.1.3.1 Distinguish Explicit Metaphors from Similes and Metonymies

An explicit metaphor contains a direct cross-domain comparison with the use

of a stative verb, e.g “All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely

players” (Shakespeare); “His words were summer on the tongue” Explicit

metaphors include into the clause both source and target domains, thus represent the cross-domain comparison explicitly This distinguishes them from implicit metaphors (Steen, 1999) However, the involvement of stative verbs may make explicit metaphors confused with similes and metonymies For example, compare the two examples by Cameron (2003, p.74) “a wolf is like a dog” and “a man is like

a wolf”: Cameron (2003) proves that the former is a simile because it involves the literal comparison between things of the same domains of animals, while the latter

is considered as a “metaphorical comparison” (i.e a metaphor) for comparing things across irrelevant domains - human vs animal Moreover, consider the following two examples by Lakoff and Johnson (2003) “The BLT is a lousy tipper.”(p.38) and

“Love is a journey” (p.45): As explained by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), the former

is a metonymy because its source and target domains have an “OBJECT USED FOR USER” relationship, while the latter is a metaphor because the source and target domains have no relationship These examples by Cameron (2003) and Lakoff and Johnson (2003) show the key difference distinguishing explicit metaphors from other types of figure, that is the source and target domains of metaphors are irrelevant in reality

2.3.1.3.2 Distinguish Implicit Metaphors from Metonymies

An implicit metaphor contains the indirect comparison between source and target domains, due to the exclusion of both the topics and the stative verbs The conciseness of implicit metaphors explains why they are used more commonly in both literary and daily communication, compared to explicit metaphors E.g “I just

can’t swallow that claim”, “He devoured the book”, etc As pointed out in Steen (1999), the indirectness of cross-domain comparison entails the discourse participants to share a same background understanding when using implicit metaphors Steen (1999) divides the interpretation of implicit metaphors into two phases: First, readers/hearers have to base on linguistic and socio-cultural contexts

to identify the propositions of the metaphor The second phase is a pragmatic elaboration, which entails the reader/hearer to choose the proposition that is most meaningful and coherent with the context of discourse This helps identify the topic-vehicle mapping of implicit metaphors For example, the metaphor “He devoured the book” entails readers’ cultural awareness to identify the proposition

“Knowledge is food”, hence establish the cross-domain mapping between

“devouring a book” and “reading eagerly” Despite the implication of target domains, it should be kept in mind that their cross-domain mapping is of NO relevance This make them distinguished from metonymies, of which the relationships between source and target domains may be of “Part-Whole”,

“Producer-Product”, “Object-User”, “Controller-Controlled”, “Institution For People Responsible”, “The Place For The Event” (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p.38-39)

2.3.2 The classification based on source-target mapping of metaphors

According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), conceptual metaphors can be classified into different categories bases on the gestalts of their source domains The most general types include: Orientational metaphor (of which source domains are orientations), Ontological metaphor (of which source domains are physical objects

or substances), and Structural metaphor (of which source domains are structures) However, Lakoff and Johnson (2003) also warn that this way of division is

“artificial”, because all metaphors should be considered as “structural metaphors”

“(in that they map structures to structures)”; and “all are ontological (in that they create target do-main entities)” (p.264) Empirical evidences have shown that their

warning about the overlay of three types is partly true On the one hand, all metaphors are structural metaphors because they are all grounded on the structures

of our physical experience with material things, orientations, cultural behaviors, etc However, on the other hand, not all metaphors with source domain referring to material things are ontological metaphors, because there are cases where target domains of metaphors are also physical objects, to which only cultural structures but no physical structures of source domains are ascribed to For example:

“I never beat him at chess” (the cultural structures of “beat” in WAR gestalt

are ascribed to the concept “do better”);

“He is fired” (the cultural structures of “fire” in WAR gestalt are ascribed to

the concept “remove a person from his job”)

Due to a gray area between the ontological and structural metaphors, this study adapts the theory by Lakoff and Johnson (2003) to treat all conceptual

metaphors as ontological metaphors However, the researcher use the term “simple

ontological metaphors” to call those ontological metaphors structured simply in

terms of the inherent physical natures of source object, in order to distinguish them

with those ontological metaphors highly structured in terms of our cultural

reasoning about source phenomena In this sense, Orientational metaphor (mapping structures of orientations to the structures of values) should be seen as a type of structural metaphor, or a type of highly structured ontological metaphor Likewise, other typical systems of source domains that are proven as the most macro level of systems for structuring metaphors, such as WAR, JOURNEY, etc., can be also treated as subcategories (i.e types) of structural metaphors According to Kheovichai (2010), a cognitive analysis of metaphors used in business science has shown that the major systems of source domains used for structuring metaphors include WAR, SPORT, GAME, JOURNEY, MACHINE, LIVING ORGANISM, BUILDING, and PHYSICS In the sake of examining the metaphors used in business newspapers, this study will focus on these major structures of metaphors

observed by Kheovichai (2010), and categorize them as the main types of structural metaphors (i.e the main types of the structures of metaphors)

Major categories of structures of metaphors are presented in the following subsections:

2.3.2.1 ONTOLOGICAL METAPHOR

According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), in Ontological metaphors,

abstract concepts such as an event, activity, emotion, or idea, are represented as bounded spaces, physical entities, or substance Lakoff and Johnson (2003) confirm that CONTAINTER metaphors, ENTITY metaphors, and SUBSTANCE metaphors are the most basic devices for humans to comprehend abstract experience, because they allow humans to ascribe the material characteristics to abstract concepts, in order to concretize and reason more sharply about them Human’s daily understanding has provided the rich basis for the extraordinarily wide variety of ontological metaphors, hence resulted in the construction of complicated metaphors based on human’s cultural experiences about things and phenomena Thus, in this

study, the term “Simple Ontological Metaphors” is used to call those ontological

metaphors structured simply in terms of the inherent physical natures of source

physical things, in order to distinguish them from those ontological metaphors

highly structured on our cultural reasoning about source phenomena, such as:

Orientational metaphors, and other complex structural metaphors (WAR metaphors, BUILDING metaphors, MACHINE metaphors, WEATHER metaphors, etc)

2.3.2.2 ORIENTATIONAL METAPHOR

Orientational metaphors involve the use of spatial orientations to describe

the changes of states and values, such as: Up or Down, In or Out, Front or Back, Central or Peripheral, Deep or Shallow, On or Off, Active or Passive According

to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), these spatial orientations are not arbitrarily ascribed

by speakers This explains for the “systematicity” of orientational metaphors For

example, the “up-down” orientations are used to compare “positive-negative” evaluations:

o “My spirits rose” (happy is up); He's really low these days” (sad is down);

o “Wake up” (conscious is up); “He fell asleep” (unconscious is down);

o “Income rose” (more is up); “The amount has gone down” (less is down)

In these examples, the positive values (“happiness”, “rationality”, “increase”) are described by means of upward orientations, while the negative states (“sadness”,

“unconsciousness”, “decrease”) are seen as downward movements

2.3.2.3 STRUCTURAL METAPHOR

According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), although Simple Ontological and Orientational metaphors are also simple structural metaphors, they are merely structured in terms of the inherent physical natures of source Object-domains, such

as the materials and physical orientations, hence should be distinguished from

complex structural metaphors that are highly structured in terms of humans’

cultural reasoning about complicated phenomena, such as WAR, GAME, JOURNEY, etc Following sections detailed the major subcategories of the complex Structural metaphors that are observed to be used in Business discourse

2.3.2.3.1 WAR metaphors

As proven by Kheovichai (2010), WAR is a macro system for structuring

metaphors, in which the concept WAR is used to structure the phenomena involving conflicts between different ideas and benefits, such as “RATIONAL ARGUMENT

IS WAR”, and “ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IS WAR” According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), this type is among the most common structural metaphors found in both spoken and written discourse WAR metaphors are grounded based on the fact that animals have to fight to get what they want, such as food, sex, territory, control, etc In the same way, “human animals” with their language and reasoning ability, try to get what they need by means of economic activities and rational arguments Therefore, human society may view rational arguments and economic activities as

“wars”, in which people have something to fight, to defend, to win, or to lose WAR metaphors provide the basis to develop different communicative tactics in daily life and in business such as disposing, threatening, invoking, persuading, etc It also

defines human’s thinking system, such as communicative culture, business culture

2.3.2.3.2 GAME metaphors

Kheovichai (2010) proves that GAMEs (SPORT GAME, GAMBLING

GAME, CHESS GAME, etc.) are among the typical systems of source domains of metaphors in business discourse As observed by Lakoff and Johnson (2003), Mikołajczyk (2003) and Pirsl (2014), GAME metaphors allow us to structure human activities in terms of games (sporting/gambling) In GAME metaphors, terms relating to games and sports are used to describe competitive activities in daily life, economics, politics, etc For example, the statement “Israel remained on the sidelines” implies the meaning that Israel did not participate in the military operation GAME metaphors help describe the competitions in a “less violent” way than WAR metaphors (Mikołajczy, 2003, p 280) This is because in sport games, players not only try best to demonstrate their skills in order to win the prize, but also show their fair-play spirits by avoiding causing harm to their competitors Therefore, the use of GAME metaphors in economic, politic and academic discourse helps the author hide the severity and imply a positive viewpoint towards the competitions in these fields

2.3.2.3.3 JOURNEY metaphors

As pointed out by Kheovichai (2010) and Lakoff and Johnson (2003),

JOURNEY metaphors are used variously in communication, especially in business

discourse JOURNEY metaphors are cases in which the process of activity, or

changing state, or time is described as a JOURNEY; and the result of that process is

viewed as the destinations (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003) JOURNEY metaphor is

originated from the metaphorical perception that “time is a moving object”, and humans’ activities “move through it [time] in the direction of the future” (p.45) For