Metaphor identification and its application to real-world discourse

Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) observation that metaphor is a central aspect of our daily lives, both in metaphor and thought, sparked off a ‘metaphormania’ in the fields of psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and other disciplines. 

This growing interest in metaphor has - especially in recent years - led to a focus on increased methodological rigor when it comes to metaphor identification, in the goal of producing reliable, replicable and theoretically valid research.

This talk introduces the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit (MIPVU), the protocol that currently offers the most thorough and well-tested guidelines for the manual identification of linguistic metaphor (see Steen et al., 2010; Nacey et al., 2019). 

After a brief introduction to the procedure, the talk moves on to discuss three recent projects involving various ways of applying the results of MIPVU analysis to different types of real-world discourse:

1. Metaphors about relationship abuse, investigating metaphorical analogies in an online discussion forum for abuse survivors (Nacey, 2020);
2. Learner translation of metaphor, exploring metaphor translation strategies of student translators (Nacey & Skogmo, 2021);
3. Metaphors about the doctoral education trajectory, analyzing linguistic metaphors in doctoral dissertation acknowledgments (Nacey, 2022).

References

• Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
• Nacey, S. (2022). Systematic Metaphors in Norwegian Doctoral Dissertation Acknowledgements. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2022.2042847
• Nacey, S. (2020). Figurative production in a computer-mediated discussion forum: Metaphors about relationship abuse. In A. Gargett & J. Barnden (Eds.), Producing Figurative Expression: Theoretical, Experimental and Practical Perspectives (pp. 363-388). John Benjamins.
• Nacey, S., Dorst, A. G., Krennmayr, T., & Reijnierse, W. G. (Eds.). (2019). Metaphor identification in multiple languages: MIPVU around the world. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Nacey, S. & Skogmo, S. F. (2021). Learner translation of metaphor: Smooth sailing? Metaphor and the Social World, 11(2)., pp. 212-234.
• Steen, G. J., Dorst, A. G., Herrmann, J. B., Kaal, A. A., Krennmayr, T., & Pasma, T. (2010). A method for linguistic metaphor identification: From MIP to MIPVU. John Benjamins.

Bio: Susan Nacey is a professor of linguistics and currently Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Education at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences. She researches metaphor and other features in a wide variety of text types in English and Norwegian, especially in written and spoken learner language. She is the author of ‘Metaphors in learner English’ (John Benjamins, 2013) and the co-editor of ‘Metaphor identification in multiple languages: MIPVU around the world’ (John Benjamins, 2019). More here: Susan Nacey - Metaphor Matters (inn.no).