Release Time:2019-03-10  Hits:

Indexed by: Journal Article

Date of Publication: 2013-01-01

Journal: TEXT & TALK

Included Journals: Scopus、SSCI、A&HCI

Volume: 33

Issue: 2

Page Number: 259-288

ISSN: 1860-7330

Key Words: conceptual metaphor; economic crisis; economic discourse; metaphor model; living organism; sick organism

Abstract: In the present study a corpus-based approach is employed to compare the use of metaphor describing the global economic crisis of 2008 in the mainstream economic press in Britain and in Russia. The analysis is carried out within the framework of cognitive metaphor theory, involving a comparative study of conceptual metaphors and frequency analysis. The results indicate that a considerable similarity exists in terms of high-level conceptual metaphors, but find subtle differences in terms of frequency and linguistic expression. We particularly focus on ECONOMIC CRISIS IS A LIVING ORGANISM and ECONOMY IS A SICK ORGANISM models. The study also points at the universal and culture-specific aspects of the crisis metaphor. It is found that metaphoric expressions are more frequent in English than in Russian articles, which may be attributed to the fact that some metaphors used in Russian economic discourse have been borrowed from English by means of transliteration and have become terms; to some extent, this may also be due to differences in the writing traditions of economic articles. The pragmatic analysis shows that, in the Russian corpus, metaphors of the economic crisis bear more pragmatic force and diversity than in the English one. The results obtained may be useful for economists, financial experts, translators, journalists, and ESP learners.