Confronting Metaphor in Use: An applied linguistic approach(173 Pragmatics & Beyond New Series)

It is timely for researchers to approach metaphor as social and situated, as a matter of language and discourse, and not just as a matter of thought. Over the last twenty five years, scholars have come to appreciate in depth the cognitive, motivated and embodied nature of metaphor, but have tended to background the linguistic form of metaphor and have largely ignored how this connects to its role in the discourses in which our lives are constructed and lived. This book brings language and social dimensions into the picture, offering snapshots of metaphor use in real language and in real lives across the very different cultures of Europe and Brazil and contributing to the theorizing of metaphor in discourse.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Applied linguistic approaches to metaphor (by Zanotto, Mara Sophia); 2. Part I. Investigating the nature of metaphor in use; 3. 1. Opening Pandora's Box: Multiple readings of a metaphor (by Zanotto, Mara Sophia); 4. 2. Metaphor shifting in the dynamics of talk (by Cameron, Lynne); 5. 3. Adding sound to the picture: Motivating the lexical composition of metaphorical idioms in English, Dutch, and Spanish (by Boers, Frank); 6. 4. Metaphor and positioning in academic book reviews (by Low, Graham); 7. Part II. Examining metaphor in corpora; 8. 5. Brothers in arms: Contradictory metaphors in contemporary marketing discourse (by Koller, Veronika); 9. 6. Metaphor probabilities in corpora (by Berber Sardinha, Tony); 10. 7. Corpus linguistic data and conceptual metaphor theory (by Deignan, Alice); 11. 8. Exploring metaphors in corpora: A study of 'war' in corpus generated data (by Vereza, Solange); 12. Part III. Understanding metaphor in language education; 13. 9. Young learners' understanding of figurative language (by Piquer-Piriz, Ana Maria); 14. 10. The relationship between associative thinking, analogical reasoning, image formation and metaphoric extension strategies (by Littlemore, Jeannette); 15. Part IV. Using metaphor as a tool in professional development; 16. 11. The awakening of Sleeping Beauty: A teacher's metaphor of professional development and language teaching (by Telles, Joao A.); 17. 12. En route through metaphors: Chatrooms as safe places to deal with difficulties in an online course (by Cavalcanti, Marilda C.); 18. 13. School teachers in favela contexts: Metaphors they live by (by Liberali, F.C.); 19. 14. Professional knowledge landscape: A metaphor to conceive of e-mail practices in business settings (by Freire, Maximina M.)

Review :
This timely publication reacts to the long-standing tendency of the cognitive linguistic community to focus on conceptual metaphor theory to the exclusion of natural language data, and is a welcome contribution to the study of metaphor in discourse. [...] It may be of special interest to readers working in or researching educational settings. It will also appeal to a wider audience because of the range of theoretical frameworks, methods, and both quantitative and qualitative studies it offers, and the general theoretical discussions arising from the data. The diversity of studies compiled in this book offer a vital contribution to the studies of metaphor. The chapters do not only contribute to the understanding of metaphor in use, but also provides examples of different methodologies for the ones interested in carrying out research in the metaphor field. The wide range of contexts, the diverse data collection techniques and analytical approaches are evidence of the fertility in the way Applied Linguistics looks at metaphor. Confronting Metaphors in Use is a valuable addition to libraries of researchers, graduate students and educators interested in metaphor studies.