Metaphors in Business English 隐喻在商务英语中的应用课程论文提交时间：2011年9月13日AbstractThis paper introduces some basic concepts and features of metaphors such as different definitions of metaphor, how metaphors work, and the common types of metaphor. However, metaphor is nowadays not only regarded as a figure of speech but also an important tool in culture communication. As one of the most vivid rhetorical devices, metaphor is used quite frequently in language used in different fields in daily life. This study also gives some examples to prove that in the field of business there exist metaphors, which are vital to understand some economic knowledge and certain phenomena better.Key Words: metaphor; source domain; target domain; business;I. Background Knowledge of MetaphorThe idea of metaphor can be traced back to Aristotle who, in his “Poetics” (around 335 BC), defines “metaphor” as follows: “Metaphor is the application of a strange term either transferred from the genus and applied to the species or from the species and applied to the genus, or from one species to another or else by analogy.” To make it clear, we can regard metaphor as a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea. In classical theories of language, metaphor was seen as a matter of language, and everyday language had no metaphor. But according to Lakoff and Johnson (1993), the word “metaphor”has come to be used differently in contemporary research, and ordinary everyday English in various fields is largely metaphorical. We have found that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. This paper gives many examples to prove that in the economy field there exist metaphors, which are vital to understand related economic knowledge and certain phenomena better.A common definition of a metaphor can be described as a comparison that shows how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in another important way. In Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson explain how a metaphor is simply understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. They call thi s concept a …conduit metaphor‟, which means that a speaker can put ideas or objects into words or containers, and then send them along a channel, or conduit, to a listener who takes that idea or object out of the container and makes meaning of it. In other words, communication is something that ideas go into. The container is separate from the ideas themselves. Lakoff and Johnson give several examples of daily metaphors we use, such as “Argument is war” and “Time is money.” (Johnson, Lakoff, 1980).A regular metaphor contains the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which attributes are ascribed. The vehicle is the subject from which the attributes are derived. They are broadly equivalent to the notions of target and source domains in conceptual metaphor theory. The metaphor can be also understood as amapping (in the mathematical sense) from a source domain to a target domain. (Lakoff, G & Johnson, M. 1980) Metaphor bases on likeness and association: when we see something we never know before, we spontaneously associate it with a concept or an object we are already familiar with and try to find the likeness between the two. When the association happens, metaphor happens. For example,Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be used to invest in other business units.In one‟s regular cognition, cow refers to an animal with known concepts such as producing milk, multiplication and hardworking. From cows, people can get much income continuously with less investment. Here, the meaning of “cash cow” changes metaphorically to “a project that generates a continuous flow of money”and something similar with “moneymaker”and “money-spinner”. Therefore, we can see from this example that one of the key aspects of a metaphor is a specific transference of a word from one context into another.We could also understand metaphor in a very simple sense: in metaphor, one thing is indirectly compared to another known thing, without the word like or as. Thus the relationship between them is implied or unstated. The following is another good example:You‟d better off under Umbrella.This is an advertisement for a travel insurance agency. In this advertisement, “umbrella” just refers to this travel insurance agency. We may notice that the vehicle of the metaphor is not stated. In fact, the vehicle is the staff of the “Umbrella” agency. If the customers carry an umbrella with them, the umbrella will be very useful to them both in rainy days and shining days. In our cognition, the word “umbrella” is always linked with safety and protection, which are the known concepts in our mind. As long as people associate these concepts and find the likeness, they will realize what this agency could do for them. By using metaphor, the corporate image will surely become better and also more vivid for customers.There are four common types of metaphor: dead metaphor, extended metaphor, mixed metaphor, and absolute metaphor. A dead metaphor is one in which the sense of a transferred image is absent. Examples: “to grasp a concept”and “to gather what you‟ve understood” use physical action as a metaphor for understanding. Most people do not visualize the action —dead metaphors normally go unnoticed. An extended metaphor (conceit) establishes a principal subject (comparison) and subsidiary subjects (comparisons). A mixed metaphor is one that leaps from one identification to a second identification inconsistent with the first. Absolute metaphor denotes a figure or a concept that cannot be reduced to, or replaced with solely conceptual thought and language.II. Metaphors in Business EnglishAs we mentioned before, metaphors are not merely stylistic, but are cognitively important in other fields as well. According to Lakoff and Johnson, metaphors are pervasive in everyday life, not just in language, but also in thought and action. Therefore, metaphor, as one of the most vivid rhetorical devices, is used quite frequently in different fields including business.In business, a metaphor can be used in framing a dispute or situation, or the means by which businessmen\ businesswomen address or approach a negotiation problem. For example, the metaphors used in business negotiations could be critical to imply how a person perceives the situation and to suggest how they might react or respond. And in business texts, linguists find that metaphors manily appear as nouns and verbs. In this study, we will mainly analyze some common noun and verb metaphors in English business texts in the following.a. Noun MetaphorNoun metaphors mainly base on the direct or indirect correlation of two things. They push us to realize the link and then to figure out something new to us according to what we are already familiar with. Or, noun metaphors could make people understand some business concepts more accurately by borrowing some terms fromother fields, which will be well illustrated by the following examples..(1) The electricity failure caused the train service‟s paralysis.(2) He made a complete diagnosis of the company‟s daily running.In example (1), the word paralysis is used metaphorically. Paralysis, which usually refers to a disease of losing the ability to move a body part, is a term borrowed from the field of medicine to imply that the train service is disrupted. In example (2), diagnosis, indicating the act of discovering or identifying the exact cause of an illness or a problem by doctors, here implies that the act of discovering and analyzing the problems happened in the company‟s running is just like a doctor makes a diagnosis of the patient‟s illness.(3) Most central bankers are hostile to the idea of puncture bubbles.(4) After the sale, they began to solicit comment. The consumer‟s feedback wasgenerally favorable.(5) The political fallout from the gasoline shortagewas spreading in America at thattime.The words which are used metaphorically in these examples are also italicized. The word bubble is commonly used as a ball of air or gas in a liquid, or a ball of air inside a solid substance such as glass, for instance, a bubble of oxygen, blowing bubbles into water through a straw. However, bubble is also frequently used in business English, indicating a good or lucky situation that is unlikely to last, or there is a sudden end to a good or lucky situation. One of the most commonly known characteristics of bubble is good looking but very frail and easy to burst at the same time. In the example (3), this familiar phenomenon of bubble is used to help readers understand the unfamiliar concepts on economics vividly.The word feedback in example (4) seems to be used more commonly nowadays including in business, and people may take it for granted that it is not noun metaphor. However, feedback originally meas that the unpleasant noise produced by electrical equipment such as an amplifier when some of the power retures to the system. Therefore, feedback, used as the meaning of advice, criticism or information abouthow good or useful sth or sb‟s work is, is also used as noun metaphor.The noun metaphor in example (5) is relatively used a little technically. Fallout originally indicates dangerous radioactive dust that is in the air after a nuclear explosion. It is something very harmful to people. In this example, fallout just extends the meaning into the bad results of gasoline shortage which is spreading like dangerous radioactive dust in the US. By the use of metaphor, the author vividly tells readers the urgent situation which is badly influencing this country now.b. Verb MetaphorBesides noun metaphors, verb metaphors are also frequently applied in business English. In verb metaphors, the source domain and target domain do not necessarily exist at the same time, but they usually come into effect through connection and association. Verb metaphors help in describing and explaining abstract and difficult behavior with the aid of something concrete. Let‟s see some examples below.(6) In the past, trade documents needed to be ploughed one by one , now the EDIcould deal with the whole lot at once.(7) In an age that showers new commodities upon us daily, how can we pick out thosewe really need?(8) We‟re now drowning in information.(9) During the 80s, despite continuing anxiety inthe Crown Colony about its futureafter the reassertion of Chinese sovereignty in 1997 , Hong Kong surpassed theU.S as the biggest outside inverstor on the mainland; in 1992 it injected a recordof 39. 6 bilion into the Chinese economy.The above three examples are very typical verb metaphors in business English nowadays. The verbs plough, shower, drown and inject are all very commonly used in our daily life, but metaphor gives them brand new and deep meanings to explain something hard to understand in some fields to ordinary readers. Example (6) actually means that in the past, trade documents should only be dealt with one by one, which is quite laborsome for businessmen, but now the EDI could help them deal with the whole documents at one time. The verb plough, commonly used in agriculture, is used metaphorically comparing the tiring of dealing with documents to the hard plouging in farm. This use of metaphor here obviously highlights how troublesomethis business action is in the past, meanwhile successfully impresses readers of the new product EDI a lot. Comparing with the modern EDI, dealing with trade documents one by one is so out of date just like the outmoded agriculture method in the past. Another similar example goes like this: Many employers don‟t have the time to plough through a long resume. It is not hard for us to guess the meaning of this verb metaphor: Employers do not have the time to read a long resume in detail.The other three verb metaphors are used similarly as the above one. In example (7), showering could be understood as pouring of rain which is the target domain in this metaphor. Therefore we could easily understand the actual meaning the author means to deliver to us: So many new commodities appear in our daily life like pouring rain, and the manufacturing industry is quite flourishing nowadays. In example (8), by using the verb drown, the author has a mind to compare information to a sea or ocean which draws the outline of something broad, vast and boundless in readers‟ mind. The metaphor does help us get to know the abstract information more vividly. The verb inject in example (9) is originally from the field of medical science indicating to put a drug or another substance into a person‟s or animal‟s body using a syringe. Here the verb is borrowed to refer to the meaning of invest, which makes the sentence vivid and picturesque.(10) When one is in the middle of an ever changing business world , one has twochoices: to follow yesterday’s map or quickly chart a new course and grab theopportunities that we find.(11) Right now , a lot of companies are kicking the tires and trying to determine howATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) can improve their network‟s operation.Sometimes verb phrases are also used as verb metaphors in business writing and speech just like example (10) and (11) listed below. As we can see, follow yesterday’s map and chart a new course are a pair of antonym. The former refers to adhering to past practices or the behavior of conformism while the latter indicates being active in bringing forth new ideas. The pair of verb metaphor vividly depict two opposite options people have. In example (11), the verb metaphor kick the tires help the author compare the company‟s making research eagerly to speeding up of a car, andtherefore visualizes the urgent situation to we readers.III. ConslusionAs a means of cognition and thinking, metaphors naturally and necessarily exist in quantity in business English.Metaphor we employ in business field could bring about a result that is both positive and productive. Through using metaphors, no matter dead metaphor, extended metaphor, mixed metaphor or absolute metaphor, speakers can put ideas or objects into words or containers, and then send them along a channel, or conduit, to listeners who take that idea or object out of the container and makes meaning of it. In other words, we use metaphor to know an abstract or unfamiliar field with the aid of some familiar knowledge we have already known. Therefore, the study on metaphor in business English is of great utility value for us to understand economic theories and business writings or speech better.In addition, metaphor, as a widespread feature of everyday thought and language, also represents a central issue for both L2 ESP instructors and learners. Metaphor in a specific field can provide students with a useful device to raise awareness of key concepts, models and issues and to improve their reading and translating skills. Maybe metaphor could be included as part of L2 ESP programs and, probably, as part of any foreign language learning process in the future.ReferencesLakoff, G.. Metaphor and Thought (Second Edition) [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.Lakoff , G & Johnson , M. Metaphors We Live by [M]. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.Marisol Velasco Sacristán. (2004). Metaphor and ESP: Metaphor as a Useful Device for Teaching L2 Business English Learners. 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