BTAN1502MA Terms and Concepts in Literary and Linguistic Studies
BTAN1200MA The English Language: The Language of Literature
Rhetoric and tropes I
1. figurative language
-image requirement
-additional naming
sea horse
in winter
leg of a table
fruitful
http://coloringpagesforkids.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/seahorse%20coloring%20pages%203.gif
(Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen 2005 Figurative Language: Cross-cultural and Cross-linguistic Perspectives)
2. literal vs figurative
2.1 meaning identity
hound (v) = to force somebody to leave a job or a place, especially by making their life difficult and
unpleasant (http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/hound_2)
2. 2 frequency of literal and figurative uses
only literal
only figurative
idea
imagine
quantity
appendicitis
hound (v)
He was hounded out of his job
imagine the maximum quantity
a storm in a teacup
button one’s lip
take umbrage
by and large (vs great oaks from
little acorns grow)
(Hanks 2006 Metaphoricity is gradable; Deignan 2005 Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics)
3.lexical and grammatical indication of figurativity
3.1
literal
figurative
a high price
at a price
half price
retail price
price of
heavy price
price to pay
(Deignan 2005 Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics)
1
3.2.
structure
literal
sense
18
6
10
6
1
6
5
7
interaction
sense
152
1
0
0
31
4
0
1
sports
sense
10
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
break the ice
break ice
break the ice + adverb particle
break ice + adverb particle
the ice is broken
the ice breaks
ice breaks
the ice breaks + adverb
particle
ice breaks + adverb particle
6
0
0
Total
65
189
12
(Moon 1998 Fixed Expressions and Idioms in English: A Corpus-Based Approach)
4. metaphor hit the ceiling
heated fluid
anger
(http://www.quesadadirectory.com/article/fried-or-boiled /
http://coursesmasters.com/online-courses-in-anger-management/)
source domain, target domain
experiential correlation, sensory-motor mapping creates similarity
mapping influences reasoning neural coactivation
highlighting and hiding
(http://www.cartoonstock.com/)
keep the wolf from the door
kill the fatted calf
Juliet is the sun
My wife whose waist is an hourglass
Lakoff and Turner 1989 More than Cool Reason
2
5. metonymic origin of metaphor: make headway
a. Hall set about inflating his life raft, and lashing it to the side of his yacht, which was making slow headway
west to rendezvous with Newcastle.
b. At the same time, the FBI team in Saudi Arabia appears to be making slow headway in its investigation of
the bombing of an American-run military training center in Riyadh on Nov. 13.
c. The reporters said Saleh's forces were pushing in tank reinforcements to the Dhalea front and appeared to
be making slow headway.
d. But its offensive against Masood's Panjsher stronghold, launched a week ago, quickly stalled after Taleban
fighters made little headway beyond two peaks, progressing only a few hundred metres (yards) down the
150 km (100 mile) valley.
6. swallow a bitter pill
DEALING WITH AN ISSUE
CONSUMPTION
accept
an unpleasant fact
swallow a bitter pill
accept
swallow
an unpleasant fact
a bitter pill
7. grasp the nettle
DEAL WITH DIFICULTIES
tackle the problem
TACKLE A DANGEROUS OBJECT
grasp
grasp
the nettle
the nettle
3
8. drag one’s feet
ACTION
delay one’s action
MOTION
drag
drag
one’s feet
delay one’s motion
one’s feet
9.Blending
(http://www.iclipart.com/search.php?keys=182916&id=104_10_3_17)
4
button one’s lip
GENERIC SPACE
CLOTHING
SPEAKING
lip
button
speaking
BLEND
button
one’s lip
MAYOR BROWN: A FOOTBALL IN HIS MOUTH
…While talking to local reporters via an electronic hookup from Paris, Brown was asked if he had found
French investors for a new 49ers stadium. Out of nowhere, he called Grbac a lot of names because of the
quarterback's mistakes in last Sunday's loss to Dallas.
What Brown didn't know was that Grbac may have been distracted because his 9-month-old son, Jack, had
just undergone an operation for spina bifida…
put one’s foot in one’s mouth ‘say something which embarrasses or offends the person you are with, and
embarrasses you as a result’
5