商业丑闻英文报道中概念隐喻化研究A Study on Conceptual Metaphor of Business Scandal in English Reports

罗嘉敏，石淇萌

大连东软信息学院

Abstract

Based on the conceptual metaphor theory and Halliday's systemic functional grammar, the research discusses the common types, the main characteristics and function of discourse of conceptual metaphors of business scandal in English reports, adopting the research method of combining qualitative and quantitative analysis for 20 pieces of articles published in English newspapers and websites at home and abroad, which enables readers to deeply understand the abstract economic concepts and phenomena when reading the economic scandal discourse.

Key Words: conceptual metaphor, business scandal, systemic-functional grammar

I. Introduction

With the in-depth development of economic globalization, international business exchanges and cooperation are increasing, and news reports about the business stories of various countries are also growing. Therefore, more and more scholars begin to study conceptual metaphors in business scandal reporting. The objectives of this research is to better recognize and identify the conceptual metaphor phenomenon in news discourse, and major characteristics and function of the conceptual metaphors in the scandal. The significance is to deepen people's understanding of the abstract concept of conceptual metaphor and enhancing the understanding of business knowledge and its implied culture.

II. Literature Review

Structural metaphor refers to the structure of the source domain, which can be systematically transferred to the target concept domain. Orientational Metaphor which reflects orientation is undoubtedly the most basic physical experience. Ontological Metaphor refers to the concept of abstract ideas based on people's real life, as a concrete, tangible entity (Zhang chunxiao 16-19). One study of business school students' perceptions of accounting scandals also shows that students are becoming more aware of business scandals through regular reading of business publications and emphasizes the importance of good ethics in accounting (

McCann et al. 326-341). All metaphors are based on cross-domain mappings that project from more specific and familiar concepts in the source domain to abstract and unknown objects in the target domain (Sun xunqin 60-62).

III. Methodology

3.1 Research Questions

1. 
   

2. What are the main features of conceptual metaphor of business scandal in English reports ?

3. What are the preferred types of conceptual metaphor of business scandal in English reports ?

4. What functions do these conceptual metaphors serve?

3.2 Research Methods

Three are three kinds of research methods in the thesis, involving literature research, qualitative analysis and quantitative Analysis. This thesis collected a total of 20 pieces of business scandals in English reports from all kinds of website abroad and at home, such as money.cnn.com., www.globaltimes.cn, and so on. Focusing on the theme of data fraud, the author selected reports of the four major enterprises, namely Enron Corporation, Wells Fargo Bank, Mitsubishi Group and Kobe Steel Company. The author will use Excel as the tool for data collection. The special feature of a Excel is that the cells are closely related. When the data in one cell changes, it may directly affect the data in other cells.

IV. Results and Discussion

4.1 Structural Metaphor of Business Scandal in English Reports

4.1.1 “Game” Metaphor

1. 
   

2. Quantitative Analysis

There are totally 33 cases of structural metaphors, and “Game” metaphor, which includes 12 cases, accounts for 36.36% among structural metaphor and almost 17% of all metaphors. The most commonly used words for this metaphor are “rule” and “game”. Secondly, there are words that are less commonly used, including “play”, “boom”, “debate” and “contend”.

2) Qualitative Analysis

a) Rules of the game

The examples are shown in the following:

• 
  

• The rules of the investment game tend to change permanently.

• Chinese companies are not playing by the same rules.

From above examples, it can be seen that the key words, like, “rules”, “playing by the same rules”, and “Rules for Business” indicates that the norms and standards of economic field and also emphasizes the universality of rules and the consequences of not following them.

b) Game Process

The examples are shown in the following:

• 
  

• The current debate over the nature of the scandals, and reform measures to prevent similar problems from surfacing again.

• The second oversimplification is to contend that the scandals represent a failure on the part of boards of directors.

In the first example, “debate”, indicating the controversy of the scandal, shows that the debate over this subject is as intense as a debate contest. And the third example indicates that the game process, such as and “contend” are compared to furious competition between business.

4.2 Ontological Metaphor of Business Scandal in English Reports

4.2.1 “Human being” Metaphor

1. 
   

2. Quantitative Analysis

There are 18 cases of “Human being” metaphor in this thesis, accounting for more than 62% among ontological metaphor and 27% of total, which suggest that “Human being” metaphor is preferred by the business scandal in English reports in the thesis, including words, like “break into, rely on, ignore, plaguing, symptom and death” indicates the representative feature of human being.

2. 
   

3. Qualitative Analysis

1. 
   

2. Behaviors of human being

The examples are listed below.

• 
  

• Plenty of misdeeds on the part of the global business class were able to break into the headlines.

• To grow profits, it had to rely on its ability to cross-sell more profitable products to its customer base.

• The bank discovered1.4 million additional fraudulent accounts, bringing the total to 3.5 million.

“Rely on” means to depend on, usually when one needs to depend on someone or some power. The "rely on" in this example means he need to sell profitable products to customers if he want to make a profit.

2. 
   

3. Emotions of human being

The examples are shown in the following.

• 
  

• The bank was forced to return $2.6 million in ill-gotten fees.

• It ignores the critical question:“What are the incentives?”

The bank was “forced” to return $2.6 million in ill-gotten gains in fees, reflecting the helplessness of the return of this money from a human point of view. “Ignorance” is also a human emotion, meaning failed to think, here it is used to describe the strategy of the enterprise, bringing very vivid effects.

3. 
   

4. Health of human being

The examples are shown in the following.

• 
  

• But the public always has an appetite for a good scandal.

• The collapse of Enron is a symptom of the financial irregularities that occurred in the U.S.

In the first example, the author describes the public's preference for a good scandal as “appetite”. And the report uses the word " symptom" to describe deficiency of financial malpractice in the United States, which embodying the inevitability of Enron's collapse.

4.3 Orientational Metaphor of Business Scandal in English Reports

4.3.1 “Up” / “Over” Metaphor

1. 
   

2. Quantitative Analysis

There are only 9 cases in total, including 5 cases of “Up/ Over” metaphor, accounting for only 4.92% of total numbers. The popular words of “Up”/ “Over” metaphor are “upside/upstream”. Besides, there “oversight/over leverage” and so on, which indicate the deeper degree or over side of the movement of businessmen.

2. 
   

3. Qualitative Analysis

The examples are shown in the following.

• 
  

• The president appointed a corporate fraud task force in 2002 that oversaw work by the justice department.

For example, “see” means watching, and “over” indicates go up or go across. “oversaw” in the first example represented that Task force is responsible for supervising the work of the Justice Department.

4.4 Functions of Conceptual Metaphor of Business Scandal in English Reports

The thesis found that some conceptual metaphors used in selected scandal reports reflected the vividness of discourse. In the metaphor of human being, the report compares economic phenomena to people, which endows them with emotions and characteristics, playing an role of making the expression more concrete, and enhancing the vividness of the discourse. The accuracy of a text is generally reflected in the use of words. Both verbs and nouns are indispensable parts of a sentence. In this paper, the application of vocabulary not only reflects the characteristics of conceptual metaphor, but also ensures the accuracy of the report. Every kind of news report has its own style or characteristics, so does business scandal. The third person is used as the subject and the passive voice is used to describe the conceptual metaphor sentences in these reports, which reflects the objectivity of the discourse.

V. Conclusion

Firstly, the conceptual metaphor in the research involves structural metaphor, ontological metaphor and orientational metaphor. Secondly, there are some preference of application among these interesting metaphors. Among three, structural metaphors is the most commonly used metaphor in business scandal in English reports, in which "game" metaphor, such as “rule”, “game” and “play”, and "water" metaphor, such as “bubble” and “freeze”, are the most widely used. Ontological Metaphor is the second. Orientational metaphors were the least used overall. Finally, the application of the conceptual metaphor reflects the vividness, the accuracy and objectivity of the business scandal in English reports.

References

[1] Hadidi Yaser. A Comparative Study of Ideational Grammatical Metaphor in Business and Political Texts [J]. International Journal of Linguistics 4.2 (2012): 32-35.

[2] Iulia Mihaela ROȘCA, et al. Job and Money Metaphors in Business Journalese [J]. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education 10.2 (2017): 80-90.

[3] Jiang Na. Study of Business English Metaphor and Its Translation [D], Guilin University of Technology, 2013.

[4] Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By [M]. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980: 8.