The Pragglejaz procedure of metaphor identification:

Examination of NICLE and LOCNESS

Susan MolHedmark University College. Hamar, NorwayandUniversity of Oslo. Oslo, Norway

2006-2010

The ‘it doesn’t sound right’ error

• Identify metaphorically-used words in two sets of texts (LOCNESS and NICLE)

• Categorize these metaphors

(dead / conventional / innovative)

• Compare/contrast quantitatively

• Compare/contrast a selection qualitatively

Giovanni and I have such a good time teaching each other idioms in English and Italian. We were talking the other evening about the phrases one uses when trying to comfort someone who is in distress. I told him that in English we sometimes say, “I’ve been there.” This was unclear to him at first - I’ve been where? But I explained that deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that place, and have now moved on, sometimes this will bring hope.

“So sadness is a place?” Giovanni asked.

“Sometimes people live there for years,” I said.Source: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India, and Indonesia Elizabeth Gilbert, Penguin Books, NY 2006, p. 71

ICLE-NO-AG-0006.1

I love the world and all its

problems. There are lots of

small and dusty reasons for

this…

Identify lexical units

I / love / the / world / and / all / its / problems / There / are / lots of / small / and / dusty / reasons / for / this…

Macmillan Dictionary for Advanced Learners

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

dusty adjective

• 1 covered with dust Adrian cycled along the dusty road. Everything's really dusty.

• 2 dusty blue/pink etc. Blue etc that is not bright but is slightly grey The curtains had faded to a dusty pink.

Words used with: • ground • road• street • track

Contextual vs Basic meaningDistinct?

dusty reasons

• The contextual meaning is not quite clear: old, complicated, hidden, layered, covered, cherished (?)

• The basic meaning is “covered with dust”

Yes, the basic and contextual meanings are distinct from each other

Similar?

Yes, the two meanings are related by similarity:

A dusty reason is compared to a concrete object which is covered in dust, with all that that entails

Metaphorically used?

Yes, we can understand the contextual meaning of dusty by comparing it to the basic sense of the adjective.

CategorizationAn innovative metaphor. No corresponding

examples in the British National Corpus. 10 out of 699 instances are dusty + abstract item.

• answers

• exercise

• oblivion

• concern

• preconception

Source

• L1 transference? Støvete

LBK (28 million words of Norwegian text)

10 / 146 instances: filosofilæreren, akademikere, lærer, preget, adelsfortid, klanger, hungerkatastofene…

• Poetic/creative metaphor?

I love the world and all its problems

The pipes run from north to south

Lots of small and dusty reasons

Rehearse my part and venture out

Metaphorically-used words

I / love / the / world / and / all / its / problems / There / are / lots of / small / and / dusty / reasons / for / this…

Metaphor IdentificationPragglejaz procedure

• Identify lexical units• Establish contextual meaning of the examined

word• Determine the basic meaning• Decide whether the basic meaning of the word is

sufficiently distinct from the contextual meaning• Decide whether the contextual meaning of the

word is related to the basic meaning by some form of similarity

• If yes, mark the lexical unit as metaphorical