Understanding Metaphor through Corpora: A Case Study of Metaphors in Nineteenth Century Writing 9780815374978, 9781351241090

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Understanding Metaphor through Corpora

This book introduces a unique methodology to the study of metaphor, integrating a corpus linguistic approach to explore the lexical, grammatical, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of metaphoric instances of language. The volume questions the reliability of attempts to identify metaphor based on dichotomy and, drawing on data from a corpus of nineteenth century writing, instead advocates for the notion that metaphoricity is context-dependent and fluid, in relation to the respective social and discourse contexts in which metaphors can be found. The book also applies Lexical Priming theory to metaphoric language to suggest that our use of metaphor is due to unconscious behaviours, a counterpoint to perspectives that see metaphor use as part of the creative process. Taken as a whole, the volume calls for a deeper investigation of the complex web of meaning senses that contributes to our understanding of metaphor, making this key reading for students and researchers in corpus linguistics, metaphor studies, lexicography, semantics and pragmatics. Katie J. Patterson has taught at the University of Liverpool, U.K., the University of Eastern Finland, and Universidad Austral de Chile.

Routledge Advances in Corpus Linguistics Edited by Tony McEnery, Lancaster University, UK and Michael Hoey, Liverpool University, UK

Corpus Approaches to Evaluation Susan Hunston Corpus Stylistics and Dickens’s Fiction Michaela Mahlberg Spoken Corpus Linguistics From Monomodal to Multimodal Svenja Adolphs and Ronald Carter Digital Literary Studies Corpus Approaches to Poetry, Prose, and Drama David L. Hoover, Jonathan Culpeper, and Kieran O’Halloran Triangulating Methodological Approaches in Corpus Linguistics Research Edited by Paul Baker and Jesse Egbert The Language of Hate A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of White Supremacist Language Andrew Brindle Metaphor, Cancer and the End of Life A Corpus-Based Study Elena Semino, Zsófia Demjén, Andrew Hardie, Sheila Payne and Paul Rayson Understanding Metaphor through Corpora A Case Study of Metaphors in Nineteenth Century Writing Katie J. Patterson For more information on this series, please visit www.routledge.com

Understanding Metaphor through Corpora A Case Study of Metaphors in Nineteenth Century Writing Katie J. Patterson

First published 2018 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Taylor & Francis The right of Katie J. Patterson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-0-8153-7497-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-351-24109-0 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC

For Michael and my Mum

Contents

List of Figuresviii List of Tablesxi Acknowledgementsxiv 1 Introduction

1

2 Metaphor: Theories and Approaches

10

3 A New Theory for Metaphor

43

4 Corpus Methodologies and Metaphor

57

5 Metaphor and Conventionality Part I: Semantic Evidence of Priming

74

6 Metaphor and Conventionality: Structural Evidence of Priming

126

7 Metaphor and Other Forms of Creativity: Polysemy, Simile, Metonymy and Their Relationship to Metaphor

169

8 Conclusion

210

Index217

Figures

Chapter 3 3.1 Illustration of the primings involved in the communication process

49

Chapter 5 5.1

Selection of well cultivated occurrences in nonmetaphoric dataset 83 5.2 All instances of beautiful collocating with cultivated in metaphoric dataset (within 5-item span) 84 5.3 All instances of beautiful collocating with cultivated in non-metaphoric dataset (within 5-item span) 84 5.4 All instances of he collocating with cultivated in metaphoric dataset (within 5-item span) 86 5.5 All instances of breast + prepositional phrase + flame in metaphoric dataset 91 5.6 All instances of moment collocating with flame in the non-metaphoric dataset 94 5.7 All instances of kindled collocating with flame in metaphoric dataset 95 5.8 All instances of fan* collocating with flame in nonmetaphoric dataset 96 5.9 Verb + the flame in metaphoric dataset 97 5.10 All instances of burst collocating with flame in metaphoric dataset 97 5.11 All instances of burst collocating with flame in nonmetaphoric dataset 98 5.12 All occurrences of old flame in metaphoric dataset 100 5.13 Selection of face grew occurrences in metaphoric dataset 112 5.14 Selection of eyes grew occurrences in metaphoric dataset 113 5.15 Selection of voice grew occurrences in metaphoric dataset 114 5.16 Selection of heart grew occurrences in metaphoric dataset114

Figures ix 5.17 Selection of day grew occurrences in metaphoric dataset 5.18 Selection of red collocating with grew in metaphoric dataset (within 5-item span) 5.19 All instances of grew hot in metaphoric dataset

115 118 120

Chapter 6 6.1

Selection of cultivated X and in non-metaphoric (adj.) dataset127 6.2 Selection of and cultivated occurrences in metaphoric dataset128 6.3 Selection of and X cultivated occurrences in nonmetaphoric dataset 129 6.4 Selection of a cultivated occurrences in metaphoric dataset 130 6.5 Selection of and X cultivated occurrences in metaphoric dataset131 6.6 Selection of and X cultivated occurrences in nonmetaphoric dataset 131 6.7 Selection of cultivated X in occurrences in nonmetaphoric dataset 132 6.8 All instances of in in L2 position in metaphoric dataset 132 6.9 All instances of in in L3 position in metaphoric dataset 133 6.10 All instances of cultivated X which occurrences in nonmetaphoric dataset 137 6.11 Selection of flame of + noun occurrences in metaphoric dataset139 6.12 All occurrences of his X flame in metaphoric dataset 141 6.13 All occurrences of in a flame cluster in metaphoric dataset 142 6.14 All occurrences of into a flame in metaphoric dataset 143 6.15 All occurrences of smoke and flame in non-metaphoric dataset144 6.16 All occurrences of fire and flame cluster in nonmetaphoric dataset 145 6.17 All occurrences of in a flame cluster in non-metaphoric dataset146 6.18 As soon as clusters in metaphoric dataset 150 6.19 Selection of grew up occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset 150 6.20 Selection of grew more occurrences in metaphoric dataset 151 6.21 Selection of grew more and more + adj. in metaphoric dataset152 6.22 All instances of grew less in metaphoric dataset 154 6.23 All instances of grew less and less in metaphoric dataset 154 6.24 Selection of which grew occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset158

x  Figures 6.25 Selection of that grew occurrences in non-metaphoric dataset159 6.26 Selection of which grew occurrences in metaphoric dataset 160 6.27 All instances of grew and grew in metaphoric dataset 162 6.28 Selection of grew out of occurrences in metaphoric dataset 163 6.29 All instances of grew up to be in non-metaphoric dataset 165

Chapter 7 7.1 All instances of in a flame occurrences in middle group data 173 7.2 All instances of into a flame occurrences in middle group data 175 7.3 List of animate adjectives associated with flame in the middle dataset 178 7.4 Selection of *ing flame occurrences in middle group dataset 179 7.5 List of animate verbs (base form) in middle group dataset where flame is object 182 7.6 Instances of feed, grow, nourish and revive occurring alongside flame in middle group dataset 183 7.7 List of animate verbs (base form) in middle group dataset where flame is subject 184 7.8 Noun modifiers associated with of flame in middle group dataset185 7.9 All occurrences of tongue/s of flame in middle group dataset 186 7.10 All occurrences of jet/s of flame in middle group dataset 187 7.11 Semantic set where flame = sun in middle group dataset 189 7.12 All occurrences of grew displaying metonymy (concrete) 194 in middle group data 7.13 All occurrences of metonymy (abstract) in middle group data 195 7.14 All occurrences of grew into in middle group data 196 7.15 All occurrences of grew to in middle group data 196 7.16 Grew displaying positive/additive physical growth (middle group data) 198 7.17 Grew displaying negative physical growth (middle group data) 200 7.18 Selection of grew old occurrences in middle group data 202 7.19 Selection of grew (X) older occurrences in middle 203 group data 7.20 Grew as become in a selection of middle group data 204

Tables

Chapter 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

Number of texts and token size of each sub-corpus Number of texts and token size of non-fiction subsections Frequency of item and token size as a single corpus Frequency of items assigned to each group (metaphoric, non-metaphoric, and unassigned) 4.5 Token size for metaphoric and non-metaphoric corpora for each item

61 61 63 65 66

Chapter 5 5.1 Keywords in metaphoric (adj.) dataset compared to nonmetaphoric (adj.) dataset 76 5.2 Keywords in non-metaphoric (adj.) dataset compared to metaphoric (adj.) dataset 76 5.3 Keywords with a log likelihood scores of 5 or above 77 5.4 Noun collocates of cultivated (adj.) in metaphoric dataset (minimum freq. 5) 78 5.5 Noun collocates of cultivated (adj.) in non-metaphoric dataset (minimum freq. 5) 79 5.6 Adverb/adjective collocates of cultivated (adj.) in metaphoric dataset 81 5.7 Adverb/adjective collocates of cultivated (adj.) in nonmetaphoric dataset 81 5.8 Log likelihood scores for highly and most84 5.9 Personal pronoun collocates of cultivated in both datasets 85 5.10 Keywords in metaphoric dataset 89 5.11 Keyness of the when both datasets are compared to the full nineteenth century corpus 89 5.12 Keywords in non-metaphoric dataset 90 5.13 Noun collocates in metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 5) 90

xii  Tables 5.14 Abstract nouns in metaphoric dataset (occurring twice or more) 92 5.15 Noun collocates in non-metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 5) 93 5.16 Lexical verb collocates in metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 5) 95 5.17 Lexical verb collocates in non-metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 5) 97 5.18 Flame clusters with a verb in non-metaphoric dataset 98 5.19 Adjective collocates in metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 5) 99 5.20 Adjective collocates in non-metaphoric dataset (minimum frequency of 5) 101 5.21 Personal pronoun collocates in both datasets (minimum frequency of 5) 102 5.22 Pronoun collocates with a change in frequency once old flame collocates are removed 103 5.23 Possessive + flame in metaphoric dataset 104 5.24 Semantic associations of flame in non-metaphoric dataset 105 5.25 Semantic associations of flame in metaphoric dataset 105 5.26 A comparison of semantic associations reflected through collocates of flame in both datasets 106 5.27 List of metaphoric keywords (when compared to nonmetaphoric corpus) 108 5.28 List of non-metaphoric keywords (when compared to metaphoric corpus) 108 5.29 Noun collocates for metaphoric dataset (minimum freq. 0.5‰) 110 5.30 Noun collocates for non-metaphoric dataset (minimum freq. 0.5‰) 111 5.31 Adjectival collocates in metaphoric dataset (minimum freq. 0.5‰) 116 5.32 Adjectival collocates in non-metaphoric dataset (minimum freq. 0.5‰) 117 5.33 Adjectival collocates in metaphoric dataset with a fixedness over 90% or higher 119 5.34 Adjectival collocates in non-metaphoric dataset with a fixedness of 90% or higher 119 5.35 Personal pronoun collocates in metaphoric dataset 121 5.36 Personal pronoun collocates in non-metaphoric dataset 122 5.37 List of nominal/pronominal subjects in each dataset (within 5-word window of grew)123

Tables xiii

Chapter 6 6.1 Ten most frequent collocates in metaphoric and nonmetaphoric datasets 127 6.2 Ten most frequent collocates of cultivated with Log likelihood score of