Current Challenges in Metaphor Identification
Current Challenges in Metaphor Identification

Summary/Abstract: The main purport of the present paper is to connect the definition of cognitive metaphor, as introduced and embraced by conceptual metaphor theorists, to the methodological issues that allow for metaphor identification in real world discourse. The issue of the conceptual metaphor definition is still a problematic one, all the more so as it needs to meet criteria of suitability and applicability to corpus research. I argue for an extended definition of metaphor, to include its linguistic, conceptual and discourse specific force. Additionally, it is argued that a series of methodological commitments are commendable: the multilayered approach to language in use, the focus on the linguistic form, and the situatedness of the metaphoric phenomenon at the theory and processing levels. The article presents a review of the metaphor identification practices literature. A critical examination of five identification proposals starts from Steen’s linguistic checklist (1999b), The Pragglezaj Group’s MIP (2007), Cameron’s (1999b) identification procedure for prosaic linguistic metaphor, Charteris-Black’s (2004) discourse definition of metaphor, and Steen et al.’s (2010) MIP VU proposal. Finally, a self-contained metaphor identification protocol is advocated. The identification stage is joined to a pre-identification stage (where the corpus or sub-corpus is selected) and a post-identification unit (which deepens the understanding of metaphor in the larger socio-cognitive and cultural frame).

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