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Affective Computing and Sentiment Analysis pp 79–88Cite as

Metaphors and Metaphor-Like Processes Across Languages: Notes on English and Italian Language of Economics

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Part of the book series: Text, Speech and Language Technology ((TLTB,volume 45))

Abstract

This paper aims to identify two types of metaphors – constitutive or science-inherent and pedagogic or ‘explanatory’ metaphors – in subject-specific texts of different genre either in the original language of the writer of these texts or in the language(s) of their translator(s). This identification, in turn, depends to an extent on whether the metaphors are universal or culture-specific, and whether the source language discourse affects the choice of metaphors when texts are translated. My study, based on a collection of texts findings suggest that there exists a common core of constitutive metaphors in economics as one expects of a science, but that metaphors are more frequently pedagogic and increasingly culture-specific as one descends the cline from official economics documents – reports and speeches – to popularization for the general public.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    With reference to economics, Henderson [10, p. 171] defines a semi-technical term as a term that is “metaphorically derived but has a precise meaning, which is, in context, understood, but choice can be exercised with respect to its use”. As examples of semi-technical terms in economics Henderson gives impact and bid.

  2. 2.

    All information on etymology is taken from Manlio Cortelazzo and Paolo Zolli’s DELI – Dizionario Etimologico della Lingua Italiana, 2nd revised edition by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo published by Zanichelli in Bologna in 1999.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature AngloGermaniche e Slave, Università di Padova, Via Beldomandi 1, Padova, 35137, Italy

    Maria Teresa Musacchio

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  1. Maria Teresa Musacchio
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Correspondence to Maria Teresa Musacchio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Khurshid Ahmad

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Musacchio, M.T. (2011). Metaphors and Metaphor-Like Processes Across Languages: Notes on English and Italian Language of Economics. In: Ahmad, K. (eds) Affective Computing and Sentiment Analysis. Text, Speech and Language Technology, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1757-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1757-2_7

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1757-2

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