What is metaphor and why does it matter?

Lynne Cameron
The Metaphor Network

MetNet

What is metaphor?
A device for seeing something in terms of something else (Burke, 1945, p.503)

Metaphor is
linguistic cognitive affective socio-cultural

Metaphor is linguistic
Linguistic metaphor is the use of a word or phrase that brings (or could bring) some other meaning to the contextual meaning.
potential, not necessarily active conventionalised as well as novel or deliberate weak as well as strong

The word or phrase that brings the other meaning is the metaphor Vehicle.

Language
+ gesture spoken discourse the production and interpretation of metaphors in the dynamics of talk written discourse the use of metaphors by the writer and interpretation by readers

Metaphor is cognitive
Conceptual metaphor is a cross-domain mapping in the conceptual system (Lakoff, 1993, p.203) Everyday language reveals systems of metaphorical mappings.

Metaphor is affective
The Vehicle terms of linguistic metaphors often carry evaluations, attitudes, values, beliefs, perspectives. Im going to give you a little bit of information. Were going to look at

Metaphor is socio-cultural
as well as individual group metaphors: porridge, screws speech communities:
I hear what you say I see what you mean

Metaphor offers a tool for understanding people

Metaphor connects language and thinking. Linguistic metaphors in dialogue indicate socio-cultural conventions and speakers attitudes and values. As text and talk proceed, metaphors are selected, adapted, shifted.

An example of metaphor analysis

The Discourse Dynamics of Metaphor in Conciliation Talk

Research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board

Pat Magee & Jo Berry, 2000

The Grand Hotel, Brighton, 1984

The discourse dynamics of metaphor

a search for patterns of metaphor use across discourse events is combined with close investigation of the negotiation of metaphors between speakers at the moment of use

Procedure (i)
Identification of linguistic metaphors

aggregation into semanticallyconnected groups systematic metaphors

analysis of discourse action, discourse topics and themes

Procedure (ii)
Identification of linguistic metaphors

analysis of distribution of metaphors across talk or text metaphor clusters

analysis of discourse action, discourse topics and themes

Starting Points:

Pat

at the beginning as a republican I felt obliged as a republican to sit down and talk about that and against the backdrop of the political reasons given a platform for a republican message that had been censored for decades so when offered an opportunity to sit down and talk about what motivated you then you should avail of that so thats the way I walked into it

Starting Points:

but as I said when you meet somebody

whos so open
to understanding your perspective then youre obliged to somehow reciprocate

Starting Points:

in er, the first few days after the bomb just thinking if only I could bring something positive out of this and feeling very strongly that my father was killed because he was part of a conflict

Jo

and it was a conflict which I was suddenly emotionally involved in

and I realised I wanted to hear Pats story

Starting Points

because I believe that if anyone opens up and shares their story

ehm
its very hard to hate and my idea of Pat was of someone without much humanity and I wanted to meet him and hear his story and discover his humanity later on also came the idea that I wanted him to hear my story

Research question
How does metaphor contribute to the process of reconciliation? Data and evidence
Global metaphor use
systematic use of metaphors metaphor clusters and absences

Local metaphor use

how speakers use and negotiate metaphors

Metaphors

Alterity

Discourse topics

time

To A

Identifying clusters of metaphors

time Using statistical analysis and visual display (reported in Cameron & Stelma, 2004, Journal of Applied Linguistics).

Cluster

Identifying clusters

Example cluster
Pat ...(1.0) got a distorted picture of me. perhaps, I don't know. .. I don't know. .. I think maybe they were just thinking, they wouldn't see a need to meet any of their victims. yeah yeah .. and so they ... therefore couldn't see why you would. [hmh] [and] I think it was more like that. ... hmh and they could see, ... how from my healing journey, if I could build a bridge with you, that would ...(1.0) help me. but they couldn't see -... perhaps there was even a need for a journey.

Jo Pat Jo Pat Jo Pat Jo

When clusters occur

doing intensive interactional work often difficult interpersonally:
explaining ones point of view to the Other
expressing emotional pain; explaining something the Other would find painful e.g. why Jos father was a target

discourse management
getting the talk started finding a new topic

Using clusters in analysis

Metaphor clusters offer a way to slice the data.
Find clusters and look inside them.

Important things may be happening there. Absences of metaphor occur with

talk about concrete things very significant moments, e.g. expression of raw emotion.

Metaphor Vehicles and Topics

Linguistic metaphors were grouped by Vehicle domains:

Inside these Vehicle groupings, metaphors were connected by shared Topics.

Systematic Metaphors
Systematic metaphors are connected sets of linguistic metaphors used around a single Topic across a discourse event. . the first conciliation meeting is a stage on a
journey
.. there's been a long long .. 16 years of [getting to this point]. .. the end of that journey, would be, .. sitting down and, ... talking to the people who did it.

More examples

coming to terms with responsibility is a journey

something I have to go through.

... and how you ... come to terms with that,

coming to terms with responsibility is physical injury

it's such a painful thing to carry.

it pains me to say that to you.

Top 10 systematic metaphors

Major systematic metaphors used to frame reconciliation

JOURNEYS
bring something positive out of this

CONNECTION
I was crying in a desert

SEEING MORE CLEARLY

its never the whole picture

LISTENING TO A STORY
I wanted to hear his story

Understanding the Other requires connection

building bridges breaking down barriers being open

building bridges
Pat ... (1.0) in the er -the journey, ...(1.0) coming ... to a bridge,/ ... you [know]. [hmh] ... with two ends, all those bridges are there to be built

Jo Pat Pat

connection and separation

Jo .. and it felt like my heart was broken, ... through the conflict. ...(1.0) and, ... the suffering was .. my suffering. I couldn't separate it. I couldn't be detached anymore. hmh .. and that -...(1.0) that um, .. that pain, that loss, ... was shared by, .. by everyone.

Pat Jo

The removal of barriers allows connection

Jo <X where X> victims of all sides have been meeting, .. and -er, ... (1.0) that is just about, ... er, .. br- breaking down barriers, sharing stories, and -hmh ... and through .. experiencing each other's stories, hmh ... there's a real feeling of, closeness and humanity of everyone,

Pat Jo Pat Jo

...

(re)conciliation happens through listening to the Others story

Pat but you are also, and I find you very open. ... to my story. where I -.. er, ... I feel there is more to me than just a perpetrator. ...(1.0) and er, ...(1.0) I suppose, ...(1.0) what we're doing here. ... is, .. exchanging our stories.

The figurative range of story

Pat ... and there are so many other stories that. Pat be open to the other persons story like six killed -people killed in one night.

Jo

you offer me the story pain of your war

The flexibility of story

Jo .. as a daughter of a conservative MP, I .. can sort of take responsibility for the -...(1.0) what the government .. didn't do. and, .. the not listening, not hearing [their story].

Local patterns of metaphor use

Challenge the others metaphor.
a bridge with two ends

Appropriate the others metaphor Vehicle for own topic.

my healing

Adapt the others metaphor.

the struggle a struggle

Use contrast metaphor to explore alternatives.

if my heart was closed

metaphor scenario construction

After the bombing, Jo Berry and Pat Magee complete separate journeys, long and on foot, until they meet face-to-face and try to connect across the gap between their experiences. Jos journey has the aim of understanding the roots of violence and is a long, uphill journey on foot, sometimes following the path of journeys made by the bombers, sometimes stopping to meet other victims. The journey out of grief becomes a healing process. Pat does not talk much about his life up between the bombing and the meeting, but speaks of an earlier journey when, as a young man, he joined the IRA and agreed to use violence

How does metaphor contribute to the process of reconciliation?

Metaphor density, compared with other types of talk.
number per 1000 words

Distribution of clusters and absences. Use of systematic metaphors by the two speakers. Changes over time in use of systematic metaphors.

How does metaphor contribute to the process of reconciliation?

It offers ways to explore alternatives to violence and revenge. It allows victim and perpetrator to explain their feelings to the Other, and to feel empathy for the Other. It allows speakers to control and adjust the affective climate of the talk. Small acts of reconciliation e.g. allowing appropriation of metaphor, contribute to the large process.

References
Burke, K. (1945). A Grammar of Motives. New York: Prentice Hall. Cameron, L. (1999). Identifying and describing metaphor in spoken discourse data. In L. Cameron & G. Low (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 105-132). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cameron, L. (1999). Operationalising metaphor for applied linguistic research. In L. Cameron & G. Low (Eds.), Researching and Applying Metaphor (pp. 328). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cameron, L. (2003). Metaphor in Educational Discourse. London: Continuum. Cameron, L. (in press). Patterns of metaphor use in reconciliation talk. Discourse and Society. Cameron, L., & Stelma, J. (2004). Metaphor clusters in discourse. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 7-36. Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed., pp. 202-251). New York: Cambridge University Press.