'Ups' and 'Downs' in Metaphor Use: The Case of Increase / Decrease Metaphors in Spanish Economic Discourse

TL;DR: This paper analyzed the use of evaluative metaphors in two economic discourse genres displaying different degrees of specialization: business media and the central bank report, and pointed out the differences in terms of metaphor use between the two types of discourses ranging from lexical choices to the way evaluation is assumed.

Abstract: The purpose of the present article is to analyze the use of evaluative metaphors in two economic discourse genres displaying different degrees of specialization: business media and the central bank report. The article points out the differences in terms of metaphor use between the two types of discourses ranging from lexical choices to the way evaluation is assumed. Metaphor use is also a result of specific textual goals. The research is intended to provide a detailed insight into matters related to hidden subjective content present in metaphors. The extended use of the lexical items in focus both in the media as well as in specialized discourse tends to generate readers' over familiarization with them and consequently the possibility of value neutralization. That is why people are usually not aware of the opinion forming effects metaphors have in communication.Keywords: metaphor, evaluation, linguistic context, discourse genre, ideologyIntroductionPerhaps the most frequent news reports on nowadays business issues refer to the growth or fall of economic indicators such as inflation, prices, sales, share values, etc. On the other hand, academic research writings, central bank reports or other types of specialized communication in the field of economics approach such issues either as central topic or as supporting arguments, for example. Indeed, the increase / decrease lexicon is a constant presence in both business language and economics discourse. If we chose to give better attention to the nature of this lexicon, we would immediately notice the metaphorical origins of the great part of such verbs, nouns or adjectives. The present research focuses on evaluative increase / decrease metaphors in the case of Spanish economic language. As opposed to 'simple' metaphors such as subir ('go up'), bajar ('go down'), avanzar ('advance'), retroceder ('go back'), etc., which refer only to the type of variation, evaluative metaphors actualize additional information concerning the extent of the process. Part of such lexical items qualify the increase as higher (dispararse 'to shoot / rocket'; inflarse 'to inflate') or lower (remontar 'remount') than expected, while others signal the fall of the economic indicator as inferior or superior (desplomarse 'to collapse') to a 'normal' level. Furthermore, in addition to these two constant semantic components, the type of variation and the amount of fall or rise, certain items also refer to the speed of the change (dispararse, caer, recuperarse, remontar); to previous situations on the market (remontar, recuperarse, desinflarse); to causes (lastrar) and objectives (adelgazar); to values on the 'good' - 'bad' scale assigned to the respective trend (recuperarse, remontar); to the foundations of the increase (inflarse); to temporal phases of the process (estar por las nubes, estar por el suelo). Actually, it is a common feature of metaphors to own complex semantic configurations on account of their twofold nature. Concretely, in all these cases the source domain concepts are used to express the mentioned economic phenomena, emphasizing certain specific characteristics.All throughout the present analysis we choose to refer to metaphor not as a simply stylistic device but as a cognitive resource which people currently use to understand nonlinguistic reality. Conceptual metaphor theory as it was developed in cognitive linguistics can be considered the most prolific in nowadays research on metaphor. According to the cognitive approach, metaphor is a means of understanding one conceptual domain, usually of abstract nature, by means of another conceptual domain with roots in our everyday concrete experience. The former is generally named target domain while the latter, source domain. Accordingly, metaphor is defined as a 'source to target mapping' (Lakoff 1987, p. 276). Examples of conceptual metaphors are to be met everywhere as they are constantly pervading our way of thinking and conceiving reality. …