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Context and Metaphorical Creativity: Application of Pressure of Coherence in Metaphor Diversity in Persian Journalistic Texts from a Cognitive-Semantic Point of View

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Document Type : Research original ,Regular Article

Abstract

Abstract
Context is considered a crucial factor in constructing metaphorical meaning in a dynamic discourse situation. Drawing on Kovecses's idea of "pressure of coherence", the current paper sets out to study the role of context in recruiting metaphorical expressions in newspaper articles and headlines. Data is gathered from newspapers and news websites in Iran, then based on Kovecses' model (2015), the kind of context that triggers metaphor is specified and the data is analyzed using the tenets of Cognitive Semantics. With regard to the research questions, the paper has come to the conclusion that novel metaphorical expressions are recruited under two kinds of pressure; namely, the pressure of context (culture, ideology, climate, geography, discourse topic, discourse elements, spatial and temporal context) and the pressure of body. Furthermore, some factors such as cultural components, body structure and invariance principle may impose constraints on the way mappings are done between domains in metaphorical expressions. Finally, priming as a cognitive process can prompt the use of particular metaphors both universally using shared bodily experiences and/or locally using unique bodily features such as physical paralysis, blindness and left-handedness.
 
Key terms: context, metaphorical creativity, pressure of coherence, journalistic texts, Cognitive Semantics
 

Introduction

In Cognitive-Semantic approach, distinctive embodied experience and differential contextual features in discourse are regarded as the main sources of metaphorical creativity in language. Kovecses (2015:5) put these two influential elements of metaphorical creativity under the cover term "pressure of coherence". When people metaphorically conceptualize a conceptual domain in a situation, they are under the “pressure of coherence” (Kovecses, 2005). What this means is that they are to obey two simultaneous pressures: the pressure that derives from the human body and the pressure of the global and local context in which the conceptualization takes place (Kovecses (2015:93). It should be mentioned that mapping of features in this kind of conceptualization is not ad hoc or arbitrary, but obeys the limitations posed by invariance principle.  Lakoff and Turner (1989: 199-204) define the invariance principle as: "Metaphorical mappings preserve the cognitive topology of the source domain, in a way consistent with the inherent structure of the target domain". Meanwhile, priming as a cognitive procedure which comes from our frequent embodied experience and everyday routines triggers the use of metaphors in discourse (Kovecses, 2015:191). In the present paper we aim to analyze Persian newspaper article and headlines based on tenets of cognitive semantics and we try to find appropriate answers for the following questions:

How does situational (physical, linguistic, cultural, social) context influence the creation of novel metaphors in Persian newspaper articles and headlines?
What roles do body and physical components play in creating metaphors in Persian newspaper articles and headlines based on the "pressure of coherence"?
How does speakers' knowledge of discourse elements influence creating novel metaphors in Persian newspaper articles and headlines?
What are the roles of priming and invariance principle in creating metaphors in Persian newspaper articles and headlines?

 

Material and Method

Drawing on Kovecses's idea of "pressure of coherence", the present paper tries to study the role of context in creating and understanding metaphorical expressions in newspaper articles and headlines. Data containing 27 headlines and news texts on economy, politics, religion and sports is collected from the newspapers and news websites. The analysis is carried out descriptively using tenets of Cognitive Semantics such as embodiment of meaning and other cognitive procedures such as priming and invariance principle.

Result and Discussion

Metaphor as a linguistic, literary and cognitive device can play a significant role in persuading people and forming axiological systems in language (Charteris-Black,2004). In the present research, we try to find how context an embodiment can play roles in recruiting metaphors in Persian newspaper articles and headlines. The main assumption in this research is that based on the relation between universal embodiment theory, differential experiences and various context, Kovecses's principle of coherence accounts for the variety of metaphorical expressions in natural discourse. To reach this aim, we made use of Cognitive-Semantic framework and cognitive procedures such as "invariance principle" and "priming". Using Kovecses's (2015) model of contextual factors in analyzing the data indicates that different contextual factors are at work when we try to produce or understand metaphorical expressions. Besides, novel metaphorical expressions are derived from the interaction between context (situational, linguistic, conceptual-cognitive and bodily context) and embodiment.

Conclusion

Regarding the research questions, the results showed that novel metaphorical expressions are formed and comprehended under two kinds of pressure: the pressure of context and the pressure of body. Besides, the way mappings are done between domains in metaphorical expressions are constrained by some factors such as cultural components, body structure and invariance principle. Finally, since human body and physical properties of human beings operate both universally and locally, priming as a cognitive process can prompt the use of particular metaphors in two different ways. For instance, when we address the shared bodily experience of human beings, body acts as an element of "pressure of coherence"(Kovecses, 2015) and triggers the production of metaphors that originate from the conceptual metaphor "society as human body" (Musolff,2019) and that are common among a large group of people. On the other hand, unique bodily features such as physical paralysis, blindness and left-handedness which are considered as individual bodily specificities can have an influence on which metaphor to be used by particular people. Therefore, it seems that the results in this article go against the traditional view that body and context are in a diametrical opposition in creating metaphorical expressions.

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Language Studies
Volume 15, Issue 1
September 2024
Pages 283-315
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