A study on conceptual metaphors in economic reports in the new york times from the perspective of cognitive liguistics

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES *** TRIỆU KHÁNH TOÀN A STUDY ON CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN ECONOMIC

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

***

TRIỆU KHÁNH TOÀN

A STUDY ON CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS

IN ECONOMIC REPORTS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS

NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM TRONG CÁC BÀI BÁO

VỀ KINH TẾ TRÊN TẠP CHÍ NEW YORK TIMES

DƯỚI GÓC NHÌN CỦA NGÔN NGỮ HỌC TRI NHẬN

M.A MAJOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Linguistics

Supervisor : Dr Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy

HANOI - 2016

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ―A Study on Conceptual Metaphor in Economic Reports in the New York Times from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics‖ is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Hanoi, 2016

Triệu Khánh Toàn

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

For the completion of this thesis, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable support from many people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Phạm Thị Thanh Thùy for her hearty guidance, valuable criticism, detailed comments and corrections, without which this work would not be completed My thanks also go to all my instructors in my M.A programs whose valuable support and knowledge have greatly contributed to the completion of this thesis Last but not least, I would love to show my gratitude to my family and friends who always give me endless encouragement Without all of them, this thesis can hardly be fulfilled

ABSTRACT

This paper critically analyses conceptual metaphors used in economic reports in the New York Times (2013-2014) from the perspective of cognitive linguistics The research aims at determining the frequency of conceptual metaphors used in economic reports, identifying the frequency of each source domain used to conceptualize the target domain of economy, and shedding light on the functions of conceptual metaphors in this field The research has found that due to its frequency, conceptual metaphor can partly feature economic reports Also, it is found that several domains such as A JOURNEY, WAR, A GAME AND SPORTS, A HUMAN BEING are more frequently used in the discussion

of economic terms Furthermore, conceptual metaphors are expected to bring rhetorical effects, emotional value and conceptual function to the discourse

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Objectives and scope of the study 4

2.1 Objectives of the study 4

2.2 Scope of the study 5

3 Significance of the study 5

4 Research methodology 6

4.1 Research questions 6

4.2 Research approach 7

4.3 Data collection and analysis 7

5 Design of the study 8

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 10

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 10

1.1 Cognitive linguistics 10

1.2 Metaphors 11

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 20

2.1 Study on conceptual metaphors 20

2.2 Study on conceptual metaphor in economic discourse 23

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 26

3.1 Research questions 26

3.2 Research methodology 27

3.2.1 Data and data collection 27

3.3 Research procedures 30

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS 32

4.1 Frequency of conceptual metaphors denoting ECONOMY in economic reports on New

York Times 32

4.2 Frequency of different source domains in conceptual metaphors denoting ECONOMY in economic reports on The New York Times 37

4.3 Discussion on the value added by conceptual metaphors in business reports on New York Times 60 PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 66

1 Research findings 66

2 Implications 68

2.1 Implications for translation and teaching translation 68

2.2 Implications for teachers and students 70

3 Limitations and suggestions for further study 71

3.1 Limitations 71

3.2 Suggestions for further study 72

REFERENCES 74

APPENDIX 1 78

List of economic reports from the New York Times 78

APPENDIX 3 80

QUESTIONNAIRE 80

34

Table 4 The number and percentage of conceptual metaphors

denoting ECONOMY with different source domains

36

Table 5 reasons for preference of the sentences with

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The study of metaphor has a long history and was first established by Aristotle who considers metaphors as a way of transferring names of two objects on a basis that they share some common features In other words, metaphors can be commonly seen as a way of referring to one thing under the name of another based on their similarities (Đỗ Hữu Châu, 2005) and the scope of study is limited to literature

Until recently, a new wave of studying metaphors has been proposed

on the foundation of cognitive linguistics This views metaphors as a popular phenomenon permeating all aspects of languages, not only in poems and the likes The concept of conceptual metaphor has been introduced then In contrast to the previous view on literature metaphors, the system of conceptual metaphors is created automatically, unconsciously and understandably without much effort (Trần Văn Cơ, 2007)

Lakoff and Johnson‘s (1980) proposed a bright example of a conceptual metaphor, LOVE IS A JOURNEY This conceptual metaphor

is made up of a fixed set of well-established mappings, which is illustrated

in the table below:

Source domain: JOURNEY mappings Target domain: LOVE

OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED  DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED DECISIONS ABOUT

DIRECTION

 CHOICES ABOUT WHAT TO DO DESTINATION OF THE

JOURNEY

 GOALS OF THE RELATIONSHIP

Table 1: The mappings of conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A JOURNEY

Obviously, the more concrete domain of JOURNEY helps structure ideas belonging to the target domain of LOVE Furthermore, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) also argue that knowledge of the sort specified by the conceptual metaphor is necessary for the creation and comprehension of conceptual metaphors That is to say, without such knowledge and previous experience, one would not be able to understand some concepts

of the more abstract domain LOVE (Lakoff &Johnson, 1980)

Similarly to the example proposed by Lakoff, many other cases of metaphors have been studied, contributing to the comparisons of metaphorical mechanism between two languages In Vietnam, Nguyễn Thị Kim Anh (2014) takes a deep look at the conceptual metaphor MARRIAGE IS A JOURNEY, which aims at facilitating the teaching of cultural aspects in foreign language teaching

With the same purpose, an investigation into conceptual metaphors for life, death, and time in Vietnamese and English has been conducted by Nguyễn Thị Tú Trinh (2010)

One of the most favored target domains to be described through source domains is economy It is admitted that, the world economy has never failed to win people‘s attention though it has undergone numerous ups and downs in the last few decades Hence, the economic reports in newspapers, journals and magazines have proved themselves to be an essential part of the daily life For this reason, certain linguistic features are taken into great consideration in the production of reports and articles

so that ideas can be effortlessly perceived in such an abstract and abstruse field Metaphor, one of the linguistics features, commonly occurs in economic reports for the reason that metaphors facilitate readers‘ understanding of the abstract domains by means of the concrete domains (Köveces, 2002)

Within the business domain, conceptual metaphors are supposed to

be of great popularity since the more abstract domain of economy should

be conceptualized by a number of more concrete domains For example,

we usually see such a metaphoric expression as seeing just one way for

Greece to go: up (The New York Times, 2014) The example illustrates

the use of the concrete domain of JOURNEY to structure ideas belonging

to the domain of ECONOMY Studies on such use of metaphoric expressions have been of certain extensiveness Silva Bratož (2004) conducts a comparative study of metaphor in English and Slovene used in popular economic discourse The study aims to figure out the domains used business reports in both languages to conceptualize the domain of economy Similarly, Black and Ennis (2001) carry out another study of

conceptual metaphors between English and Spanish in financial reporting mainly about stock market crash According to the findings, there are not only many similarities but also differences in frequently used metaphors between two languages Bai Jinhong (2010) also carries out a study on

conceptual metaphor exploited in the journal Business Week and the newspaper The New York Times although the study is confined to the

headlines only

The review of previous studies has encouraged the writer to conduct further research on conceptual metaphors used in English articles so that the source domains can be found, and the most frequently used domain can

be identified In short, it is worth analyzing metaphors in economic reports

to figure out how they work in this field and to categorize other concrete source domains that are normally used to conceptualize the target domain

of economy

2 Objectives and scope of the study

2.1 Objectives of the study

This study primarily concentrates on the metaphors used in economic reports Its aim is to have an insight into how metaphors are correlated to human physical experience and constructed in economic reports In addition, the analysis of this correlation will set foundation for later categorization of the source domains which are exploited in the metaphors

in these economic reports

2.2 Scope of the study

The research on metaphoric expressions has a long history with different standpoints In the traditional view, metaphors should be regarded as a figure of speech and those metaphoric expressions are expected to appear in poetry and literary works for rhetorical aims and are far from use in communication The second view on metaphor emerged in

1980 and was marked by the publication of Metaphors, We Live By,

written by Lakoff and Johnson The approach they suggested, known as the cognitive linguistics view of metaphors, posed a real challenge to the traditional view since they propose that metaphor exists not only in language but also in action and thought (2003) Among two views briefly discussed above, this study takes the latter since economic reports, the subject of this study, should not be treated as literary works but part of human communication

Since its introduction, many cognitive studies of metaphor have been conducted in politics, sports, economy and many other aspects This paper does not expect to cover all those aspects of life, and only conceptual metaphors found in economic reports are analyzed Despite the abundance

of economic magazines and journals, this paper focuses only on the articles from the New York Times posted in 2013

3 Significance of the study

With this study, the writer strives to make a little theoretical and practical contribution Firstly, as part of his endeavor, this paper is expected to provide an insight into how metaphor works in the field of economy, which is to add some value to the theory of metaphor from the

perspective of cognitive linguistics The findings and analysis of metaphors in economic reports also prove the statement made by Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999) that metaphors are conceptual as many of the ways in which we think and act are basically metaphorical and that metaphors are not confined to literal works only

Secondly, for writers of journals, newspapers and magazines, this study is to provide a practical analysis on how metaphors work and how they are constructed in economic reports They are, hence, encouraged to exploit this linguistic feature so that ideas can be presented in a comprehensible manner That is to say, the writer looks forward to bringing something beneficial to economic reporters in their attempts to win readers‘ interest

Finally, this research is also expected to prove the significance of conceptual metaphors in business reports and to come up with a system of common domains used to describe the abstract domain of economy Hence, translators, teachers, and students of English will be provided with one of the guideline aiming at native-like use of language in a specific discourse

4 Research methodology

4.1 Research questions

An investigation into metaphors in business reports aims at shedding light on these three questions:

Question 1: How frequently is conceptual metaphor exploited in business

reports in The New York Times?

Question 2: What are the most frequently used source domains used to

conceptualize the target domain of economy?

Question 3: What is the value that metaphors used in business reports in

The New York Times adding to the reports?

The study is of both qualitative and quantitative approaches Firstly, the study involves the collecting, categorizing and counting metaphorical expressions quantitatively in the articles Secondly, the additional value of metaphoric expressions will be analyzed qualitatively Furthermore, the method of direct interview is also applied among economists to decide the value added by conceptual metaphors

4.3 Data collection and analysis

This research is conducted mainly based on the primary data collected from economic reports of The New York Times and can be divided into three stages

The first stage involves the collection of reports, which is to provide some data for the next stage To ensure the up-to-date-requirements, the chosen reports should be released in 2013 and 2014 including such fields

as banking and finance, marketing, investment, human resources, financial

public management and so on The reports should be varied in terms of topics and authors so that a complete investigation can be achieved

The second stage develops on the data from the first step and is to answer the first two research questions In this stage, metaphors are identified from those reports Afterwards, those metaphors will be categorized and the frequency of metaphors will be determined First, the frequency of metaphors in English articles will be the average frequency

of metaphors in each article The frequency of metaphors in each article is determined by dividing the number of metaphors by the number of words per article Secondly, the frequency of different domains will be determined by dividing the number of metaphorical expressions of each domain by the total number of metaphorical expressions identified from the articles

The third stage involves the qualitative analysis of additional value

of using metaphorical expressions The analysis should base on comparisons between the texts with and without metaphorical expressions This analysis should be based on specific cases of metaphorical expressions taken from the articles

5 Design of the study

The study will be constructed as follow:

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

In this part, rationale, aims and objectives of the study, scope of the study are expected to be presented

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background and literature review

In this chapter, the writer is supposed to deeply discuss such basic concepts of metaphors in cognitive linguistics as types of metaphors, mappings and image schemas Moreover, previous studies on the same issue should be presented at length so that the readers and the writer can reach an agreement on what has been achieved in this field

Chapter 2: Research methodology

This chapter includes the methods which are exploited in this study

as well as a discussion on the reason for choosing the methods

Chapter 3: Data collection and analysis

In addition, the writer also discusses sources of data, how the data

should be selected and the analytical framework to analyze them

Chapter 4: Findings

This chapter deals with presenting the findings from the work of data analysis above, including the presentation of frequency of metaphors in economic reports and main categories of source domains in those metaphoric expressions

PART 3: CONCLUSION

In this part, the writer attempts to summarize the main points in this study Also, some limitations should be identified and implications for application of the results and for further studies are pointed out

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Cognitive linguistics

Cognitive Linguistics discussed in this paper refers to the approach

to the study of language that started its emergence in the 1970s and has gain most of its increasing popularity since the 1980s More than a quarter century later, a massive amount of study has been generated under the light of cognitive linguistics, most of which has a strong focus on semantics However, a considerable proportion is also devoted to syntax and morphology, and other areas of linguistics are also researched into under the view of cognitive linguistics, such as language acquisition, phonology, and historical linguistics

One of the important assumptions shared by all of these scholars is that meaning is so central to language that it must be a primary focus of study Three major hypotheses as guiding the cognitive linguistic approach

to language are pointed out (Croft, W & Cruise, D A., 2004):

 Language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty

 Grammar is conceptualization

 Knowledge of language emerges from language use

The first hypothesis is that language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty Consequently, the representation of linguistic knowledge is essentially the same as the presentation of other conceptual structures, and that the processes in which that knowledge is used are not fundamentally

different from cognitive abilities that human beings use outside the domain

of language

The second major hypothesis of the cognitive linguistic approach is embodied in Langacker‘s slogan (1987) ‗grammar is conceptualization.‘ A major aspect of human cognitive ability is the conceptualization of the experience to be communicated

The third major hypothesis of the cognitive linguistic approach is that knowledge of language emerges from language use That is to say, categories and structures in semantics, syntax, morphology and phonology are built up from our cognition of specific utterances on specific occasions

of use

1.2 Metaphors

1.2.1 Traditional views on metaphors

There have been a number of linguistic scholars making a real attempt to provide a definition of metaphors This part is to review several noticeable definitions of linguistic metaphors according to traditional views

Firstly, Aristotle (1954) should be first mentioned since he provides

us with the first extant definition of metaphors, which states that

‗metaphor is the application of a word that belongs to another thing.‘ In other words, metaphor is an instance in which the name customarily used

to signify one thing is used in reference to a thing that is customarily signified by another name As Aristotle (1954) goes on to indicate, this transference of the name of one thing to another can take place in four

principle ways: ‗either from genus to species, species to genus, species to species, or by analogy.‘

Similarly, Murray Knowles (2005) considers metaphors as ‗the use

of language to refer to something other than what it was originally applied

to, or what it literally means, in order to suggest some resemblance or make a connection between the two things.‘ Furthermore, Murray also associates metaphors with ‗creative, poetic expression and idea‘ which are typical of literature in a way that they are non-literal and figurative uses of languages

The idea that metaphors are only used and considered ‗as a mere ornament or embellishment‘ is also shared by a number of previous language researchers (Cassirer, 1946)

Likewise, from his study in both Vietnamese and English discourse,

Đỗ Hữu Châu (1966) mentions the traditional view on metaphor that

‗Metaphor is the transference of meaning (name) from one object to another, based on similarity between two objects.‘ Accordingly, the resemblance of two objects makes a great contribution to the comprehension of metaphorical meaning Metaphor may never be feasible

to function without the similarity among objects under human observation Lakoff (1980), who is among influential cognitive linguists, admit that traditionally and ‗for most people‘, metaphor is ‗a device of poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish.‘ That is to say, metaphor is conventionally considered to be a matter of ‗extraordinary language rather than ordinary language.‘

All in all, it can be seen that most tradition views on metaphors center around the following points Firstly, metaphor is a figurative usage

of speech which can be frequently found in literature although quite

limited in everyday communication Second, metaphor functions properly thanks to the similarity among objects under the figuration of writers That

is to say, metaphors have been isolated from daily use of language, and the cognitive mechanism for the receivers of the massage to understand the underlining meaning of metaphor has been ignored

1.2.2 Conceptual metaphors under the light of cognitive linguistics

1.2.2.1 Definition of conceptual metaphors

Since it was first introduced in the 1970s, cognitive linguistics has provided a new approach to the study of metaphors with valuable findings Lakoff (1987, 2003) has found that, on the contrary to the view held by most people, ‗metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action.‘ Accordingly, metaphor is actually metaphoric concept; our conceptual system, in terms of what we think or act, is basically metaphorical in nature To be more specific, conceptual metaphor (or cognitive metaphor) in cognitive linguistics refers to the understanding of one conceptual domain (target) in terms of another domain (source domain) On other words, the abstract domain is interpreted or conceptualized by a more concrete source domain

Lakoff and his colleagues (1987, 1980, 1999) make a number of specific claims about conceptual metaphors One important among which

is that conceptual metaphors usually build a linkage between a concrete domain and an abstract domain in such a way that the former normally gives metaphorical structure to the latter A similar perspective is shared

by Barceloiia (2000:3) who believes that ―metaphor is the cognitive mechanism whereby one experiential domain is partially ―mapped‖, i.e projected onto a different experiential domain so that the second

domain is partially understood in terms of another experiential domain‖ Similarly, Radden (2007) use difference words to the so-called

―experiential domain‖ He defines conceptual metaphor as "a means of understanding abstract domains by relating them to better-known domains and experiences in the physical world"

In Vietnam, Trần Văn Cơ (2009,86-87) explains that conceptual metaphor is viewed as when we think one object in terms of another one Thereby, in the process of normal perception, complex and abstract notions, through metaphor, establish a correlation with more concrete or observable notions

By studying various definitions of conceptual metaphors under the light of cognitive linguistics, some of the following points should be agreed upon: firstly, conceptual metaphor is a matter of ordinary use of language that can be noticed in every case of communication; Second, conceptual metaphor functions properly thanks to the association of target domain (which is supposed to be abstract) with source domain (which is supposed to be concrete); Thirdly, conceptual metaphor plays a vital role

in the human‘s process of understanding phenomenon in the world, without which the human being‘s exploration of the world will be considerably limited

1.2.2.2 Analysis conceptual metaphors

Source domain and Target domain

Croft (2004) studying Lakoff and Johnson‘s theory of metaphor suggests that the metaphor should not be treated as an attribute of individual linguistic expressions and their meanings, but of whole conceptual domains He defines source domain as ‗the domain supporting the literal meaning of the expression‘, and target domain as ‗the domain

which the sentence is actually about‘ In principle, any concept from the source domain can be used to describe a concept in the target domain Similarly, according to Knowles and Moon (2005), it must be noted

that conceptual metaphors equate two concept areas The term source

domain is used for the concept area from which the metaphor is drawn Target domain is used for the concept area to which the metaphor is

applied

As in the following statements:

Your claims are indefensible

He attacked every weak point in my argument His criticism were right on the target

I demolished his argument I‘ve never won an argument with him You disagree? Ok! Shoot!

He shot down all of my argument.

WAR is the source domain, and ARGUMENT is the target domain

in the metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR

Mappings

Lakoff and Johnson use a formula A (target domain) IS B (source domain) to describe the metaphorical link between the two domains Conceptual metaphor theory sees the connection between concept areas in

terms of correspondences or mappings between elements within source

and target domain (Knowles, M and Moon, R., 2005) A typical feature in the concept area or source domain responds to or maps onto one typical feature in the target domain A metaphor is therefore a conceptual mapping between two domains However, it should be noted that not all

aspects of a source necessarily map onto the target since some mappings

are much more extensive than others

The mapping between source and target domains involves two sorts

of correspondences, epistemic and ontological

Ontological correspondences: relations between elements of one

domain and elements of the other domain

suppress anger

Epistemic correspondences demonstrate relations holding between

elements in one domain and relations between elements in the other

domain

When fluid in a container is heated beyond a certain limit, pressure increases to point at which container explodes

When anger increases beyond

a certain

An explosion is damaging to container and dangerous to bystanders

Loss of control is damaging to person and dangerous to others

Explosion can be prevented by applying sufficient force and counter-pressure

Anger can be suppressed by force of will

Controlled release of pressure

danger of explosion

Anger can be released in a controlled way, or vented harmlessness, thus reducing level

It should also be noted that correspondences, or mapping, between two domains are presented in conceptual system, and therefore are fully conventionalized among members of a speech community That is also a requirement for a conceptual metaphor to function properly

1.2.2.3 Classification of conceptual metaphors

In the 1980 edition of Metaphor We Like By, Lakoff G and Johnson

G identify three categories of conceptual metaphors, including structural,

orientational, ontological

Firstly, structural metaphors are ―cases where one concept is

metaphorically structured in terms of another.‖ Therefore, framework for

target domains is provided by source domain These frameworks determine the way we talk about entities and activities which the target domains refer to (Knowles, M and Moon, R., 2005)

The conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT is WAR is an example of structural metaphor It builds a framework in which one aspect in the domain of ARGUMENT can be conceptualized by one in the domain of WAR

Secondly, orientational metaphor, according to Lakoff and Johnson

(1980/2003:14), ‗organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another.‘ It is typically involves ‗an orientional or spatial concept of some

kinds, such as up/down and in/ out’ (Knowles, M and Moon, R., 2005),

for example:

HAPPY IS UP/ SAD IS DOWN HEALTH IS UP/ WEAKNESS IS DOWN MORE IS UP/ LESS IS DOWN

Lakoff and Johnson give these examples for MORE IS UP/ LESS IS DOWN

The number of books printed each year keeps going up

My income rose last night

The number of errors he made is incredibly low

If you‘re too hot, turn the heat down

Study of orientational metaphors suggests that many of these

metaphors are universal rather than culture-specific (Knowles, M & Moon, R., 2005) That is to say, this linguistic phenomenon can be observed in a variety of languages

Finally, ontological metaphors allow us to conceptualize and talk

about things, experiences, and processes (Lakoff 1980, 2003; Knowles, M

& Moon, R., 2005) Ontological metaphors arise from our experiences

with physical objects (especially our own bodies), and it provides ways of viewing events, activities, emotions, ideas, etc., as entities and substances Ontological metaphor can be illustrated in the INFLATION IS AN ENTITY metaphor (Lakof, 1980), in which inflation is treated as a human with actions and feelings:

Inflation is lowering our standard of living

Inflation is eating up our profit

Inflation makes me sick

Knowles, M and Moon, R (2005) admit that there are overlaps between these three categories Structural metaphors and orientatioal metaphors may have ontological functions, while ontological metaphor relies on having structured source domain

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Study on conceptual metaphors

From the foundation laid by cognitive linguists mentioned in the previous part, a huge amount of research has been conducted with encouraging achievement This part of the paper is to provide a critical review on previous research of conceptual metaphors in several different contexts, together with achievements in the study of conceptual metaphor

in economic newspapers

Phan Thế Hưng (2012) has been successful in identify 13 common source domains and 11 common target domains with specific illustrations Common sources domains include:

o Human body

o Health and disease

o Animals

o Plants

o Houses and construction

o Machines and tools

o Games and sports

o Money and trade transactions

o Cooking and food

o Hot and cold (temperature)

o Light and darkness

o Force and strength

Common target domains include:

o Death and life

o Events and actions

As for him, the identification of such common source and target domains has a big implication for students and other researchers in the field of conceptual metaphors Firstly, with specific examples and a detailed list, the writer definitely facilitates others‘ understanding of conceptual metaphors and its distinction from linguistic metaphors Secondly, it functions as a guideline for other researchers to a potential field for their cultivation In fact, many researchers may find some ideas for their work when studying this list of common domains

However, the research also poses some questions to other linguistics researchers Firstly, when it comes to a specific context, is the list still the same? It is assumable that the common domains used in the context of economy may be different from ones applied in literature, for example Furthermore, there is also a doubt that whether the list completely covers all domains used in a specific context That is to say, it is highly possible

that the list of common domains in various contexts can, to some extent, vary Thirdly, it is likely that less common domains should also be studied since they may somehow affect the comprehension of the message Those questions definitely lead to further study on the topic of conceptual metaphor

Nguyễn Thị Bích Hạnh (2014) also conducts research on Trịnh Công Sơn‘s songs In particular, the researcher investigates the use of two kinds

of conceptual metaphor: structural and orientational metaphors (UP/DOWN) What is encouraging from the research is that the writer looks into a rather new research objective Conceptual metaphors in music and song lyrics have not been often studied previously, and this greatly consolidates the prevailing of conceptual metaphors in various fields Another success of the writer is to contribute to the analysis of conceptual metaphors in Vietnamese

Issac Machakanja (2006) also makes a comparison between English and Shona in terms of conceptual metaphors The value of the research lies

in the collaborate description of container metaphors, in which activities,

states, and events have been recognized as the most common source

domains

A number of other researchers studying conceptual metaphors should

be credited Nguyễn Thị Thanh Bình (2012) explores conceptual metaphors in the Declaration of Independence of the US presidents Trần Thị Minh Yến (2014) particularly looks at conceptual metaphors denoting

―anger‖ in the daily star.co.uk In comparison between Vietnamese and English, Lưu Thị Hải Vân (2012) conducts a contrastive analysis of the metaphor ―ANGER IS HEAT.‖

All the research reviewed above is to prove the nature of conceptual metaphor, which is a matter of ordinary language that can be found in every language with its value in conceptualizing and facilitating the process people perceive the world

In fact, there have been a great number of linguistics researchers trying to answer the questions mentioned above

Similarly, during the last few decades, study on conceptual metaphors in different languages and in different fields has been prosperous

2.2 Study on conceptual metaphor in economic discourse

In the field of economy and economic reports, study of conceptual metaphor is not a new trend Their research has been carried out in different languages and in various contexts Fahad (2007) conducts a comparative study of metaphor in Arabic and English Analyzing mostly students‘ writing and conversation meetings, the author has identified two most popular conceptual metaphors: LIFE IS A JOURNEY and TIME IS COMMODITY Admittedly, the research has made some contributions to proving the power of conceptual metaphors in the use of language and in the context of business writing In addition, his research has an essential implication when it comes to business writing teaching

With regards to the topic discussed in this paper, conceptual metaphors in economical reports, a number of researches on the same topic have been collected and studied Internationally, Silva Bratoz (2004) conducts a comparative study of conceptual metaphor in English and Slovene popular economic discourse The research identifies that the two languages share the same conceptualizations of the economy as an

organism and downward market movements as natural disasters However, the study of common domains and the value of conceptual metaphors in communication tend to be ignored

With a view to shedding light on the use of conceptual metaphors in popular economic discourse, Eva Kovacz (2000) has been successful in identifying five major conceptual metaphors:

o BUSINESS/ECONOMY IS A HUMAN BEING

o BUSINESS IS WAR

o BUSINESS IS A GAME AND A SPORT

o BUSINESS IS MARRIAGE

o BUSINESS IS ACTING IN A THEATER/ CONCERT

The writer provides a careful analysis of each conceptual metaphor, which is definitely to lay a foundation for further study on the same field However, the frequency of each conceptual metaphors is not mentioned in the study

Vương Thị Kim Thanh (2011) does a survey on conceptual metaphor

in economic report titles in Vietnamese, which analyses two conceptual metaphors MARKET IS WAR and MARKET IS WEATHER The research has made some contributions in that it proves the existence of conceptual metaphors in economic discourse However, the number of conceptual metaphors noted in the research is still limited

Likewise, Hồ Thị Hải Yến (2014) also examines conceptual metaphors denoting ―ECONOMY‘ as ―HUMAN BODY‖ in New York Times This paper particularly looks at a specific conceptual metaphor That is to say, it is likely that a number of other conceptual metaphors have been ignored in the research

Phạm Thị Hằng (2012) also analyses the use of conceptual metaphors in advertising slogans of several cell phone brands Mostly, the research aims at providing a classification of conceptual metaphors in advertising slogans Hence, a comprehensive look into the use of source domains is still questioned after the research

It can be inferred from the study of conceptual metaphors mentioned above that conceptual metaphor research in economy and newspaper discourse is not a new trend in linguistics However, most previous study has a tendency to focus on several specific domains That is to say, it is still an open question that what domains are commonly used when it comes to economic articles Furthermore, the value added to the discourse has not been investigated in this context To answer these questions is necessary since they have a big implication for not only translators but only teachers and students of English

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research questions

From the analysis of previous research, it can be suggested that conceptual metaphors play an indispensible roles in language The theoretical background also poses several questions for other research to

be done

In this paper, the writer has a particular look at the discourse of economic reports in New York Times in his attempt to answer the following questions:

Question 1: How frequently is conceptual metaphor exploited in economic

reports in The New York Times?

Question 2: What are the most frequently used source domains used to

conceptualize the target domain of economy?

Question 3: What is the value that metaphors used in economic reports in

The New York Times adding to the reports?

Firstly, the writer attempts to find out the frequency of conceptual metaphors in economic reports This is an effort to prove the overwhelming of conceptual metaphors in a specific context, economic reports in New York Times Secondly, the writer attempts to identify the most commonly used source domains among the conceptual metaphors specified in the first research question Finally, the writer continues to discuss the value that conceptual metaphors bring to the language and the process of communication

3.2 Research methodology

To find out the answer to three questions suggested in the previous part, a process involving data collection and data analysis has been conducted, which is collaborated as follows

3.2.1 Data and data collection

3.2.1.1 The New York Times

The New York Times (sometimes abbreviated to NYT) is an

American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18, 1851, by The New York Times

Company The New York Times has won 117 Pulitzer Prizes, more than

any other news organization

In 2015, With more than 1 million digital-only subscribers and 1.1 million print-and-digital subscribers, the Times says it has more subscribers than ever before in its 164-year history With a huge number of subscribers, the New York Times proves itself one of the noticeable representatives of language used in media That is also the reason for the writer to choose economic reports on this newspaper as objective of the research

The newspaper is organized in three sections, including:

 News: Includes International, National, Washington, Business and Economy, Technology, Science, Health, Sports, The Metro Section, Education, Weather, and Obituaries

 Opinion: Includes Editorials, Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor

 Features: Includes Arts, Movies, Theater, Travel, NYC Guide,

Food, Home & Garden, Fashion & Style, Crossword, The New

York Times Book Review, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and Sunday Review

3.2.2 Data collection

Considered to be good representatives of language used in media discourse, 40 economic reports are chosen from www.nytimes.comdated from 2013 to 2014 Firstly, the choice of these 40 reports is totally random among the reports of 300 to 2000 words Therefore, totally 38.658 words will be analyzed in this research The number is believed to be adequate for most conceptual metaphors to be covered Secondly, all the reports are from online-sources because of its accessibility and the fact that there is little difference between digital and print reports in terms of language

3.2.3 Data analysis

The process of collected data is fundamentally based on some of the following methods:

 Critical metaphor analysis (CMA)

This method analyses the language including an extensive variety of discourses in its natural use It excludes any linguistic phenomenon created for a specific model, and the data collected must be representative The process of CMA undergoes three stages: identification, comprehension, and explanation (Phan Thế Hưng, 2012)

Firstly, the first stage of identification of conceptual metaphors undergoes two main steps: (1) reading the text carefully and notice potential metaphors under given characteristics, (2) studying the context to decide whether the metaphors have a ordinary of a metaphoric conceptualization

Secondly, the comprehension of metaphors involves the establishment of the relationship between the metaphors and other cognitive elements in the metaphors

Thirdly, the explanation of metaphors involves the realization of elements of society, culture, emotion, and even the embodiment of creating and using conceptual metaphors

 Quantitative research

In the research, the writer will determine the total number of metaphors used in the collected materials After that, calculation will be carried out to determine how many conceptual metaphors are used in an average article, and the density of conceptual metaphors in consideration with the length of collected articles can be figured out This attempt is to evaluate the frequency of conceptual metaphors in economic discourses

In the next step, the specified metaphors will be grouped together based on the same domains they belong to This is to decide the frequency

of source domains and to find out the most popular domains applied in this kind of discourse The less common domains can also be noted

 Qualitative research

Qualitative research is conducted in this research when the writer strives to analyze the contribution of conceptual metaphors in the text To decide the value that metaphor brings to the communication process, the writer tries substituting the metaphorical expression with a different non-metaphorical one with the same meaning Then the difference will be noted to determine the functions of conceptual metaphors

 Direct interview

With a view to clarifying the values added by the use of conceptual metaphors, the writer conducts a survey which includes pairs of sentences, one with metaphorical expressions and the other without those expressions After that, the interviewees are asked to explain their choice, which is to identify the difference between sentences

3.3 Research procedures

The research is conducted through the four distinct stages

 Stage 1: collecting data

40 reports and articles are randomly collected from the website www.nytimes.com as long as it meets three requirements: (1) the text is from 300 to 2000 words long; (2) it is from the sections of business news; (3) it was published between 2013 and 2014

 Stage 2: identifying metaphors

The writer will study the text carefully and notice all metaphors in the collected texts

 Stage 3: figuring out the frequency of metaphors and of each domain

From the specified metaphors, the writer bases on the number of metaphors and continues to figure out the frequency of metaphors per article/ report and the frequency of each domain in the texts by calculations

 Stage 4: figuring out the value added by conceptual metaphors

In this stage, the write conducts qualitative research to find out the significance of conceptual metaphors in the process of delivering and receiving a message in this kind of discourse

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Frequency of conceptual metaphors denoting ECONOMY in

economic reports on New York Times

This is the finding of quantitative research aimed at answering the

first research questions ―How frequently is conceptual metaphor exploited

in economic reports in The New York Times?” This part of the paper will

present the figures relating to the frequency of conceptual metaphors denoting the target domain of ECONOMY in the titles and the main contents of 40 collected corpus

4.1.1 Frequency of conceptual metaphors denoting ECONOMY in titles

of economic reports on New York Times

After the investigation of the titles of totally 40 corpus, the researcher finds out that conceptual metaphors are inevitable even only when it comes to the title of a single report

The table below is an illustration of the number of titles with metaphors denoting the target domain ECONOMY in comparison with the number of titles without the application of conceptual metaphors

Number of titles Percentage

Titles with conceptual metaphors 26 65%

Title without conceptual metaphors 14 35%

Table 2: The number of titles with conceptual metaphors

As can be seen from the table above, the titles with linguistic metaphors identified in the collected economic reports accounts for 65%.Therefore, it can be concluded that conceptual metaphors denoting ECONOMY is preferentially used among titles of economic reports in The New York Times

The conceptual metaphors used in the titles cover a variety of source domains Below are several examples of conceptual metaphors:

- ECONOMY IS A WAR/

After Years of Battling, Bank of America and MBIA Settle

Mortgage Dispute [3]

- ECONOMY IS A GAME/ SPORT

Yahoo Rolls the Dice on TV [34]

- ECONOMY IS A RIVER/ LAKE/ STREAM

Hasty Arrangements in Depths of Crisis Return to Haunt Chrysler