Metaphor in Languages for Special Purposes

The Function of Conceptual Metaphor in Written Expert Language and Expert-Lay Communication in the Domains of Economics, Medicine and Computing

von Susanne Richardt

292 Seiten, Taschenbuch

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

This work is a cognitive-linguistic investigation of metaphor in languages for special purposes (LSP). Metaphorization is (re-)defined as a transfer of mental schemata which are mapped from a familiar source domain to analogically structure a hard-to-grasp target domain. Metaphors are empirically evaluated in an investigation of academic writing as well as of popular-scientific texts in the domains of economics, medicine and computing. The empirical analysis provides evidence that even scientific reasoning recurs to metaphorical thinking as an information-processing strategy. Since metaphors appear to define the scientific paradigms which determine (but also constrain) the scope of scientific reasoning, the findings give rise to a discussion about the objectivity of science.

• Reihe: Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University Studies / Publications Universitaires Européennes
• ISBN: 9783631531594
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 18.01.2005
• Größe: 21 x 14.8 cm
• Verlag: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften