metaphorik.de 19/2010

Herausgeberteam – Editorial Staff – Équipe éditoriale
Hildegard Clarenz-Löhnert / Martin Döring / Klaus Gabriel / Olaf Jäkel /
Katrin Mutz / Dietmar Osthus / Claudia Polzin-Haumann / Judith Visser
ISSN 1618-2006 (Internet)
ISSN 1865-0716 (Print)

PDF-Version: 

Vorwort 19/2010

Vor dreißig Jahren, im Jahr 1980 erschien ein Klassiker der Metaphernforschung, George Lakoff und Mark Johnsons Metaphors We Live By [im Text kursiv setzen]. Zwar mögen die Gedanken der beiden amerikanischen Kognitivisten weniger originell sein als sie es selbst wahrhaben wollten, enthält dieser Band doch zahlreiche Ideen, die auch in den über zwei Jahrtausenden seit Aristoteles in der Rhetorik, der Poetik, der Philosophie, der Literaturwissenschaft oder der frühneuzeitlichen Philologie vielfach formuliert wurden. Außer Frage steht jedoch, dass sie einen regelrechten Boom der Metaphernforschung ausgelöst haben, in dem theoretische Aspekte wie sprachliche Empirie kontrovers, interdisziplinär und produktiv diskutiert werden. metaphorik.de versteht sich seit der ersten Ausgabe im Jahr 2001 als eine wichtige Plattform für Diskussionen dieser Art, und wir sind froh wieder einmal zeigen zu können, dass das Forschungsfeld der Metapher weiterhin – und hier bleiben wir metaphorisch – gute Früchte bringt.
Ein Aspekt, der von Lakoff/Johnson zwar angesprochen, aber empirisch nicht belegt wird, ist die Metapher im Sprachen- und Kulturvergleich. Die Frage nach der Sprachengebundenheit oder der Universalität einzelner metaphorischer Konzepte lässt sich indes nur empirisch beantworten. Sondes Hamdi geht in seinem Beitrag der Frage nach, in welchem Rahmen die Metaphorisierungen des Zielbereichs 'Zeit' im Englischen und Arabischen übereinstimmen. Damit bildet seine Untersuchung einen Baustein zum besseren Verständnis der Sprachenspezifik sowohl einzelner metaphorischer Ausdrücke als auch der übergeordneten Konzepte. Helge Skirl betrachtet in seinem Beitrag eine Fragestellung an der Schnittstelle zwischen lexikalischer Morphologie, Wortbildungs-Semantik und Metaphernforschung, wenn er ausgehend vom Deutschen Kompositionsmetaphern analysiert. Deutlich wird dabei, dass die mitunter ad-hoc geformten Wortgebildetheiten im textuellen bzw. situativen Kontext betrachtet und interpretiert werden müssen. Metaphorisierung per Wortbildung erfüllt elementare pragmatische Funktionen, ein Aspekt, der in einer rein kognitivistisch ausgerichteten Perspektive vielfach ausgeblendet zu werden droht. Rachel Sutton-Spence schließlich zeigt die Rolle von Metaphorik in semiotisch nicht schallgebundenen Sprachen, wenn sie die Rolle der Raum-Metaphorik zur Affirmation von Identität in Gedichten der englischen Gebärdensprache betrachtet. Die von Lakoff/Johnson behauptete zentrale Rolle der Körperlichkeit in der Konstitution von Metaphern erhält hier eine weitere Dimension. Raum- und Orientierungsmetaphern werden gebärdensprachlich direkt in Gesten und Bewegungen umgesetzt, wobei auch hier übergeordnete Konzepte erkennbar bleiben und durch Gestik entsprechend re-motiviert werden.
Zwei von Corinna Koch verfasste Kongressberichte zeigen ihrerseits die Vitalität der internationalen Metaphernforschung. Das Netzwerk "Researching and Applying Metaphor" traf sich im Juli 2010 in Amsterdam, und an der Stockholmer Universität findet im Herbst mittlerweile ein regelmäßiges Metaphernfestival statt. Dies unterstreicht nicht zuletzt, dass sich die vorliegende Zeitschrift mit ihren genuinen Interessens- und Forschungsschwerpunkten in guter Gesellschaft befindet.
Für die wie gewohnt tatkräftige Unterstützung bei der Fertigstellung der Beiträge für diese Ausgabe danken wir den Saarbrücker Mitarbeiterinnen Kerstin Sterkel, Tanja Fell und Katharina Leonhardt.
Unseren Lesern wünschen wir ein gutes Jahresende und einen gelungenen Start ins neue Jahr, das für metaphorik.de zugleich einen ersten runden Geburtstag darstellen wird. Aus diesem Anlass werden wir im Frühjahr 2011 einen international besetzten Workshop zu den Perspektiven der Metaphernforschung organisieren, dessen Ergebnisse dann pünktlich zum zehnjährigen Jubiläum unserer ersten Ausgabe im Dezember 2011 hier zu lesen sein werden.

Essen, im Dezember 2010

Hildegard Clarenz-Löhnert
Martin Döring
Klaus Gabriel
Olaf Jäkel
Katrin Mutz
Dietmar Osthus
Claudia Polzin-Haumann
Judith Visser

Thirty years ago, the year 1980 saw the publication of a real classic of metaphor research, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson's Metaphors We Live By.
Maybe the approach taken by those two American cognitivists is less original than they themselves would like to think, as many of the ideas presented in that book had been raised before in the two millennia since Aristotle, and formulated in rhetoric, in poetics, in philosophy, in literary criticism, or in early modern philology. But without doubt, they triggered a regular boom of metaphor research, in which theoretical aspects as well as linguistic data are being discussed productively, from various perspectives, and in interdisciplinary fashion. From its first issue in 2001, metaphorik.de has regarded itself as an open platform for discussions of this kind, and we are happy to be able to prove once more, that the field of metaphor research – metaphorically speaking – continues to bear fruit.
One aspect touched upon by Lakoff/Johnson, though without any empirical validation, is that of metaphor in the comparison of languages or cultures. The question, to what extent particular metaphorical concepts may be culture specific or universal can only be answered empirically. Sondes Hamdi's contribution tackles the question, to what extent the metaphorisations of the target domain 'time' coincide in English and Arabic. His investigation supplies a building block for a better understanding of the language specificity of individual metaphorical expressions as well as of the underlying concepts. In the next contribution, Helge Skirl treats an issue at the interface between lexical morphology, word-formation semantics, and metaphor research, analysing metaphorical compounds in German. It becomes clear, that in particular ad-hoc formations need to be seen and interpreted in their textual and situational context. Metaphorisation in word-formation can serve some elementary pragmatical functions, an aspect, which may at times be lost if regarded from a mere cognitive perspective. Finally, Rachel Sutton-Spence proves the importance of metaphor in non-acoustic languages, when she considers the role of spatial metaphors in the expression of identity in English (BSL and ASL) sign language poetry. The crucial role of the human body in the constitution of metaphors, as postulated by Lakoff/Johnson, is taken to yet another dimension. In sign language, spatial and orientational metaphors are expressed directly in gestures and movement, preserving and re-motivating the underlying concepts.

Two congress reports provided by Corinna Koch also bear witness to the vitality of international metaphor research. In July 2010, the network "Researching and Applying Metaphor" met in Amsterdam, and Stockholm University has taken to host an annual "Metaphor Festival" each autumn. Events like these underline that our journal with its genuine focus of interest and research is in good company.
For their usual competent support in processing the contributions for this issue, our thanks go to the Saarbrücken team of Kerstin Sterkel, Tanja Fell and Katharina Leonhardt.


We wish our readers a happy new year, which will also bring an anniversary for metaphorik.de. Therefore, in spring 2011 we are going to organize an international workshop on "Emerging Perspectives on Metaphor and Metonymy", whose results are due to be published here in December 2011 in order to commemorate the tenth anniversary of our first issue.

Essen, December 2010
Hildegard Clarenz-Löhnert
Martin Döring
Klaus Gabriel
Olaf Jäkel
Katrin Mutz
Dietmar Osthus
Claudia Polzin-Haumann
Judith Visser

Ausgabe: 

Téléchargement article complet (PDF): 

Jahrgang: 

Seite 3

TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic: A Comparative Cognitive Analysis

Sondes Hamdi

Abstract

Since the emergence of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (the CMT henceforth) in the 1980s, many studies have been carried out on conceptual metaphors. However, so far no single study has provided a systematic comparative analysis of time metaphors in English and in Arabic. The present paper aims at filling up this gap, at least partially, by conducting a comparative analysis of the conceptual metaphors for time in these unrelated languages. The current analysis is based on the theoretical framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as proposed by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson (1980), and Kövecses (2002). The purpose of the current research is to find out how the abstract concept of TIME is conceptualized in terms of a more concrete one, i.e. A MOVING ENTITY, in both languages.

Seit Aufkommen der Kognitiven Metapherntheorie in den 1980er Jahren sind zahlreiche Studien zur Konzeptuellen Metaphern erstellt worden. Keine Studie allerdings hat sich bislang systematisch mit den Metaphorisierungen von 'Zeit' im Englischen und Arabischen auseinandergesetzt. Der vorliegende Beitrag soll diese Lücke schließen, dadurch dass er eine vergleichende Analyse der konzeptuellen Metaphern für 'Zeit' in diesen beiden, nicht miteinander verwandten Sprachen durchführt. Die Analyse stützt sich auf den theoretischen Rahmen der Kognitiven Metapherntheorie, wie sie von Lakoff/Johnson (1980) und Kövecses (2002) entwickelt worden ist. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es herauszufinden, wie der abstrakte Gegenstandsbereich 'Zeit' durch konkretere Bereiche (z.B. als Bewegung) in beiden Sprachen konzeptualisiert wird.
 

Ausgabe: 

Téléchargement article complet (PDF): 

Jahrgang: 

Seite 7

TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and in Arabic: A Comparative Cognitive Analysis

Sondes Hamdi, Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines au Kef

(sondeshamdi@yahoo.fr)

Abstract

Since the emergence of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (the CMT henceforth) in the 1980s, many studies have been carried out on conceptual metaphors. However, so far no single study has provided a systematic comparative analysis of time metaphors in English and in Arabic. The present paper aims at filling up this gap, at least partially, by conducting a comparative analysis of the conceptual metaphors for time in these unrelated languages. The current analysis is based on the theoretical framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as proposed by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson (1980), and Kövecses (2002). The purpose of the current research is to find out how the abstract concept of TIME is conceptualized in terms of a more concrete one, i.e. A MOVING ENTITY, in both languages.

Seit Aufkommen der Kognitiven Metapherntheorie in den 1980er Jahren sind zahlreiche Studien zu Konzeptuellen Metaphern erstellt worden. Keine Studie allerdings hat sich bislang systematisch mit den Metaphorisierungen von 'Zeit' im Englischen und Arabischen auseinandergesetzt. Der vorliegende Beitrag soll diese Lücke schließen, dadurch dass er eine vergleichende Analyse der konzeptuellen Metaphern für 'Zeit' in diesen beiden, nicht miteinander verwandten Sprachen durchführt. Die Analyse stützt sich auf den theoretischen Rahmen der Kognitiven Metapherntheorie, wie sie von Lakoff/Johnson (1980) und Kövecses (2002) entwickelt worden ist. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es herauszufinden, wie der abstrakte Gegenstandsbereich 'Zeit' durch konkretere Bereiche (z.B. als Bewegung) in beiden Sprachen konzeptualisiert wird.

1. Introduction

Since the 1980s, cognitive linguistics has witnessed an upsurge of comparative studies on conceptual metaphors. However, so far no single study has furnished a systematic comparative analysis of time metaphors in English and in Arabic. The present paper purports to bridge this gap, at least partially, by carrying out a comparative analysis of the conceptual metaphors for time in these unrelated languages. The main sources of conventional expressions of time considered in this paper are: dictionaries, newspapers, and literary prose texts. Given that dictionaries are records of the lexicon of a language compiled by expert lexicographers, they constitute a reliable and rich source of conventional expressions. Newspapers and literary texts, on the other hand, allow for the collection of naturally-occurring written data in the two
languages. The choice of these particular text sources is motivated by two

7

metaphorik.de 19/2010

factors: (1) the need to ensure a very close equivalence of text between the two languages; and (2) the need to have balanced data containing different registers. The current analysis is based on the theoretical and practical framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as proposed by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson (1980), and Kövecses (2002). This paper comprises four main sections. The first section outlines the basic tenets of the study’s theoretical framework, i.e. the CMT. The second and third sections highlight the importance of the concept of time and of cross-linguistic corpus-based analyses. The fourth section gives an insight into similarities in the conceptualization of time as a moving entity between the two linguistic communities.

2. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory

What makes the CMT an interesting theoretical framework for metaphor analyses is the distinction it draws between conceptual metaphor, on the one hand, and linguistic metaphors, on the other hand (Lakoff & Johnson 1980). What native speakers say and what belongs to the language or the lexicon of concrete domains are linguistic metaphors. Conceptual metaphor, on the other hand, refers to a mental representation that describes how two words or expressions from apparently different domains may be associated at the underlying level. As such, conceptual metaphor is an abstract notion revealed through linguistic metaphors. For instance, English linguistic metaphors used when talking about time, such as I am wasting my time and Use your time wisely, are some of the linguistic realizations of the underlying conceptual metaphor TIME AS A LIMITED RESOURCE.
The CMT argues that the essence of a conceptual metaphor consists in the comprehension of one concept in terms of another. It is understood in terms of the systematic set of mappings that characterize the transfer from one concept to another. For instance, in the conceptual metaphor TIME AS AN OBJECT, the elements of the source domain, OBJECT, map onto elements in the target domain, TIME. Thus, the possession of an object corresponds to the possession of time, taking an object corresponds to taking time, qualifying an object
corresponds to qualifying time, etc.

8

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

2.1 The Importance of the Concept of Time

Time is one of the important aspects of human experience. Since pre-Socratic times, philosophers and researchers have studied the nature and structure of time (Evans, 2004). In La Psychologie du Temps (1956), Fraisse explains the importance of time in human life, observing that from birth to death, the human body undergoes several changes under the impact of time. He states that our existential conditions vary constantly and modify us in different ways because our existence is structured and shaped by the rhythms of nights and days (283).
This study is an attempt to shed light on the concept of time from a linguistic perspective. It investigates, on the basis of language data, the ways time is mentally represented in two different languages.

2.2 The Importance of Cross-linguistic Corpus-Based Analyses

Several linguists (Steen 1999; Semino et al. 2004) contend that a corpus-based methodology has much to offer in metaphor research, particularly in the process of extrapolation of conceptual metaphors from linguistic metaphors. Thus, this study is based on language data and inspired by the assumption of corpus linguistics that a „corpus-based empiricism must not lose touch with the theoretical linguistic tradition […]” (Mair 2002: 109).
Also, comparative studies concerning two genetically unrelated languages, such as English and Arabic, are badly needed to furnish new evidence- unobtainable from research carried out from a monolingual perspective- for the cognitive status of metaphors. For instance, the fact that English speakers use the domain of MONEY to refer to time, by using expressions peculiar to handling money, such as „spend” and „save,” does not mean that a cognitive mapping between MONEY and TIME is universal. However, if the Arabic words for „save” and „spend” also map onto the domain of TIME, it would be a strong indication that these seemingly different expressions arise from common cognitive mappings between two unrelated domains, i.e., TIME and MONEY, and that the conceptual metaphor is not coincidental in two
unrelated languages.

9

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Results

Both languages conceptualize time as a moving entity as reflected in the following examples:
(1) safir firansa da’aa lihudur hafl …wa dhalika duhr yawm ‘al-xamis ‘al- muqbil fi 14 yuliyu ‘al-haaly.
Ambassador French invite for-presence party, and this day Thursday coming in 14 July current.

„French ambassador called for a show the coming Thursday afternoon 14th

July” (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: 27)

(2) tantaliqu ‘al-dawra ‘al-‘idhaa’aya ‘al-jadida ‘al-‘usbu’ ‘al-qaadim
Start session radio new week coming.

„The new radio session will start the coming week(Axbar Al-Riyadha

2005: 2).
(3) lam yaa‘ti ‘al-zawaal hata kaana qad tahasala ’ala nasib min ‘al-samak yakfi lisadi masaarif dhalika ‘al-yawm.
And not-come noon until he obtain portion of fish suffice to cover expenses of-that day.

The noon had not yet come when he secured a sufficent portion of fish to meet the expenditures of that day” (Hafdhi 1984: 14).

(4) ayqana ‘ana saa’atahu qad haanat wa ‘ana hayaatahu la tusaawi ‘ila
‘isaara min ‘al-malik
He was sure that hour-his approach and that life-his NEG-worth only gesture of king.

„He got sure that his hour had approached and his life was worth no more than a gesture from the king” (Hafdhi 1984: 56).

(5) wal ‘aana ha hiya ‘al-saa’a qad danat wa ‘arisi ‘al-mawt qad jaa‘a ba’da hijraanihi.
And now here is hour approach and groom-my death come after desertion.

„And now the hour has approached and death, my promised groom, came after desertion” (Gibran 1985: 34).

(6) Jaa‘a ’id ‘al-fish
Come Feast Easter.

„Easter has come” (Gibran 1985: 53).

(7) mataa ya‘ti ‘al-sabaah? ’indama ya‘inu ‘awaanuhu

10

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

When come morning? When approach time-its.

„When will the morning come up? Just when its time approaches” (Souf 1984:

77).
(8) The arrival of the Computer Revolution and the founding of the Computer

Age have been announced many times (Postman 2001: 326).

(9) Never think of the future, it comes soon enough (A Dictionary of American

Proverbs 1992: 244).

(10) The moment of truth for most German children comes at the end of Grade
4 (Maclean’s 1992: 16).
(11) The time is approaching when we must think about buying a new house
(Oxford Advanced Dictionary 1989: 48).
In examples (1)-(11), events in the future (Thursday, dawn, night, Easter, the computer revolution, the moment of truth, the future) are understood as displacing themselves from where they were at first to where the observer is. In other words, the use of the deictic verbs of motion with nominal expressions referring to time implies that these events are conceptualized as coming toward, i.e. moving, from the front in the observer’s direction.
Time, as is typical of moving entities, is conceptualized as facing its direction of motion. Thus, future events are facing the observer, who is located at the present moment. This fact is reflected in the verbs and expressions that express face-to-face locations:
(12) istiqbaal ‘al-mawt xayr min ‘istidbaarihi
Facing death better than ignoring-it.

Facing death is better than ignoring it”.

(13) I can see the face of things to come (Lakoff 1999: 143).
In (12), the use of the noun لﺎﺒﻘﺘﺳإ , (/‘istiqbaal/) which means „welcoming, receiving, facing” implies that the observer meets the time of death by facing it. In (13), the future is coming towards the observer (verb come), facing him, allowing the observer to see its metaphorical face (see the face).

Time Brings Something with it

The time not only moves towards the observer, but brings something with it, making an impact on the observer by whom it passes, as in the following examples, where future is described as prosperous and time is seen as a person who brings things the receiver expects to get:

11

metaphorik.de 19/2010

(14) fi ‘al-muqaabil, kaana mutafaa‘ilan bimustaqbal baasim limumathilaatina
In return, he was optimistic of future prosperous for actresses-our.

„In return, he was optimistic about a prosperous future for our actresses”

(Al-Sarih 2005: 5).
(15) Time brings everything to those who can wait for it (A Dictionary of

American Proverbs, 1992: 598).

The closer the expected moment of time is, the more it affects the observer, who, as such, is not indifferent to its arrival, as in examples (16) where wife and fisherman expect the arrival of the baby:
(16) marat ‘al-suhur wal-ayaam wa ‘al-sayaad wa zawjatuhu yantadiraan ‘al- haaditha ‘al-sa’id bifaarighi ‘al-sabr
Pass by months and days and fisherman and wife-his wait event happy eagerly until knock hour and approach time.

The months and days passed, the fisherman and his wife were impatiently expecting the happy event until the time came up” (Hafdhi 1984: 8).

(17) saara yataraqab ma‘aaty ‘al-daqaa‘iq
He wait coming of minutes.

„He was waiting for the advent of minutes(Gibran 1985: 82).

(18) ‘is haadhihi ‘al-ayaam ‘al-ma’duda wantadir ‘al-yawm ‘al-maw’ud
Live these days a few and wait day promised.

„Just live these few days and wait for the promised day(Souf 1984: 61). (19) tatamaalak baqiyat ‘al-fatayaat wa ‘al-niswa ‘anfusahuma ’ala ‘al-raqs

fandafa’na wa ka‘anama kuna bintidaar lahdati ‘al-‘intilaaq
They not-control the rest of girls and women themselves on dance they rushed as if they wait moment of-launching.

„Other girls and women could not resist the desire to dance and they rushed as if they were waiting for the moment of launching” (Al-Jabri 1989: 78).

(20) You are just looking forward dreamily to the week end (Roberts 2001:
154).
In examples (14)-(20), the observer is eagerly waiting for the coming moments of time because he holds high expectations as to what the time will bring him. Time brings him hope and pleasure. The observer’s eagerness is reflected by the use of words such as „rush to dance,” „promised day,” „looking forward”

12

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

and the adverb „dreamily” since we would usually look dreamily to something that we are eager to see.
The observer can be upset at the coming time because it can bring bad or unpredictable events, as illustrated in examples (21)-(23):
(21) wa jalasa ‘al-waalid yufakir fi ma‘aal ‘ibnihi ‘abdalah ‘aladhi yuhadiduhu ‘al-mawt fi kuli lahda
And sit father thinking of fate of son-his Abdallah that threat en-him death in every moment.

„The father was thinking about the fate of his son Abdallah who was threatened by death at any moment(Al-Mitwi 1984: 208).

(22) One can never tell what the future will bring (A Dictionary of American

Proverbs 1992: 244).

(23) Fear not the future, weep not for the past (A Dictionary of American

Proverbs 1992: 244).

In (21), the coming time, the moment of death, frightens the observer because it can take his son away with it into the past. Thus, the coming time is viewed as a frightening force for the observer and for those who surround him. In (22), the observer fears the future because he cannot see what it encloses until it gets to him. As one cannot guess what the future hides for us, the observer has no choice other than wait for the future to come to where he is, to see what it has in stock for him. In (23), the observer might weep over the past for when the present time left him, it took away things that were precious to him, such as youth and happy „past” moments. These things cannot be back once they are gone with time.
Examples (14)-(23) show that in both languages the time passing the observer by raises different emotions in the observer: from joy to sadness and despair. So, the passing of time has the potential to affect the observer emotionally. Or more precisely, things that could happen in future time can considerably have an impact on the observer’s emotional state.

Coming of Time Imposes Duties on the Observer

Examples (24)-(27) show that the subject, who is the observer, does or should do something to receive and greet the coming time:
(24) min dur ‘al-‘azyaa‘ kaanat munhamikatan xilaala ‘al ‘asaabi’ ‘al-‘axira bi
‘i’daadi maa ladayha lisitaa ‘al-muqbil

13

metaphorik.de 19/2010

A number of houses fashion were busy through weeks last preparation of what they have for winter coming.

„A number of fashion houses were busy during the last weeks preparing their next winter collections” (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 2005: 28).

(25) laqad jaa‘a laka ‘al-mawt yaa taarik ‘al-salaat
Come to you death you who do not- pray.

Death is coming to those who neglect their prayers.”

(26) istiqbaal ‘al-mawt xayr min ‘istidbaarihi
Meeting death better than ignoring-it.

Meeting death is better than ignoring it”.

(27) While you glory in the past, be busy in the present lest you should be caught unprepared in the future (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992:
451).
In (24), the subject, the fashion houses, is busy preparing for the coming
winter. In (25), the observer, the subject you, is warned that he should not neglect his prayers. In (26), the observer, any person, should go and meet the coming time head on, since ignoring the moment of death is not an advisable policy. The observer should prepare for the moment of death rather than pretending it is not going to come. In (27), which is a proverb, so it has to teach us a lesson, the observer is advised to work hard in the present to be prepared for the future.

The Future Becoming the Present

Examples (28) and (29) show that the future moving towards the observer changes into the present. Once the future time arrives where the observer is, it becomes the present.
(28) wa ‘al ‘aana haahiya ‘al-saa’a qad danat wa ’arisi ‘al-mawt qad jaa‘a ba’da hijraanihi
And now here is hour came and groom-my death came after desertion.

„And now the hour has come and death, my promised groom, came after desertion” (Gibran 1985: 34).

(29) Winter is almost here.

In examples (28) and (29), the present time (the hour of death and the winter time) are at the same location as the stationary observer, which is illustrated by the use of the place deictic adverb, here and ﺎه (/haa/ „here”), to refer to now. In these examples, the use of the adverbs „here” and ﺎه (/haa/ „here”)

14

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

respectively indicates that the observer sees the time of death and the time of winter as inevitably becoming the present moment.

The Present Becoming the Past

In both languages, past events are expressed as being in motion, as shown in the following examples:
(30) wa kasafat sahifa ‘amarikiya ‘al-jumu’a ‘al-maadi ‘anahu ‘amada ‘ila
‘axthi ‘al-nush min ’adati ‘asxaas
And reveal newspaper American Friday preceding that he-sought to take advice from many people.

An American newspaper revealed, last Friday, that he sought advice from many people” (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 2005: 30).

(31) raaha ‘al-zaman ‘al-ladhi kaana yusmahu liman laysa lahu ‘aya sahaada
‘al-’amal
Leave time that allow to whom not-has to him degree work.

The time, when any one without a degree was authorized to work, has passed(Souf 1984: 10).

(32) madat sana lam tu‘adi fiha ‘ijaara ‘al-bayt
Leave one year not-pay in-it rent house.

One year passed and you had not yet paid the house rent” (Souf 1984: 9). (33) dhahaba ‘ams bima fihi

Go away yesterday with what in-it.
„Let bygones be bygones” (Proverb Collection 1987: 3).
(34) Gone are the days when the doors of the system could be slammed shut on large numbers of students who failed to respond to the traditional „skin or swim” (The Globe and Mail 1995: 12).
In examples (30)-(34), the moments of the past time (Friday, time, year, yesterday, day) are seen as those that have passed the observer by. In these examples, the events are understood as having gone away from where the observer is.

Pace of Time in Motion

Time moves at different speed and pace; it can go slow or fast. This characteristic of time motion is reflected by the following examples from the corpus:

15

metaphorik.de 19/2010

(35) Little by little time goes by, short if you sing, long if you sigh (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 595).
(36) Time goes slow for those who watch it (A Dictionary of American Proverbs
1992: 597).
(37) Time passes quickly (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 599). (38) ‘ina kula tilka ‘al-saa’aat marat katurfati ’ayn
All these hours pass by like a glance of eye.

All those hours have passed like a glance(Al-Mitwi 1984: 138).

The motion of time into the past is experienced subjectively by the observer. In (35) and (36), time is experienced as going slowly when you spend it unsatisfied complaining about things, and fast, if you spend it having fun as in example (37). In (36), time goes slow for those who want to finish quickly what they are doing. Evans (2004) stresses this idea stating that a given duration of time is experienced as lasting longer or shorter depending on the observer’s state of awareness. He observes that in our human experience of time, the duration of time in situations of suffering and danger is experienced as long, while in situations of routine activities or when we are enjoying ourselves, time appears to pass more quickly.

The Manner of Time Motion

Both languages pay attention to the manner in which time metaphorically moves by using motion verbs encoding manner, such as „fly,” „march on,”
„roll down,” „rotate,” as in the following examples:
(39) kaana ‘al-layl yataqadamu wa lakinahu lam ya‘ti bisay‘ Night march on but-it not-bring anything.

The night marched on, but it brought nothing with it” (Hafdhi 1984: 8).

(40) wa taduru ‘al-ayaam
And rotate days.

And the days rotate” (Al-Mitwi 1984: 138).

(41) Time flies like an arrow, and time lost never returns (A Dictionary of

American Proverbs 1992: 597).

(42) All the Christmases roll down the hill towards the Welsh-speaking sea

(Thomas 2001: 33).
(43) Time marches on (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 599).

16

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

In examples (39)-(43), time is shown to move into the past in different manners: it rolls down like a ball in (42), it walks with regular and firm steps as soldiers do in (43) and (39). Time can move by rotating as in (40) or can fly through the air as arrows do, as in (41).

The Impact of the Motion of Time on Things and on the Observer

Since time is conceptualized as an entity moving towards and past the observer, it necessarily makes an impact on the observer and on the observer’s environment as it passes by. The impact of time is illustrated through the following examples:
(44) wa bimurur ‘al-ayaam tadaraba ’ala ‘al-xitaab wa muwaajahat ‘al-naas
And with passage of time he-trained on discourse and facing of people.

With the passage of time, he got trained in discourse and facing the public”

(Al-Jabri 1989: 53).
(45) wa bimurur ‘al-ayaam wa tawaafur ‘al-sinin ta’adala mizaaj ‘al-‘um
And with passage of time and density of years stabilized mood of- mother.

With the passage of time and the accumulation of years, the mother’s mood became steady” (Al-Jabri 1989: 82).

(46) Time has not been nice to her looks (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
1989: 1343).
(47)

Time changes the oak into a coffin (A Dictionary of American Proverbs

1992: 598).
(48) wa lam yabqa fi tilka ‘al-buq’a ghayr talal baal yu’idu li-dhaakirat
‘asbaah ‘al-ams fayu‘limuha wa yurji’u li-nafs sadan fayuhzinuha
And not-remains of that place except a ruin bring back to memory ghosts of-yesterday so-sadden-them and bring back soul exaltations of glory old.

„Nothing remained in that place only a ruin that brings back the memory of yesterday’s silhouettes and makes them sore and brings back to soul the exaltations of old glory and saddens it” (Gibran 1985: 82).

(49) An hour may destroy what was an age of building (A Dictionary of

American Proverbs 1992: 594).

(50) Time devours all things (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 597). Examples (46)-(52) show that, in both languages, time is conceptualized as
capable of changing things, of exerting power on the observer and on the

17

metaphorik.de 19/2010

environment, and of causing damage so bad that things no longer exist. Time can transform people’s mood as in (47), bodies as in (48) and (49), and social abilities as in (46); it can also destroy the environment in its passage as in (50) and (51). These kinds of acts typically require agents with particular skills. Devouring, for instance, as in (52) evokes an image of a ferocious beast.

3. Conclusion

The objective of this paper was to show how the conceptual metaphor TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY exists in two unrelated language: English and Arabic. The results of the analysis suggest that in both languages, time is viewed as bringing something with it and the coming of time as imposing duties on the observer. Both languages pay attention to the manner in which time metaphorically moves by using motion verbs encoding manner, such as „fly,”
„roll down,” راد (/daara/ „rotate”), مﺪﻘﺗ (/taqadama/ „march on”). In the two languages, time is conceptualized as a moving entity which makes an impact on the observer and on the environment as it passes by. Thus, time is conceptualized in both languages as capable of changing things, of exerting power on the observer and on the observer’s environment, and of causing damage so bad that things no longer exist.
The results of this study have some theoretical implications. Lakoff (1993: 205) holds that as soon as one gets away from concrete physical experiences and starts talking about abstractions, „metaphorical understanding is the norm.” Lakoff suggests that the question „as to whether all abstract human reasoning is a metaphorical version of imagistic reasoning” should be „a major question for future research in cognitive linguistics” (39). This study is a response to this concern, as it has shown that evidence from English and Arabic empirically supports this claim in the domain of time. Metaphor is very pervasive in the conceptualization and the expression of the abstract concept of time in two unrelated languages. In short, this study corroborates the CMT claim that „metaphor is not merely a linguistic mode of expression;” and that
„it is a pervasive mode of understanding by which we project patterns from one domain of experience in order to structure another domain of a different kind” (Johnson 1987: xiv).
The study of metaphor should move from theory to practice by proposing ways of teaching time metaphors in class. For instance, since metaphors are

18

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

patterns of thought, EFL teachers should develop semantic exercises on time metaphors to help students learn them efficiently. Teachers are encouraged to draw the learners’ attention to the distinction between linguistic metaphors, i.e., what is used in language, and conceptual metaphors, i.e., the mental representation underlying linguistic metaphors. They might have learners extrapolate the conceptual metaphors underlying the linguistic metaphors in a given text. Learners can be given conceptual metaphors and be asked to find out the linguistic metaphors underlying these conceptual metaphors. These exercises would help them to better understand and generate metaphors.

SOURCES OF ARABIC DATA

Literary Texts

.ﻢﻠﻘﻟا:ﺲﻧﻮﺗ .ﺮﺸﻌﻟا تاﻮﻨﺴﻟا ﺔﻠﻴﻟ .(1989) .ص.م ,يﺮﺑﺎﺠﻟا
.يﺮﺤﺒﻟا : ﺲﻧﻮﺗ . جوﺮﻤﻟا ﺲﺋاﺮﻋ . (1985) .ج.خ .ناﺮﺒﺟ
.ﻊﻳزﻮﺘﻠﻟ ﺔﻴﺴﻧﻮﺘﻟا ﺔآﺮﺸﻟا : ﺲﻧﻮﺗ . ﻚﻤﺴﻟا دﺎﻴﺻ ﺖﻨﺑ .(1984).م ,ﻲﻈﻔﺣ
.بﺎﺘﻜﻠﻟ ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟا راﺪﻟا :توﺮﻴﺑ .ةﺎﻴﺤﻟا ىﺪﻣ تﻮﻤﻟا .(1984) .م ,فﻮﺻ
.بﺎﺘﻜﻠﻟ ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟا راﺪﻟا : ﺲﻧﻮﺗ .ﺮﻤﻟا تﻮﺘﻟا .(1984) .ع.م ,يﻮﻄﻤﻟا

Newspapers

.42-27 .ص ,ﻂﺳوﻷا قﺮﺸﻟا .(ﺔﻴﻠﻳﻮﺣ 8 ,2005) .سﺎﺴﺤﻟا ﺮﺗﻮﻟا
28-5.ص ,ﺢﻳﺮﺼﻟا (ﺔﻴﻠﻳﻮﺟ 9 ,2005) .صﺮﻔﻟا ﻦﻴﻤﺜﺗ و تﺎﻳﺪﺤﺘﻟا ﺔﻬﺑﺎﺠﻣ
.2.ص, ﺔﺿﺎﻳﺮﻟا رﺎﺒﺧأ (ﺔﻴﻠﻳﻮﺟ 13 ,2005) .لﺎﻄﺑﻷا ﺔﻄﺑار سﺄآ

Dictionaries

.ﺔﻣﺎﻘﺘﺳﻻا ﺔﻌﺒﻄﻣ :ةﺮهﺎﻘﻟا .ﻂﻴﺤﻤﻟا سﻮﻣﺎﻘﻟا ﺐﻴﺗﺮﺗ .(1959) .أ ,يواﺰﻟا
.سورﻻ ﺔﺒﺘﻜﻣ :ﺲﻳرﺎﺑ (1973). .ﺚﻳﺪﺤﻟا ﻢﺠﻌﻤﻟا: سورﻻ
.ﻦﻴﻳﻼﻤﻠﻟ ﻢﻠﻌﻟا راد :توﺮﻴﺑ .(1990) .يﺰﻴﻠﻜﻧا -ﻲﺑﺮﻋ سﻮﻣﺎﻗ : درﻮﻤﻟا
.ﻞﻴﺠﻟا راد : توﺮﻴﺑ .لﺎﺜﻣﻷا ﻊﻤﺠﻣ .(1987) .أ.ب.أ,ﻲﻧاﺪﻴﻤﻟا

19

metaphorik.de 19/2010

SOURCES OF ENGLISH DATA

Literary texts

Postman, Neil (2001): „The Ideology of Machines: Computer Technology”, in: Buckley, Joanne (ed.): The Harbrace Reader for Canadians, Toronto, 325-335.
Roberts, Paul (2001): „How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”, in: Buckley, Joanne
(ed.): The Harbrace Reader for Canadians, Toronto, 154-168.
Thomas, Dylan (2001): „Memories of Christmas”, in: Buckley, Joanne (ed.): The

Harbrace Reader for Canadians, Toronto, 33-39.

Newspapers

„Giving kids a head start” (1992, November 9), reprinted in Bacz, B. ANG-
14410 Course Notes (Texts): Maclean’s, 15-18.
„Canadians set up camp” (2005, October 23): The Globe and Mail, 28.

Dictionaries

A Dictionary of American Proverbs, Oxford, 1992.

Longman, Oxford, 2003.

March’s Thesaurus Dictionary, Philadelphia, 1925.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford, 1989.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, Oxford, 1970.

Bibliography

Evans, Vyvyan (2004): The Structure of Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal

Cognition, Sussex.

Fraisse, Paul (1956): Psychologie du Temps, Paris.
Kövecses, Zoltan (2002): Metaphor: A Practical Introduction, Oxford.
Lakoff, George (1993): „The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor”, in: Ortony, Andrew (ed.): Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge, 202-252.
Lakoff, George (1987): „The Death of a Dead Metaphor”, in: Metaphor and

Symbolic Activity 2, 143-147.

Lakoff, George/Mark Johnson (1999): Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied

Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought, NY.

20

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

Lakoff, George/Mark Johnson (1980): Metaphors We Live By, Chicago.
Johnson, Mark (1987): The Body in the Mind: The Body Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason, Chicago.
Mair, Christian (2002): „Three Changing Patterns of Verb Complementation in Late Modern English: A Real-Time Study Based on Matching Text Corpora”, in: English Language and Linguistics 6 (1), 105-131.
Semino, Elena/John Heywood/Mick Short (2004): „Methodological Problems in the Analysis of Metaphors in a Corpus of Conversations about Cancer”, in: Journal of Pragmatics 36, 1271-1294.
Steen, Gerard (1999): „From Linguistic to Conceptual Metaphor in Five Steps”, in: Gibbs, Raymond W./Steen, Gerard J. (eds.): Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics, Amsterdam, 57-77.
Yu, Ning (1998): The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: A Perspective from

Chinese, Amsterdam.

21

Kompositummetaphern - semantische Innovation und textpragmatische Funktion

Helge Skirl

Abstract


This paper discusses metaphorical compounds, that is, determinative compounds in the form AB, in which A or B is understood to be used metaphorically. Key issues that have not yet been sufficiently taken into account in the research into word formation and metaphor are also debated. Firstly, metaphorical compounds are precisely defined and distinguished from the formation of comparisons. Secondly, it is shown that novel metaphorical compounds can be identified and interpreted only in the specific context of communication: metaphorical compounds are explained as a phenomenon of the semantics-pragmatics interface, since recipients must interrelate and integrate semantic and pragmatic knowledge in order to realise the signification, in which process emergent conceptual features can also be established. Thirdly, metaphorical compounds are also explained, moreover, in relation to the establishment of coherence and with regard to their various communicative-pragmatic functions.


Im Beitrag werden Kompositummetaphern diskutiert, d. h. Determinativkomposita der Form AB, bei denen A oder B als metaphorisch gebraucht verstanden wird. Es werden wesentliche Aspekte erörtert, die in der Wortbildungs- und Metaphernforschung bisher nicht hinreichend berücksichtigt wurden. Kompositummetaphern werden erstens präzise bestimmt und von Vergleichsbildungen abgegrenzt. Es wird zweitens gezeigt, dass sich neuartige Kompositummetaphern nur im spezifischen Kommunikationskontext identifizieren und interpretieren lassen: Kompositummetaphern werden als ein Phänomen der Semantik-Pragmatik-Schnittstelle expliziert, da Rezipienten im Textverstehensprozess semantisches und pragmatisches Wissen aufeinander beziehen und integrieren müssen, um die Bedeutungszuweisung zu realisieren, wobei auch emergente konzeptuelle Merkmale etabliert werden können. Kompositummetaphern werden außerdem drittens bezüglich der Kohärenzetablierung und hinsichtlich ihrer verschiedenen kommunikativ-pragmatischen Funktionen erläutert.
 

Ausgabe: 

Téléchargement article complet (PDF): 

Jahrgang: 

Seite 23

TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and in Arabic: A Comparative Cognitive Analysis

Sondes Hamdi, Institut Supérieur des Sciences Humaines au Kef

(sondeshamdi@yahoo.fr)

Abstract

Since the emergence of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (the CMT henceforth) in the 1980s, many studies have been carried out on conceptual metaphors. However, so far no single study has provided a systematic comparative analysis of time metaphors in English and in Arabic. The present paper aims at filling up this gap, at least partially, by conducting a comparative analysis of the conceptual metaphors for time in these unrelated languages. The current analysis is based on the theoretical framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as proposed by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson (1980), and Kövecses (2002). The purpose of the current research is to find out how the abstract concept of TIME is conceptualized in terms of a more concrete one, i.e. A MOVING ENTITY, in both languages.

Seit Aufkommen der Kognitiven Metapherntheorie in den 1980er Jahren sind zahlreiche Studien zu Konzeptuellen Metaphern erstellt worden. Keine Studie allerdings hat sich bislang systematisch mit den Metaphorisierungen von 'Zeit' im Englischen und Arabischen auseinandergesetzt. Der vorliegende Beitrag soll diese Lücke schließen, dadurch dass er eine vergleichende Analyse der konzeptuellen Metaphern für 'Zeit' in diesen beiden, nicht miteinander verwandten Sprachen durchführt. Die Analyse stützt sich auf den theoretischen Rahmen der Kognitiven Metapherntheorie, wie sie von Lakoff/Johnson (1980) und Kövecses (2002) entwickelt worden ist. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es herauszufinden, wie der abstrakte Gegenstandsbereich 'Zeit' durch konkretere Bereiche (z.B. als Bewegung) in beiden Sprachen konzeptualisiert wird.

1. Introduction

Since the 1980s, cognitive linguistics has witnessed an upsurge of comparative studies on conceptual metaphors. However, so far no single study has furnished a systematic comparative analysis of time metaphors in English and in Arabic. The present paper purports to bridge this gap, at least partially, by carrying out a comparative analysis of the conceptual metaphors for time in these unrelated languages. The main sources of conventional expressions of time considered in this paper are: dictionaries, newspapers, and literary prose texts. Given that dictionaries are records of the lexicon of a language compiled by expert lexicographers, they constitute a reliable and rich source of conventional expressions. Newspapers and literary texts, on the other hand, allow for the collection of naturally-occurring written data in the two
languages. The choice of these particular text sources is motivated by two

7

metaphorik.de 19/2010

factors: (1) the need to ensure a very close equivalence of text between the two languages; and (2) the need to have balanced data containing different registers. The current analysis is based on the theoretical and practical framework of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory as proposed by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson (1980), and Kövecses (2002). This paper comprises four main sections. The first section outlines the basic tenets of the study’s theoretical framework, i.e. the CMT. The second and third sections highlight the importance of the concept of time and of cross-linguistic corpus-based analyses. The fourth section gives an insight into similarities in the conceptualization of time as a moving entity between the two linguistic communities.

2. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory

What makes the CMT an interesting theoretical framework for metaphor analyses is the distinction it draws between conceptual metaphor, on the one hand, and linguistic metaphors, on the other hand (Lakoff & Johnson 1980). What native speakers say and what belongs to the language or the lexicon of concrete domains are linguistic metaphors. Conceptual metaphor, on the other hand, refers to a mental representation that describes how two words or expressions from apparently different domains may be associated at the underlying level. As such, conceptual metaphor is an abstract notion revealed through linguistic metaphors. For instance, English linguistic metaphors used when talking about time, such as I am wasting my time and Use your time wisely, are some of the linguistic realizations of the underlying conceptual metaphor TIME AS A LIMITED RESOURCE.
The CMT argues that the essence of a conceptual metaphor consists in the comprehension of one concept in terms of another. It is understood in terms of the systematic set of mappings that characterize the transfer from one concept to another. For instance, in the conceptual metaphor TIME AS AN OBJECT, the elements of the source domain, OBJECT, map onto elements in the target domain, TIME. Thus, the possession of an object corresponds to the possession of time, taking an object corresponds to taking time, qualifying an object
corresponds to qualifying time, etc.

8

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

2.1 The Importance of the Concept of Time

Time is one of the important aspects of human experience. Since pre-Socratic times, philosophers and researchers have studied the nature and structure of time (Evans, 2004). In La Psychologie du Temps (1956), Fraisse explains the importance of time in human life, observing that from birth to death, the human body undergoes several changes under the impact of time. He states that our existential conditions vary constantly and modify us in different ways because our existence is structured and shaped by the rhythms of nights and days (283).
This study is an attempt to shed light on the concept of time from a linguistic perspective. It investigates, on the basis of language data, the ways time is mentally represented in two different languages.

2.2 The Importance of Cross-linguistic Corpus-Based Analyses

Several linguists (Steen 1999; Semino et al. 2004) contend that a corpus-based methodology has much to offer in metaphor research, particularly in the process of extrapolation of conceptual metaphors from linguistic metaphors. Thus, this study is based on language data and inspired by the assumption of corpus linguistics that a „corpus-based empiricism must not lose touch with the theoretical linguistic tradition […]” (Mair 2002: 109).
Also, comparative studies concerning two genetically unrelated languages, such as English and Arabic, are badly needed to furnish new evidence- unobtainable from research carried out from a monolingual perspective- for the cognitive status of metaphors. For instance, the fact that English speakers use the domain of MONEY to refer to time, by using expressions peculiar to handling money, such as „spend” and „save,” does not mean that a cognitive mapping between MONEY and TIME is universal. However, if the Arabic words for „save” and „spend” also map onto the domain of TIME, it would be a strong indication that these seemingly different expressions arise from common cognitive mappings between two unrelated domains, i.e., TIME and MONEY, and that the conceptual metaphor is not coincidental in two
unrelated languages.

9

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Results

Both languages conceptualize time as a moving entity as reflected in the following examples:
(1) safir firansa da’aa lihudur hafl …wa dhalika duhr yawm ‘al-xamis ‘al- muqbil fi 14 yuliyu ‘al-haaly.
Ambassador French invite for-presence party, and this day Thursday coming in 14 July current.

„French ambassador called for a show the coming Thursday afternoon 14th

July” (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: 27)

(2) tantaliqu ‘al-dawra ‘al-‘idhaa’aya ‘al-jadida ‘al-‘usbu’ ‘al-qaadim
Start session radio new week coming.

„The new radio session will start the coming week(Axbar Al-Riyadha

2005: 2).
(3) lam yaa‘ti ‘al-zawaal hata kaana qad tahasala ’ala nasib min ‘al-samak yakfi lisadi masaarif dhalika ‘al-yawm.
And not-come noon until he obtain portion of fish suffice to cover expenses of-that day.

The noon had not yet come when he secured a sufficent portion of fish to meet the expenditures of that day” (Hafdhi 1984: 14).

(4) ayqana ‘ana saa’atahu qad haanat wa ‘ana hayaatahu la tusaawi ‘ila
‘isaara min ‘al-malik
He was sure that hour-his approach and that life-his NEG-worth only gesture of king.

„He got sure that his hour had approached and his life was worth no more than a gesture from the king” (Hafdhi 1984: 56).

(5) wal ‘aana ha hiya ‘al-saa’a qad danat wa ‘arisi ‘al-mawt qad jaa‘a ba’da hijraanihi.
And now here is hour approach and groom-my death come after desertion.

„And now the hour has approached and death, my promised groom, came after desertion” (Gibran 1985: 34).

(6) Jaa‘a ’id ‘al-fish
Come Feast Easter.

„Easter has come” (Gibran 1985: 53).

(7) mataa ya‘ti ‘al-sabaah? ’indama ya‘inu ‘awaanuhu

10

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

When come morning? When approach time-its.

„When will the morning come up? Just when its time approaches” (Souf 1984:

77).
(8) The arrival of the Computer Revolution and the founding of the Computer

Age have been announced many times (Postman 2001: 326).

(9) Never think of the future, it comes soon enough (A Dictionary of American

Proverbs 1992: 244).

(10) The moment of truth for most German children comes at the end of Grade
4 (Maclean’s 1992: 16).
(11) The time is approaching when we must think about buying a new house
(Oxford Advanced Dictionary 1989: 48).
In examples (1)-(11), events in the future (Thursday, dawn, night, Easter, the computer revolution, the moment of truth, the future) are understood as displacing themselves from where they were at first to where the observer is. In other words, the use of the deictic verbs of motion with nominal expressions referring to time implies that these events are conceptualized as coming toward, i.e. moving, from the front in the observer’s direction.
Time, as is typical of moving entities, is conceptualized as facing its direction of motion. Thus, future events are facing the observer, who is located at the present moment. This fact is reflected in the verbs and expressions that express face-to-face locations:
(12) istiqbaal ‘al-mawt xayr min ‘istidbaarihi
Facing death better than ignoring-it.

Facing death is better than ignoring it”.

(13) I can see the face of things to come (Lakoff 1999: 143).
In (12), the use of the noun لﺎﺒﻘﺘﺳإ , (/‘istiqbaal/) which means „welcoming, receiving, facing” implies that the observer meets the time of death by facing it. In (13), the future is coming towards the observer (verb come), facing him, allowing the observer to see its metaphorical face (see the face).

Time Brings Something with it

The time not only moves towards the observer, but brings something with it, making an impact on the observer by whom it passes, as in the following examples, where future is described as prosperous and time is seen as a person who brings things the receiver expects to get:

11

metaphorik.de 19/2010

(14) fi ‘al-muqaabil, kaana mutafaa‘ilan bimustaqbal baasim limumathilaatina
In return, he was optimistic of future prosperous for actresses-our.

„In return, he was optimistic about a prosperous future for our actresses”

(Al-Sarih 2005: 5).
(15) Time brings everything to those who can wait for it (A Dictionary of

American Proverbs, 1992: 598).

The closer the expected moment of time is, the more it affects the observer, who, as such, is not indifferent to its arrival, as in examples (16) where wife and fisherman expect the arrival of the baby:
(16) marat ‘al-suhur wal-ayaam wa ‘al-sayaad wa zawjatuhu yantadiraan ‘al- haaditha ‘al-sa’id bifaarighi ‘al-sabr
Pass by months and days and fisherman and wife-his wait event happy eagerly until knock hour and approach time.

The months and days passed, the fisherman and his wife were impatiently expecting the happy event until the time came up” (Hafdhi 1984: 8).

(17) saara yataraqab ma‘aaty ‘al-daqaa‘iq
He wait coming of minutes.

„He was waiting for the advent of minutes(Gibran 1985: 82).

(18) ‘is haadhihi ‘al-ayaam ‘al-ma’duda wantadir ‘al-yawm ‘al-maw’ud
Live these days a few and wait day promised.

„Just live these few days and wait for the promised day(Souf 1984: 61). (19) tatamaalak baqiyat ‘al-fatayaat wa ‘al-niswa ‘anfusahuma ’ala ‘al-raqs

fandafa’na wa ka‘anama kuna bintidaar lahdati ‘al-‘intilaaq
They not-control the rest of girls and women themselves on dance they rushed as if they wait moment of-launching.

„Other girls and women could not resist the desire to dance and they rushed as if they were waiting for the moment of launching” (Al-Jabri 1989: 78).

(20) You are just looking forward dreamily to the week end (Roberts 2001:
154).
In examples (14)-(20), the observer is eagerly waiting for the coming moments of time because he holds high expectations as to what the time will bring him. Time brings him hope and pleasure. The observer’s eagerness is reflected by the use of words such as „rush to dance,” „promised day,” „looking forward”

12

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

and the adverb „dreamily” since we would usually look dreamily to something that we are eager to see.
The observer can be upset at the coming time because it can bring bad or unpredictable events, as illustrated in examples (21)-(23):
(21) wa jalasa ‘al-waalid yufakir fi ma‘aal ‘ibnihi ‘abdalah ‘aladhi yuhadiduhu ‘al-mawt fi kuli lahda
And sit father thinking of fate of son-his Abdallah that threat en-him death in every moment.

„The father was thinking about the fate of his son Abdallah who was threatened by death at any moment(Al-Mitwi 1984: 208).

(22) One can never tell what the future will bring (A Dictionary of American

Proverbs 1992: 244).

(23) Fear not the future, weep not for the past (A Dictionary of American

Proverbs 1992: 244).

In (21), the coming time, the moment of death, frightens the observer because it can take his son away with it into the past. Thus, the coming time is viewed as a frightening force for the observer and for those who surround him. In (22), the observer fears the future because he cannot see what it encloses until it gets to him. As one cannot guess what the future hides for us, the observer has no choice other than wait for the future to come to where he is, to see what it has in stock for him. In (23), the observer might weep over the past for when the present time left him, it took away things that were precious to him, such as youth and happy „past” moments. These things cannot be back once they are gone with time.
Examples (14)-(23) show that in both languages the time passing the observer by raises different emotions in the observer: from joy to sadness and despair. So, the passing of time has the potential to affect the observer emotionally. Or more precisely, things that could happen in future time can considerably have an impact on the observer’s emotional state.

Coming of Time Imposes Duties on the Observer

Examples (24)-(27) show that the subject, who is the observer, does or should do something to receive and greet the coming time:
(24) min dur ‘al-‘azyaa‘ kaanat munhamikatan xilaala ‘al ‘asaabi’ ‘al-‘axira bi
‘i’daadi maa ladayha lisitaa ‘al-muqbil

13

metaphorik.de 19/2010

A number of houses fashion were busy through weeks last preparation of what they have for winter coming.

„A number of fashion houses were busy during the last weeks preparing their next winter collections” (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 2005: 28).

(25) laqad jaa‘a laka ‘al-mawt yaa taarik ‘al-salaat
Come to you death you who do not- pray.

Death is coming to those who neglect their prayers.”

(26) istiqbaal ‘al-mawt xayr min ‘istidbaarihi
Meeting death better than ignoring-it.

Meeting death is better than ignoring it”.

(27) While you glory in the past, be busy in the present lest you should be caught unprepared in the future (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992:
451).
In (24), the subject, the fashion houses, is busy preparing for the coming
winter. In (25), the observer, the subject you, is warned that he should not neglect his prayers. In (26), the observer, any person, should go and meet the coming time head on, since ignoring the moment of death is not an advisable policy. The observer should prepare for the moment of death rather than pretending it is not going to come. In (27), which is a proverb, so it has to teach us a lesson, the observer is advised to work hard in the present to be prepared for the future.

The Future Becoming the Present

Examples (28) and (29) show that the future moving towards the observer changes into the present. Once the future time arrives where the observer is, it becomes the present.
(28) wa ‘al ‘aana haahiya ‘al-saa’a qad danat wa ’arisi ‘al-mawt qad jaa‘a ba’da hijraanihi
And now here is hour came and groom-my death came after desertion.

„And now the hour has come and death, my promised groom, came after desertion” (Gibran 1985: 34).

(29) Winter is almost here.

In examples (28) and (29), the present time (the hour of death and the winter time) are at the same location as the stationary observer, which is illustrated by the use of the place deictic adverb, here and ﺎه (/haa/ „here”), to refer to now. In these examples, the use of the adverbs „here” and ﺎه (/haa/ „here”)

14

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

respectively indicates that the observer sees the time of death and the time of winter as inevitably becoming the present moment.

The Present Becoming the Past

In both languages, past events are expressed as being in motion, as shown in the following examples:
(30) wa kasafat sahifa ‘amarikiya ‘al-jumu’a ‘al-maadi ‘anahu ‘amada ‘ila
‘axthi ‘al-nush min ’adati ‘asxaas
And reveal newspaper American Friday preceding that he-sought to take advice from many people.

An American newspaper revealed, last Friday, that he sought advice from many people” (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat 2005: 30).

(31) raaha ‘al-zaman ‘al-ladhi kaana yusmahu liman laysa lahu ‘aya sahaada
‘al-’amal
Leave time that allow to whom not-has to him degree work.

The time, when any one without a degree was authorized to work, has passed(Souf 1984: 10).

(32) madat sana lam tu‘adi fiha ‘ijaara ‘al-bayt
Leave one year not-pay in-it rent house.

One year passed and you had not yet paid the house rent” (Souf 1984: 9). (33) dhahaba ‘ams bima fihi

Go away yesterday with what in-it.
„Let bygones be bygones” (Proverb Collection 1987: 3).
(34) Gone are the days when the doors of the system could be slammed shut on large numbers of students who failed to respond to the traditional „skin or swim” (The Globe and Mail 1995: 12).
In examples (30)-(34), the moments of the past time (Friday, time, year, yesterday, day) are seen as those that have passed the observer by. In these examples, the events are understood as having gone away from where the observer is.

Pace of Time in Motion

Time moves at different speed and pace; it can go slow or fast. This characteristic of time motion is reflected by the following examples from the corpus:

15

metaphorik.de 19/2010

(35) Little by little time goes by, short if you sing, long if you sigh (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 595).
(36) Time goes slow for those who watch it (A Dictionary of American Proverbs
1992: 597).
(37) Time passes quickly (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 599). (38) ‘ina kula tilka ‘al-saa’aat marat katurfati ’ayn
All these hours pass by like a glance of eye.

All those hours have passed like a glance(Al-Mitwi 1984: 138).

The motion of time into the past is experienced subjectively by the observer. In (35) and (36), time is experienced as going slowly when you spend it unsatisfied complaining about things, and fast, if you spend it having fun as in example (37). In (36), time goes slow for those who want to finish quickly what they are doing. Evans (2004) stresses this idea stating that a given duration of time is experienced as lasting longer or shorter depending on the observer’s state of awareness. He observes that in our human experience of time, the duration of time in situations of suffering and danger is experienced as long, while in situations of routine activities or when we are enjoying ourselves, time appears to pass more quickly.

The Manner of Time Motion

Both languages pay attention to the manner in which time metaphorically moves by using motion verbs encoding manner, such as „fly,” „march on,”
„roll down,” „rotate,” as in the following examples:
(39) kaana ‘al-layl yataqadamu wa lakinahu lam ya‘ti bisay‘ Night march on but-it not-bring anything.

The night marched on, but it brought nothing with it” (Hafdhi 1984: 8).

(40) wa taduru ‘al-ayaam
And rotate days.

And the days rotate” (Al-Mitwi 1984: 138).

(41) Time flies like an arrow, and time lost never returns (A Dictionary of

American Proverbs 1992: 597).

(42) All the Christmases roll down the hill towards the Welsh-speaking sea

(Thomas 2001: 33).
(43) Time marches on (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 599).

16

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

In examples (39)-(43), time is shown to move into the past in different manners: it rolls down like a ball in (42), it walks with regular and firm steps as soldiers do in (43) and (39). Time can move by rotating as in (40) or can fly through the air as arrows do, as in (41).

The Impact of the Motion of Time on Things and on the Observer

Since time is conceptualized as an entity moving towards and past the observer, it necessarily makes an impact on the observer and on the observer’s environment as it passes by. The impact of time is illustrated through the following examples:
(44) wa bimurur ‘al-ayaam tadaraba ’ala ‘al-xitaab wa muwaajahat ‘al-naas
And with passage of time he-trained on discourse and facing of people.

With the passage of time, he got trained in discourse and facing the public”

(Al-Jabri 1989: 53).
(45) wa bimurur ‘al-ayaam wa tawaafur ‘al-sinin ta’adala mizaaj ‘al-‘um
And with passage of time and density of years stabilized mood of- mother.

With the passage of time and the accumulation of years, the mother’s mood became steady” (Al-Jabri 1989: 82).

(46) Time has not been nice to her looks (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
1989: 1343).
(47)

Time changes the oak into a coffin (A Dictionary of American Proverbs

1992: 598).
(48) wa lam yabqa fi tilka ‘al-buq’a ghayr talal baal yu’idu li-dhaakirat
‘asbaah ‘al-ams fayu‘limuha wa yurji’u li-nafs sadan fayuhzinuha
And not-remains of that place except a ruin bring back to memory ghosts of-yesterday so-sadden-them and bring back soul exaltations of glory old.

„Nothing remained in that place only a ruin that brings back the memory of yesterday’s silhouettes and makes them sore and brings back to soul the exaltations of old glory and saddens it” (Gibran 1985: 82).

(49) An hour may destroy what was an age of building (A Dictionary of

American Proverbs 1992: 594).

(50) Time devours all things (A Dictionary of American Proverbs 1992: 597). Examples (46)-(52) show that, in both languages, time is conceptualized as
capable of changing things, of exerting power on the observer and on the

17

metaphorik.de 19/2010

environment, and of causing damage so bad that things no longer exist. Time can transform people’s mood as in (47), bodies as in (48) and (49), and social abilities as in (46); it can also destroy the environment in its passage as in (50) and (51). These kinds of acts typically require agents with particular skills. Devouring, for instance, as in (52) evokes an image of a ferocious beast.

3. Conclusion

The objective of this paper was to show how the conceptual metaphor TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY exists in two unrelated language: English and Arabic. The results of the analysis suggest that in both languages, time is viewed as bringing something with it and the coming of time as imposing duties on the observer. Both languages pay attention to the manner in which time metaphorically moves by using motion verbs encoding manner, such as „fly,”
„roll down,” راد (/daara/ „rotate”), مﺪﻘﺗ (/taqadama/ „march on”). In the two languages, time is conceptualized as a moving entity which makes an impact on the observer and on the environment as it passes by. Thus, time is conceptualized in both languages as capable of changing things, of exerting power on the observer and on the observer’s environment, and of causing damage so bad that things no longer exist.
The results of this study have some theoretical implications. Lakoff (1993: 205) holds that as soon as one gets away from concrete physical experiences and starts talking about abstractions, „metaphorical understanding is the norm.” Lakoff suggests that the question „as to whether all abstract human reasoning is a metaphorical version of imagistic reasoning” should be „a major question for future research in cognitive linguistics” (39). This study is a response to this concern, as it has shown that evidence from English and Arabic empirically supports this claim in the domain of time. Metaphor is very pervasive in the conceptualization and the expression of the abstract concept of time in two unrelated languages. In short, this study corroborates the CMT claim that „metaphor is not merely a linguistic mode of expression;” and that
„it is a pervasive mode of understanding by which we project patterns from one domain of experience in order to structure another domain of a different kind” (Johnson 1987: xiv).
The study of metaphor should move from theory to practice by proposing ways of teaching time metaphors in class. For instance, since metaphors are

18

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

patterns of thought, EFL teachers should develop semantic exercises on time metaphors to help students learn them efficiently. Teachers are encouraged to draw the learners’ attention to the distinction between linguistic metaphors, i.e., what is used in language, and conceptual metaphors, i.e., the mental representation underlying linguistic metaphors. They might have learners extrapolate the conceptual metaphors underlying the linguistic metaphors in a given text. Learners can be given conceptual metaphors and be asked to find out the linguistic metaphors underlying these conceptual metaphors. These exercises would help them to better understand and generate metaphors.

SOURCES OF ARABIC DATA

Literary Texts

.ﻢﻠﻘﻟا:ﺲﻧﻮﺗ .ﺮﺸﻌﻟا تاﻮﻨﺴﻟا ﺔﻠﻴﻟ .(1989) .ص.م ,يﺮﺑﺎﺠﻟا
.يﺮﺤﺒﻟا : ﺲﻧﻮﺗ . جوﺮﻤﻟا ﺲﺋاﺮﻋ . (1985) .ج.خ .ناﺮﺒﺟ
.ﻊﻳزﻮﺘﻠﻟ ﺔﻴﺴﻧﻮﺘﻟا ﺔآﺮﺸﻟا : ﺲﻧﻮﺗ . ﻚﻤﺴﻟا دﺎﻴﺻ ﺖﻨﺑ .(1984).م ,ﻲﻈﻔﺣ
.بﺎﺘﻜﻠﻟ ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟا راﺪﻟا :توﺮﻴﺑ .ةﺎﻴﺤﻟا ىﺪﻣ تﻮﻤﻟا .(1984) .م ,فﻮﺻ
.بﺎﺘﻜﻠﻟ ﺔﻴﺑﺮﻌﻟا راﺪﻟا : ﺲﻧﻮﺗ .ﺮﻤﻟا تﻮﺘﻟا .(1984) .ع.م ,يﻮﻄﻤﻟا

Newspapers

.42-27 .ص ,ﻂﺳوﻷا قﺮﺸﻟا .(ﺔﻴﻠﻳﻮﺣ 8 ,2005) .سﺎﺴﺤﻟا ﺮﺗﻮﻟا
28-5.ص ,ﺢﻳﺮﺼﻟا (ﺔﻴﻠﻳﻮﺟ 9 ,2005) .صﺮﻔﻟا ﻦﻴﻤﺜﺗ و تﺎﻳﺪﺤﺘﻟا ﺔﻬﺑﺎﺠﻣ
.2.ص, ﺔﺿﺎﻳﺮﻟا رﺎﺒﺧأ (ﺔﻴﻠﻳﻮﺟ 13 ,2005) .لﺎﻄﺑﻷا ﺔﻄﺑار سﺄآ

Dictionaries

.ﺔﻣﺎﻘﺘﺳﻻا ﺔﻌﺒﻄﻣ :ةﺮهﺎﻘﻟا .ﻂﻴﺤﻤﻟا سﻮﻣﺎﻘﻟا ﺐﻴﺗﺮﺗ .(1959) .أ ,يواﺰﻟا
.سورﻻ ﺔﺒﺘﻜﻣ :ﺲﻳرﺎﺑ (1973). .ﺚﻳﺪﺤﻟا ﻢﺠﻌﻤﻟا: سورﻻ
.ﻦﻴﻳﻼﻤﻠﻟ ﻢﻠﻌﻟا راد :توﺮﻴﺑ .(1990) .يﺰﻴﻠﻜﻧا -ﻲﺑﺮﻋ سﻮﻣﺎﻗ : درﻮﻤﻟا
.ﻞﻴﺠﻟا راد : توﺮﻴﺑ .لﺎﺜﻣﻷا ﻊﻤﺠﻣ .(1987) .أ.ب.أ,ﻲﻧاﺪﻴﻤﻟا

19

metaphorik.de 19/2010

SOURCES OF ENGLISH DATA

Literary texts

Postman, Neil (2001): „The Ideology of Machines: Computer Technology”, in: Buckley, Joanne (ed.): The Harbrace Reader for Canadians, Toronto, 325-335.
Roberts, Paul (2001): „How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”, in: Buckley, Joanne
(ed.): The Harbrace Reader for Canadians, Toronto, 154-168.
Thomas, Dylan (2001): „Memories of Christmas”, in: Buckley, Joanne (ed.): The

Harbrace Reader for Canadians, Toronto, 33-39.

Newspapers

„Giving kids a head start” (1992, November 9), reprinted in Bacz, B. ANG-
14410 Course Notes (Texts): Maclean’s, 15-18.
„Canadians set up camp” (2005, October 23): The Globe and Mail, 28.

Dictionaries

A Dictionary of American Proverbs, Oxford, 1992.

Longman, Oxford, 2003.

March’s Thesaurus Dictionary, Philadelphia, 1925.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford, 1989.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, Oxford, 1970.

Bibliography

Evans, Vyvyan (2004): The Structure of Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal

Cognition, Sussex.

Fraisse, Paul (1956): Psychologie du Temps, Paris.
Kövecses, Zoltan (2002): Metaphor: A Practical Introduction, Oxford.
Lakoff, George (1993): „The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor”, in: Ortony, Andrew (ed.): Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge, 202-252.
Lakoff, George (1987): „The Death of a Dead Metaphor”, in: Metaphor and

Symbolic Activity 2, 143-147.

Lakoff, George/Mark Johnson (1999): Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied

Mind and its Challenge to Western Thought, NY.

20

Hamdi, TIME AS A MOVING ENTITY in English and Arabic

Lakoff, George/Mark Johnson (1980): Metaphors We Live By, Chicago.
Johnson, Mark (1987): The Body in the Mind: The Body Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason, Chicago.
Mair, Christian (2002): „Three Changing Patterns of Verb Complementation in Late Modern English: A Real-Time Study Based on Matching Text Corpora”, in: English Language and Linguistics 6 (1), 105-131.
Semino, Elena/John Heywood/Mick Short (2004): „Methodological Problems in the Analysis of Metaphors in a Corpus of Conversations about Cancer”, in: Journal of Pragmatics 36, 1271-1294.
Steen, Gerard (1999): „From Linguistic to Conceptual Metaphor in Five Steps”, in: Gibbs, Raymond W./Steen, Gerard J. (eds.): Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics, Amsterdam, 57-77.
Yu, Ning (1998): The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor: A Perspective from

Chinese, Amsterdam.

21

Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Rachel Sutton-Spence

Abstract

Sign languages are visual languages. Signers place signs in space to represent both concrete and abstract meaning, drawing on literal and metaphorical uses of space. This paper considers the ways that four sign language poems use space metaphorically in the exploration of the poets’ identities as Deaf people. Signs placed across the sagittal, vertical and transverse axes are used to signal different views of identity, drawing upon basic cognitive spatial and orientational metaphors to refer to self and others, as well as values and conflicts between identities and their resolution. The spatial metaphors identified here interact with several other inter-connected metaphors, none of which can work alone. The complex interaction of these metaphors to describe a signer’s identity is inextricably bound up with the embodiment of sign languages, so that the form of the human body foregrounds – and, perhaps even, predetermines – the metaphors selected by signers to conceptualise Deaf identity ¹ .

Gebärdensprachen sind visuelle Sprachen, in denen Zeichen im Raum vor dem Sprecher platziert werden, um sowohl konkrete als auch abstrakte Bedeutungen zu repräsentieren. Ausgehend vom wörtlichen und metaphorischen Gebrauch von Räumlichkeit, untersucht der vorliegende Aufsatz in welcher Art und Weise in vier gebärdensprachlichen Gedichten Raum und Räumlichkeit zur metaphorischen Taubstummenidentitätsbildung herangezogen werden. Zeichen und Gebärden werden körperbezogen entlang horizontaler, vertikaler und quer verlaufender Achsen mit dem Ziel einer entsprechenden Identitätsbildung platziert. Die hier herangezogenen Raum- und Orientierungsmetaphern rahmen sowohl das Selbst und das Andere, als auch konfligierende Wertzuschreibungen an Identitäten und bieten Möglichkeiten für deren Auflösung an. Die in diesem Beitrag analysierten Metaphern stellen eine dichtes und gegenseitig konstituierendes Geflecht an Zeichen- und Bedeutungsbeziehungen dar, die gerade in Bezug auf die Bildung von Taub¬stummenidentität zu einem nicht zu unterschätzendem Maß von der Körperlichkeit des jeweiligen Sprechers bestimmt, wenn nicht prädeterminiert wird.
 


¹ I am grateful to Paul Scott, Richard Carter and Donna Williams for their kind permission to use their poems and for their time to discuss the use of space in their poetry. Their work is anthologised as part of a larger project on signed metaphor, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC grant number: AH/G011672/1) which has also supported the research reported here. I am also grateful to Jon Savage for his kind permission to use his poem Bully ASL. Greg Judge gave me the idea of analysing these poems as a thematic set. Figure 1, from Dorothy Miles’ performance of The Staircase, is used with kind permission of Don Read. I thank Donna Jo Napoli, Donna West and Michiko Kaneko for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper and Claire Ramsey for her help with ASL translations. Tim Northam modelled the signs in Figure 3.

Ausgabe: 

Téléchargement article complet (PDF): 

Jahrgang: 

Seite 47

Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Rachel Sutton-Spence, University of Bristol (Rachel.Spence@bristol.ac.uk)

Abstract

Sign languages are visual languages. Signers place signs in space to represent both concrete and abstract meaning, drawing on literal and metaphorical uses of space. This paper considers the ways that four sign language poems use space metaphorically in the exploration of the poets’ identities as Deaf people. Signs placed across the sagittal, vertical and transverse axes are used to signal different views of identity, drawing upon basic cognitive spatial and orientational metaphors to refer to self and others, as well as values and conflicts between identities and their resolution. The spatial metaphors identified here interact with several other inter-connected metaphors, none of which can work alone. The complex interaction of these metaphors to describe a signer’s identity is inextricably bound up with the embodiment of sign languages, so that the form of the human body foregrounds

– and, perhaps even, predetermines – the metaphors selected by signers to conceptualise

Deaf identity1.

Gebärdensprachen sind visuelle Sprachen, in denen Zeichen im Raum vor dem Sprecher platziert werden, um sowohl konkrete als auch abstrakte Bedeutungen zu repräsentieren. Ausgehend vom wörtlichen und metaphorischen Gebrauch von Räumlichkeit, untersucht der vorliegende Aufsatz in welcher Art und Weise in vier gebärdensprachlichen Gedichten Raum und Räumlichkeit zur metaphorischen Taubstummenidentitätsbildung herangezogen werden. Zeichen und Gebärden werden körperbezogen entlang horizontaler, vertikaler und quer verlaufender Achsen mit dem Ziel einer entsprechenden Identitätsbildung platziert. Die hier herangezogenen Raum- und Orientierungsmetaphern rahmen sowohl das Selbst und das Andere, als auch konfligierende Wertzuschreibungen an Identitäten und bieten Möglichkeiten für deren Auflösung an. Die in diesem Beitrag analysierten Metaphern stellen eine dichtes und gegenseitig konstituierendes Geflecht an Zeichen- und Bedeutungsbeziehungen dar, die gerade in Bezug auf die Bildung von Taub- stummenidentität zu einem nicht zu unterschätzendem Maß von der Körperlichkeit des jeweiligen Sprechers bestimmt, wenn nicht prädeterminiert wird.

1 I am grateful to Paul Scott, Richard Carter and Donna Williams for their kind permission to use their poems and for their time to discuss the use of space in their poetry. Their work is anthologised as part of a larger project on signed metaphor, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC grant number: AH/G011672/1) which has also supported the research reported here. I am also grateful to Jon Savage for his kind permission to use his poem Bully ASL. Greg Judge gave me the idea of analysing these poems as a thematic set. Figure 1, from Dorothy Miles’ performance of The Staircase, is used with kind permission of Don Read. I thank Donna Jo Napoli, Donna West and Michiko Kaneko for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper and Claire Ramsey for her help with ASL translations. Tim Northam modelled the signs in Figure 3.

47

metaphorik.de 19/2010

1. Introduction

This paper considers the potential for signed languages, as visual-spatial languages, to express spatial metaphors directly. Spatial metaphors expressed in spoken languages must be expressed through words that have no spatial dimension, but signers can articulate their signs in carefully chosen locations to reflect metaphorical spatial meaning. The metaphor GOOD IS UP (Lakoff/Johnson 1980 for more details of this and many other conceptual and orientational metaphors) may be realised through English words and phrases such as “look up to”, “praise to the rafters” and “be elevated to a peerage”, but the words themselves have no intrinsic spatial value, having only conventional relationships between signifiers and signified. Signs in sign languages, on the other hand, being articulated in three-dimensional space, may realise the same metaphor through signs that are located at, directed at or moving towards higher locations within the signing space of the language. Until now, although this use of metaphor in sign languages has been noted and explored by several scholars (Taub 2001a, Wilcox 2000, Brennan 1990), focus has mostly been upon the use of spatial metaphor at a lexical level and as it is used in everyday language. However, Taub (2001b) has considered some metaphorical uses of space in American Sign Language (ASL) poetry as part of her analysis of the use of complex metaphors within one ASL poem by Ella Mae Lentz. In this analysis she reveals the use of a range of metaphors, focussing specifically on the way that Lentz blends them to increase the poetic message in her work. Taub’s seminal work does refer briefly to the use of orientational metaphors including POWERFUL IS UP and OPPRESSION IS DOWNWARD PRESSURE but these are not the focus of her analysis.
Here, I will focus specifically on ways in which poetic sign language uses space directly to show a range of spatial metaphors, describing the work of Deaf poets that illustrate it. I will show that the poets build upon devices available in everyday signing to create far more complex and subtle metaphorical uses of space. My analysis will specifically consider the use of spatial metaphors to express the poets’ sense of Deaf Identity. As the very use of sign language is usually understood to be central to a positive sense of Deaf Identity, it is fitting that the qualities inherent in the language are used
symbolically to express it. In signed poems considering their perspectives on

48

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Deaf Identity, the Deaf poets place and move their signs in contrasting left- right, up-down, and front-back locations that are metaphorically meaningful.
The discussion of an abstract concept such as identity is a useful area for exploration because it has no physical form to place in space. In order for the poets’ spatial metaphors to operate satisfactorily with the non-concrete, hard- to-define social constructions we might call “identity”, the poets need to draw on other conceptual metaphors. For example, the insubstantial concept needs to be substantialised, and this is achieved through metaphor. Only once it has substance can the newly “concrete” concept of Identity occupy space in a way that has metaphorical meaning. Thus, I show here how creative sign language can afford a new perspective on thinking about the symbolic use of space.

2. Metaphor in the structure of sign languages: The case of spatial metaphor

Sign languages are visual-spatial-kinetic languages that have arisen within Deaf communities. They are independent of – although they have often been influenced by – the spoken languages of the hearing communities that surround them. Each sign may be seen physically as a sequence of movements and holds of a handshape articulated at a certain location. Signed vocabulary is frequently visually motivated (for example, the sign DEAF usually indicates the ear in some way), as is grammatical information, through the location of signs in space and the direction, speed and path of movement of the articulating hands (For further information on the structure of signed languages see Johnston/Schembri 2007; Valli/Lucas/Mulroney 2005, Sutton- Spence/Woll 1998). The sign languages studied here are British Sign Language (BSL) and American Sign Language (ASL), but the underlying principles about the use of space in signed poems to express the identities outlined should hold for other national sign languages.
Normally, the handedness of a signer is irrelevant to language production. As most signers are right-handed, the right hand is normally the dominant hand, which articulates one-handed signs and is the active hand in relation to a static base hand in two-handed signs. However, this dominance is reversed in left-handed signers and is rarely remarked upon. Of the four poets whose work is considered here, the three British poets are right-handed (Donna

49

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Williams, Paul Scott and Richard Carter) and the American poet, John Savage, is a left-handed signer. We should note, however, that poets can over-ride their natural handedness and deliberately select the hand they sign with for poetic effect – and this is especially relevant when discussing spatial metaphors.
Following the seminal work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980), cognitive semanticists claim it is well established in principle that space is used symbolically in the thought processes and languages of most, if not all, people, and that orientational metaphors are widespread in languages, generating related phrases and expressions. Grounded in our experiences of interaction with the world, we understand, for example, that growth is often linked to health and strength. Thus, the metaphor GOOD IS UP is widely used in many languages, leading to understandings – and consequently to linguistic expressions – such as looking up to those we respect and down on those we don’t; better employment and social success as climbing up and social or financial failure as moving down. While spoken languages use words with no spatial aspects to the speech sounds produced to convey these concepts, sign languages are able to use space directly to show them. This symbolic use of space is seen in core signed vocabulary items, as well as in the creative language such as is considered in this research. Thus signs for high status referents may be placed higher in space than lower status ones; the signs WIN and SUCCEED in BSL move upward, while the signs LOSE and FAIL move downward; the sign PROMOTION moves up and the sign BANKRUPT moves down (We should note that up is not always good. They may be neutral and may even be bad – things that are “up in the air” are unsettled and to “give up” is usually seen as an admission of failure. In BSL, at least, signs reflecting these ideas also move upwards.). The signed representation of ideas such as EMOTIONAL CLOSENESS IS PHYSICAL CLOSENESS is another category of signed spatial metaphor seen widely, although not exclusively (the BSL sign LOVE is articulated on the body while the sign HATE moves away from the body), as are other widespread frameworks such as THE MIND IS A CONTAINER or MENTAL PROCESSES ARE CONCRETE OBJECTS (see Brennan 1990; 2005). These observations also hold for ASL (Wilcox 2005) and other sign languages including Catalan Sign Language
(Jarque 2005). While there remains a great deal of exploration to be done on

50

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

the symbolic use of space in signed vocabulary, the direct spatial representation of the spatial metaphors behind signed concepts is clearly widespread. These signed expressions of spatial and other metaphors may be informed by studies on gesture and metaphor as well as linguistics.
Whether signing or gesturing while speaking, humans often move their hands in relation to three key axes: left to right, along the transverse axis; front to back along the sagittal axis; and up and down along the vertical axis. The ideas of SELF IS CLOSE or GOOD IS UP (and, hence, OTHER IS DISTANT and DOWN IS BAD) are widespread in spoken language, and speakers often represent them gesturally by moving their hands across the sagittal and vertical axes (Calbris 2008). As the body is associated with ‘self’, gestures and signs referring to the self are articulated on, at or towards the body, and signs referring to others are articulated further away from the body. In Nigel Howard’s BSL haiku poem Deaf, signs referring to the deaf baby when it is born are made close to the parent’s body but when the medical professional operates on the baby to implant a cochlear implant, the signs for laying the baby gently down and operating on it are placed markedly forward in the signing space (see Fig. 4). Thus, the location of signs across the sagittal axis is clearly used to signal “us” and “them” in the poem, as well as EMOTIONAL CLOSENESS IS PHYSICAL CLOSENESS (and its converse for distance). GOOD IS UP is seen in Dorothy Miles’ BSL poem The Staircase where she uses height of signs to signal success through education within the Deaf community. At the start of the poem, uneducated (and ‘unenlightened’ in various senses) deaf people are lost in a dark forest, with signs articulated at waist-to-chest height. They see glimmering lights at the top of a huge staircase
– where the sign for the lights is articulated above head height – and move towards them. Signs describing their ascent of the staircase, as they gain their education, move progressively higher from waist to head height. It is clear that signs placed higher in the signing space are used to convey positive
meaning as they move to better their lives (Fig. 1).

51

metaphorik.de 19/2010




1a 1b 1c 1d

Fig. 1 a-c: People (each person represented by a finger) at three different heights as they ascend the staircase from the forest.

Fig. 1 d: Lights twinkling far away at the top of the staircase (note the hands reach outside the camera frame).

However, despite the expectation that up-down metaphors will use the vertical axis and close-far metaphors should move along the sagittal axis, the transverse axis is also commonly used for speakers gesturing while talking about these topics. It is well-documented that most symmetrical signs are symmetrical across the transverse left-right axis in sign languages (Napoli/Wu 2003; Sutton-Spence/Kaneko 2007). The same is seen in the gestures of hearing people when they speak (Calbris 2008). This is because natural human symmetry locates our hands on the left and right so that it is physiologically easiest to use this distinction. Humans have very distinct ventral and dorsal sides, and our top halves are very different from our lower portions, but our left and right sides are remarkably similar. We may thus expect that division of space into left and right might carry dichotomous ideas symbolically. Ideas of difference and opposition (1/1), equivalence (1=1) and complementarity (1+1) can all be presented visually in the left and right fields, perhaps precisely because the two sides of the body are so similar. Calbris notes that, while the other two axes are also used in gesture, they are often projected on to the side-to-side axis, so that low, back and left are associated, and high, forward and right are also associated. These ideas of symbolic use of space are exploited by sign language poets when they explore expressions of their identity.
Using a particular metaphor foregrounds some aspects of the phenomenon under discussion at the expense of other aspects so that choice of metaphor frames phenomena or events in specific ways (Semino 2008). For humans generally, it is possible that our possession of two hands predisposes us to
create so many dichotomous distinctions. In sign languages, where signs are

52

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

expressed with left and right hands, perhaps the very embodiment of the concepts leads signers to present issues as dyads.
In order for these and other metaphors to work in sign languages, it is necessary to re-iconise metaphor. In our basic conceptualisation of metaphor, through their embodied origins, we understand these metaphors at an iconic level, but as they are transferred into a spoken language representation they lose their iconicity. In sign languages, the linguistic realisations of the essential visual metaphors are rendered iconic again.

2.1 Other metaphors – container and manipulation metaphors

There are many metaphorical uses of space in signed languages (for example, the use of space to depict different perspectives of time) but here I will focus on two widespread conceptual metaphors that are of particular relevance to the discussion of identity in these poems – THE BODY IS A CONTAINER and ABSTRACT CONCEPTS ARE PHYSICAL OBJECTS. Both are well- represented in sign languages, just as they are in spoken languages. Wilcox (2005), for example, has shown that ASL treats the chest and belly as containers for emotions, and the head is treated as a container for mental processes. I will show that the torso is also treated as a container for facets of the signer’s identity by at least three of the poets here. The BSL signs SELF, I, MY and IDENTITY are located at the sternum – the mid-part of the torso – locating these concepts as part of the core of the person in a physical and emotional sense, rather than any intellectual sense (Fig. 2). The signs for these are also articulated at this location in ASL, although the handshapes and movements may differ, suggesting that it is the location that is especially meaningful here symbolically for the concept of self. It is well-established (see Brennan 1990, Jarque 2005) that signs relating to emotions are frequently located on the chest in many sign languages. This metaphor of EMOTION IS CONTAINED IN THE CHEST works in conjunction with the metaphor for the self and identity to be located in the chest, suggesting that in BSL and ASL (and many other sign languages) identity is more of an emotional entity than
an intellectual one.

53

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Fig. 2: IDENTITY signed at the sternum (by the right hand).

To remove things from the body is to remove a part of the self and, metaphorically, facets of identity may be moved in and out of the torso, removing or replacing these parts of the self. Associated with the container metaphor is the idea that objects within a container are hidden, and objects outside a container may be seen. This links to a further widespread metaphor KNOWING IS SEEING (a metaphor that is especially relevant for Deaf people, for whom vision is such an important way of perceiving the world). It allows signers to look at elements taken from within the chest for reflection and understanding of the now-visible elements. Using the poems discussed here, I will show how the poets place and move their signs referring to identity to describe revelation and concealment of their identities.
Wilcox (2000) has also demonstrated the widespread presence in sign languages of the metaphor MENTAL PROCESSES ARE OBJECTS THAT CAN BE MANIPULATED (Brennan 2005 makes a similar observation for BSL). Thus one may grasp, hold or select ideas, thoughts or memories using the same handshapes as seen in signs referring to grasping, holding or selecting concrete objects. Once the concepts are substantialised so that they can be held, they can then be held up for inspection, moved around, laid out, and so on. In the poetry described here, we see that the abstract elements of identity may also be treated as concrete objects that can be manipulated in the same way.
Another, less common, metaphor in everyday sign language treats abstract concepts as animate beings capable of independent movement and even possessing language. In humorous or creative signing, for example, the idea of
‘confidence’ may be animated so that a loss of confidence may be expressed as confidence moving away, using a verb predicate sign normally used to refer to a hunched person moving away. This sign is a pun on the BSL sign

CONFIDENCE that already has this curved handshape (Fig. 3a). In an even more

54

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

complex expression, the hands articulating the sign TEACHING may be animated so that they look at each other and question what they are doing (Fig. 3b) (Sutton-Spence/Napoli 2009, forthcoming). The attribution of independent movement to the concept of identity is seen in one of the poems described here.

3a 3b

Fig. 3: Substantialised signs treating abstract ideas as entities capable of independent movement.

Fig. 3a: Confidence wanders sadly away – the C handshape used in the sign CONFIDENCE

altered to reflect a hunched upright entity moving.

Fig. 3b: Part of teaching falls by the wayside while the other part looks on – the closed handshape used in the sign TEACHING altered to reflect the snout and head of an animal.

3. Deaf Identities

We can see identity as the sense of being oneself, and not another. There has been a great deal written about Deaf identity – and how it is changing – over the last decade, and this is not the place to review the literature in depth (see Leigh 2008; Brueggeman 2008). However, this section will briefly summarise some of the salient points necessary for appreciating the use of spatial metaphor to express Deaf identity. Carty (1994) has outlined some characteristics of Deaf Identity that we may use to understand the expression of identity as it is explored in the signed poems. These include embracing deafness as an essential, positive part of oneself, recognising and participating in Deaf culture and customs (especially through sign language) and interpreting the surrounding world in a way that is compatible with one’s experience as a Deaf person. While many hearing people will see deafness as a loss and the lack of spoken language as a disadvantage, within the Deaf community, Deaf people see themselves as a linguistic and social group where sign language is celebrated. The signed poems under consideration stem from the poets’ attempts to define and live the reality of these characteristics and
reconcile them with less positive views of deafness. It is perhaps significant

55

metaphorik.de 19/2010

that none of the poets makes any reference to the question of a sense of identity as disabled. No poet here asks the question “Am I Deaf or am I disabled?” By using sign language the poets are already rejecting any idea based on a medical or social disability model that they might be disabled. Instead they embrace the idea that they are members of a language minority and the questions asked in the poems start from this point.
Deafness from a medical perspective may simply be defined by a loss of hearing. However, social, cultural and linguistic models of deafness frequently distinguish between a “deaf” person (note the lower case “d”) who has a hearing loss and a “Deaf” person (note the upper case “D”), who identifies culturally with a Deaf community and uses sign language. The question of what it means to “identify” with the Deaf community and who is or is not a community member is far more complex than some might expect. It has been considered by many scholars from a range of perspectives: by Padden and Humphries (1988, 2005) in relation to Deaf signers in America with strong ‘traditional’ Deaf experiences of Deaf school and Deaf club life; by Brueggeman (2008) from the perspective of a “late-comer” to the Deaf community; by Preston (1994) and Hoffmeister (2008) in relation to the hearing children of Deaf parents (again in America, but see also Napier 2008, with respect to the Australian experience) who may socially and linguistically identify most closely with the Deaf community while having no hearing loss; Breivik (2005) in relation to people (in Norway but also internationally) with varying degrees of hearing loss and varying degrees of closeness to the Deaf community depending on their school and language experiences; and Ladd (2003) who has considered, amongst others, the identities of British people who may be members or ‘allies’ of the Deaf community.
For many years there has been an understanding in American Deaf culture that one cannot be both Deaf and Hearing (Padden/Humphries 1988) and this dichotomous belief has been widely accepted in other countries, including the UK. In the Deaf community “ambiguity is rarely allowed; people are either hearing or deaf” (Preston (1994:16), referring to the American Deaf community, italics in the original). The possibility of a fully bicultural identity is rarely overtly explored (Brueggeman 2008). Increasingly, for younger people with a physical hearing loss, but who have been brought up socially, linguistically
and educationally to adapt to the ‘hearing world’, a key identity struggle is

56

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

between being a Deaf person or a Hearing person – or partially both, or perhaps neither. Identities are as multiple and fluid for a deaf person as they are for anyone in periods of rapid social change such as we have seen in the last few decades, so that the questions “Am I Deaf or Hearing” or “Am I a Deaf person or a deaf person?” can be complex and demanding (Leigh 2008).
Multiple identities may thus be seen within one person. They also occur within a non-homogeneous Deaf community, leading to struggles to find a single collective identity. The final message in all four poems that I consider in this research is that the conflict can best be resolved by accepting the apparent conflicting differences as being parts of a greater, somehow unified, whole.
The development, discovery or acquisition of a Deaf identity is complicated. Perhaps as many as 95% of all deaf people are born to hearing families, where there is no knowledge or understanding of either sign language or Deaf culture. Traditionally, most deaf children’s Deaf identities began when they started school because they were educated at schools for the deaf. At these schools, sign language was often devalued or even proscribed, but the children signed together, covertly if necessary, and began to learn about Deaf culture and the Deaf community. The few children who came from Deaf families were especially important to the other children because they taught them the language and cultural customs of the Deaf community. These children who attended Deaf schools, despite knowing and understanding their place in the world as Deaf people, still have had to deal with the reality that they are part of a minority community and that mainstream society views deafness as something “lacking”, and sees sign languages as inferior to speech (Ladd 2003). However, at least they have had the benefit of deaf society and access to sign language during their education. Since the 1980s, education of deaf children on both sides of the Atlantic has steadily moved away from placement in deaf schools, so that most deaf children are now educated in mainstream schools with hearing children, relying on assistive hearing devices (hearing aids or cochlear implants) to access spoken language. They have limited or no access to either Deaf culture or sign language. They grow up in a ‘hearing world’ aware that they are different because they are deaf but with no clear affiliation to any ‘Deaf World’. Many only discover sign language and the Deaf community in young adulthood. For these people, a
complex layering and mixing of identities is the norm.

57

metaphorik.de 19/2010

The view of deafness as a state has been challenged by Paddy Ladd (Ladd
2003) with the suggestion that the social, political, linguistic and personal identities of deaf people should be seen instead as a process, encompassed by the term ‘Deafhood’. Ladd explains that the process is used “by each Deaf child, Deaf family and Deaf adult to explain to themselves and each other their own existence in the world. In sharing their lives with each other as a community, and enacting those explanations rather than writing books about them, Deaf people are engaged in a daily praxis, a continuing internal and external dialogue” (Ladd 2003:3). Deafhood is seen by some Deaf people as a unifying and positive acceptance of all deaf people, no matter what their national or educational experience has been.
Although it is clear that members of the Deaf community are very aware of their identity as Deaf people, there is no simple identity dichotomy in reality. Social identities include those that arise from their national identities, gender affiliations, ethnic family heritages and age. An older Caucasian American deaf man, for example, has a different sense of identity from a late-teenage British Asian deaf woman. Despite this, social identification for Deaf people especially centres on the issue of belonging to the Deaf community – or not – and the linguistic identities for a deaf person are influenced by, and reflected in, their choice of language for different tasks and different forms of interaction. Most importantly, perhaps, they may feel the need to resolve the question of whether they identify with “The Deaf World” or “The Hearing World”. Clearly, such concepts are abstract, arbitrary and ultimately artificial social constructs, and the simple dichotomies of ‘signer’ and ‘non-signer’ or
‘deaf’ and ‘hearing’ are anything but simple in reality. However, like so many dichotomies, they are very powerful concepts. The use of opposing signing spaces in poems relating to identity enables their representations and perhaps perpetuates them.

4. Sign language poetry and expressions of Deaf identity

It is well recognised that sign language poetry is an ideal vehicle for the exploration and expression of Deaf identity (Ormsby 1995; Peters 2000; Sutton-Spence/Muller de Quadros 2005, Bauman/Nelson/Rose 2006). In many poems, explorations of Deaf experiences and identity are conveyed through anthropomorphic metaphors, so that Deaf audiences expect to see the

58

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Deaf community’s experiences, struggles and victories through vehicles such as trees and other plants, animals and even inanimate objects such as a pinball (Sutton-Spence/Napoli 2010). Issues concerning finding one’s place in the world are tackled in Dorothy Miles’ BSL version of The Ugly Duckling (e.g. in Sutton-Spence/Woll 1998) and Ben Bahan’s ASL poetic narrative Bird of a Different Feather (2007), which both use anthropomorphised birds as the vehicle for exploring the experiences of deaf children born into hearing families.
Other explorations are seen through analogy with other characters easily recognised by members of the Deaf community, for example in Paul Scott’s BSL poem Macbeth of the Lost Ark (2009), the Deaf hero is modelled on a fusion of images of heroes from Macbeth and Indiana Jones. Reference to King Arthur is seen in Dorothy Miles’ poem The Staircase and to Icarus in her poem Hang-glider (see Sutton-Spence 2005 for English text translations of these BSL and ASL poems), again, using these characters to comment on Deaf ways of being. Real life parallels may also be drawn, as in Blue Suits by Paul Scott, in which a warning to Deaf people of the perils of fame and the tragedy of the fall from popular grace is shown through reference to Margaret Thatcher and to Diana, Princess of Wales (herself a BSL signer, whose close relationship with the Deaf community was best manifest in her patronage of the British Deaf Association).
Issues of identity and deaf-hearing relationships may also be expressed through linguistic form in signed poetry using handshapes that carry symbolic meaning and valence. The handshape of a sign may be open or closed, with straight or bent or “clawed” fingers. Although there are non- symbolic uses of these handshapes, there is a significantly high proportion of signs with clawed/bent handshapes that carry negative valence in BSL (such as ANGRY, JEALOUS, MISERABLE, POOR, THIEF, NAG, OLD and BLIND) (Kaneko
2008). Although I am unaware of any systematic research on this in ASL, the
same pattern appears to hold, as signs such as ANGRY, NAUSEATED and WEAK are made with clawed handshapes. Thus we may wish to present this as GOOD IS RELAXED AND OPEN and BAD IS TENSE AND CLAWED. Nigel Howard’s BSL haiku Deaf (2006) makes use of the valence carried within handshapes, as the signs relating to a deaf baby’s birth and the innocently trusting parents giving it to the care of the medical profession are all related

59

metaphorik.de 19/2010

using an open flat handshape (Fig. 4a-c). The final, shocking sign is made with a sharp movement and uses two closed, clawed handshapes (Fig. 4d). That sign may be translated as “implant the baby with two cochlear implants” (also punning with the BSL sign TRAP, implying that the baby is now trapped within the medical model of deafness).

4a 4b

4c 4d

Fig. 4: Handshape valence in Nigel Howard’s haiku Deaf.

Fig. 4a: BORN.

Fig. 4b: DEAF (on the right hand – usually made with the handshape seen in Figs 12 and 16 but using the flat handshape here for poetic effect).

Fig. 4c: PASS-THE-BABY-TO-SOMEONE.

Fig. 4d: IMPLANT-THE-BABY-WITH -COCHLEAR-IMPLANTS.

As well as these metaphorical representations of identity, space may be seen as one more available option for signers to use when creating poems in relation to Deaf Identity.

5. The poems under discussion

The four poems considered for this exploration of space and identity are Bully ASL by Jon Savage, Identity by Richard Carter, Who am I? by Donna Williams and Five Senses by Paul Scott. All poems are available for viewing on the Internet (for their URLs, please see reference list). The first of these is by an American Deaf poet and is performed in ASL (American Sign Language); the

60

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

remaining three are by British Deaf poets and are performed in BSL (British Sign Language). All the poems deal with the apparently oppositional Deaf or Hearing identities and signing or speaking identities. The three British poems reflect on issues of multiple identities for an individual Deaf person (while acknowledging that these are issues relevant to many Deaf people). Identity considers three aspects: being Deaf, using a sign language, and sexual orientation. Who am I reflects on these and other aspects of personal, linguistic and social identity including gender. Paul Scott’s Five Senses takes a somewhat different approach, showing how a Deaf person’s identity is complete, despite the apparent “loss” of one sense. In contrast to these more individualistic poems, Bully ASL considers the tensions within the American Deaf community between people who have grown up in the Deaf community using American Sign Language, and people who have grown up surrounded by hearing people using English and learned ASL as a second language. Within the American Deaf community, non-fluent signers and late-comers to the community often find themselves rejected by more established signers who do not consider them “Deaf enough” (Bauman 2008).
The four poems are provided in translation at the end of this article, with an attempt to place some of the words on the page in a way that represents, at least in part, the spatial layout of the signs. It is striking that all these poems use space to explore and express different aspects of identity. I will show how spatial metaphors are made real across the transverse axis by the poets standing to the left and right (or centre), using the left and right hands independently (or together) and placing signs in the left and right halves of space in front of them (or using the centre space). Across this axis, signs may be articulated far apart, at the extreme ends of the left-right space, or may be held closer to the mid-line. The dominant division is across this transverse axis, with opposing or enumerated concepts laid out on each side. Another division is along the sagittal axis, as ideas of the self are contrasted with the ideas of others. This use of space is further bound up in the “container” metaphor that uses the sagittal axis to locate signs close to or on the body (as being in the container) or in front of the signer, so that signs across the front- back axis express hidden and revealed identity. Placement in relation to the vertical axis also relates to visibility, as signs may be made lower and higher
in space according to whether they can be seen or not, and status, as signs

61

metaphorik.de 19/2010

referring to a more dominant character are articulated higher than those for a less powerful character.
We should note that space is not the only way in which identity is poetically presented through foregrounded use of language or performance. Bully ASL is the most ‘produced’ performance of the four reviewed here, in which contrast is shown sartorially and through linguistic style as well as spatially. The poem inter-cuts two versions of the poet as two characters to show the contrasting and apparently conflicting aspects of Deaf community membership, divided by language experiences: the first character represents the ‘Hearing Impaired’ signer and the second represents the ‘Deaf’ signer (Within the Deaf community, the term “Deaf” has positive connotations not normally appreciated in hearing society). The Hearing Impaired signer wears a white shirt and the Deaf signer wears a black shirt. The use of contrasting colours is deliberate, as Jon Savage reports on his YouTube site that his decision to use black and white symbolises yin and yang. Opposing colours symbolise opposing camps within the American Deaf community, and yet they are both inextricably linked. This symbolic idea that there can be a union of opposites is further developed when the character advocating Deafhood to unite these opposing views of deaf identity wears red.
The style and speed of signing, and the posture and facial expression of the characters also highlight the contrasting elements in the poems as the poets attempt to reconcile apparent conflicts. In Bully ASL, the Hearing Impaired signer signs slowly, earnestly and almost apologetically, articulating each grammatical element of English in a signed form, while the Deaf signer signs faster, more assertively (almost aggressively) and with no reference to English grammar at all. This emphasises the strongly-held belief among many signers that signed English is slow, clumsy and inelegant, whereas “natural” sign languages enable fast, clear and unhindered communication. In Identity, the oppressive outside threats to Deaf Identity sign firmly and almost didactically, while the poet’s Deaf character signs more tentatively and deferentially at first, but at the end, the certainty borne of clear identity and self-esteem leads to signs that are even larger, faster and firmer than the Oppressors’. The signs in the first half of Who am I? are made slowly and deliberately as the poet questions how to deal with the different aspects of her
identity that she reveals. In the second half of the poem, however, as she

62

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

travels towards acceptance of her complex set of identities, the signs are faster and almost casually articulated, as the component parts are hastily reassembled to create the satisfied poet, who has come to accept the apparent chaos and conflict because she is not the neat and simple individual she might have expected to be. Paul Scott’s Five Senses also speeds up towards the climax of the poem. As the senses of sight and ‘hearing’ work together to show the core identity of the Deaf person, movements are faster and less carefully articulated in the headlong rush of excitement of perception in a Deaf World. The signs are also noticeably different in this final section. In the first three senses of touch, taste and smell (shared by anyone with Deaf or Hearing identity) signs are highly productive and almost gestural and very little recognisable vocabulary is used. When the final two senses work together to produce the key element of the Deaf identity, the signs used are established lexical items from BSL vocabulary. This symbolises the fact that Deaf Identity is seen most clearly in the use of sign languages (as mentioned in the introductory section of this paper). When the poet expresses his uniquely Deaf identity he uses vocabulary items unique to his signed language, rather than using signs that are far closer to the gestures that might be shared by Deaf and hearing people alike.

5.1 Signing along the sagittal axis

In Bully ASL, there is symbolic movement forwards and backwards along the midsagittal axis within the vocabulary signs used by the two characters, showing their contrasting senses of esteem and pride. The Hearing Impaired signer’s signs move inwards as though the signer is withdrawing from others (TOWARDS SELF IS AWAY FROM OTHERS) while the Deaf signer’s signs move forwards as though taking up a larger personal space with the idea that IMPORTANT IS LARGE . In Identity, when the poet finally stands up to the didactic outside oppressors, the repeated sign NO! moves outwards, again expressing IMPORTANT IS LARGE2 (Fig. 5).

2 An alternative but related metaphor that could be used here is ‘LOUD’ IS LARGE, so that larger space equates to greater sound volume. I am grateful to Donna Jo Napoli for suggesting this.

63

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Fig. 5: Strong Deaf Identity says NO! to the Oppressors, with a large outward movement.

Each of the BSL poems also uses this division of space for the ‘container’ metaphor, as the elements of Deaf identity are treated as though they are located in the chest. This division of space could be seen as a distinction of ‘in’ and ‘out’, rather than front and back, yet, because the body is the location for
‘in’ and the front of the body is the location for ‘out’, there is a noticeable movement of signs forwards and backwards. In order for the poets to reflect upon specific elements of their identity, the elements need to leave the more- personal chest area and come into less personal space. This is what Lindner (in Ekberg 1997:78) refers to as the “region of interactive focus” – “the realm of shared experience, action, function, conscious interaction and awareness”. Once out there, they can be seen, and so, using the metaphor KNOWING IS SEEING, they can be understood. Donna Williams opens the “body container” with the sign made as though pulling out the top of her shirt and looking down inside it (Fig. 6a). This sign is reasonably well established in BSL to mean “look inside yourself,” but still has definite poetic resonances. Richard Carter opens his “body container” laterally, as though opening both sides of a coat (Fig. 6b). Donna needs to reach down into her container to retrieve the characteristics of her identity (Fig. 7a), whereas Richard holds his open and lets them walk out on the level (Fig. 7b). Paul Scott’s animated senses are located in the fingers of one hand (clearly motivated by the human form of the poet having five fingers, one for each sense,) but in order to express themselves as part of his identity they travel up his arm and situate themselves firmly in his chest before revealing themselves by taking over his entire body (Fig. 8). In all three cases, the identity characteristic is openly revealed symbolically by the linguistic device of presenting the signs clearly
and openly.

64

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry



6a 6b1 6b

Fig. 6: signs opening the body to reveal identity.

Fig. 6a: Opening the container from the top.

Fig. 6b1 and 6b: Opening the container from the front.

7a 7b

Fig. 7: Elements of identity leaving the container of the body.

Fig. 7a: Element of identity to be handled.

Fig. 7b: Element of identity capable of independent movement.

8a 8b

Fig. 8: Elements of identity in Five Senses.

Fig. 8a: Element of identity capable of independent movement and conversation as Taste is shown in the left index finger (the right index finger is making the sign WHAT?).

Fig. 8b: Element of identity fully embodied including the right hand (enjoying a delicious taste, here).

We saw above that part of the definition of Deafhood entails the idea of an internal and external dialogue about living as a Deaf person. The poems here provide linguistic expressions that make real the metaphoric ideas of internal

65

metaphorik.de 19/2010

and external dialogue. In Who am I?, this spatial metaphor of identity being contained within the body co-occurs with the idea that its elements are concrete objects to be manipulated, as Donna Williams picks up each one in her hand, holds it up for her scrutiny and lays it out in the space before her (Fig. 9a).

Fig. 9: Element of identity that can be held, looked at and considered.

In Identity, the spatial metaphor is possible because the elements are personified using whole entity classifiers, so that they can move independently and observed (Fig. 7b – note the signer’s gaze as it looks at the character emerging). Each one, once it has moved itself out from the container of “self” into the outside region of interactive focus, is able to converse with the poet and contradict the didactic oppressors.
In Five Senses, each sense is also allocated an entity classifier to allow it to be observed and given the power of communication with the signer outside the body (although this time to the side rather than in front) (Fig. 8b – note the signer’s gaze as it addresses the character on the left hand, in this case asking it, “What are you?”). When the sense has possessed the body to reveal its nature, it no longer converses but instead communicates through the very embodiment that demonstrates its nature. The container metaphor is also seen in signs that show the senses taking information “in” to the body. Movement of signs along the sagittal axis varies according to whether the senses may be considered distal or proximal but in both types the hands move in towards the body to show perception. The more proximal senses (touch, taste and smell) are signed initially with outward movements as the poet to reaches out in order to engage with the sensations. The distal senses (sight, working with hearing) are signed with signs that move more immediately in to the body
without the initial outward movement.

66

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

5.2 Signing along the vertical axis

Gravity and biology make verticality perhaps the most salient dimension for many cognitively based metaphors. There is a metonymic motivation behind ideas that MORE IS UP, because a rise is surface level is the most salient representation of some sort of increase. This metonymic device is extended to many associated metaphorical concepts (leading, for example, to GOOD IS UP and POWERFUL IS UP) and the poems use upward movement and location to show positive valence in various ways. We also see the idea that VISIBLE IS UP (and HIDDEN IS DOWN). Signs along this axis relating to these metaphors to express Deaf identity are seen in Five Senses and Identity.
In Five Senses, each sense appears to sleep in the closed fist. To converse with a sense, the poet has to wake it up by tapping it. As the sense wakes, the finger straightens. The idea that UP = AWAKE, HEALTHY OR ACTIVE and DOWN
= ASLEEP, ILL OR INACTIVE is clearly operational here (see Wilcox 2005).
The exception to this is when the poet tries to converse with the sense of hearing. This finger cannot straighten and repeatedly uncurls halfway before closing again. It can only straighten when it does so next to the finger representing sight (Fig. 10). Thus we see positive, upright and healthy elements operating with the orientational UP metaphor. A healthy Deaf identity is related to UP with the straight fingers. The sense that cannot operate alone and needs to work with sight for a Deaf identity stands up when sight stands up and the straightness of the fingers in the sign reflects this (in another performance of this poem, the finger can straighten when it is first called but curls up when the poet asks “What are you?” Thus the link between the straight and upright nature of the finger and the sense of
knowing one’s identity is made even more strongly).

67

metaphorik.de 19/2010


10a 10b

Fig. 10: Curled finger suggests something ill-formed; Straight finger suggests well-formed.

Fig. 10a: Sense of hearing (on left hand) as a curled finger when alone.

Fig. 10b: Senses of hearing and sight (on left hand) both straight fingers when together.

As the final senses work together to express the “true” full Deaf identity, signs are articulated at their highest in the poem, once again referring to the idea that GOOD IS UP. There is a pleasant poetic effect of upward direction of movement through the poem as the senses are presented in a steadily rising pattern (signs related to touch are articulated at torso height, then those for taste at mouth height, then smell at the nose) until, the signs for sight-with- hearing are at the level of the eyes. Clearly, we might expect signs related to sight to be at eye height because of the direct embodiment of the signs, but the fact remains that signs for the most valued sense in Deaf identity are signed the highest point on the vertical axis at the climax of the poem. The final sign in the sight-with-hearing sequence, however, starts at eye level and ends at the bottom of the sternum, at the centre of the body. This sign, which can be roughly translated as ACQUIRE, carries the meaning of thorough learning, reflecting the idea that knowledge that is truly learned and understood is taken not just into the mind but deep into the self. Normally the sign LEARN would be articulated at head height, as learning is associated with being a mental process. Again, then, the location of the sign is seen to have symbolic meaning of going beyond being merely a mental process but being part of
identity and an emotion that is part of the self (Fig. 11).

68

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Fig. 11: Acquire deep into the body.

Richard Carter’s Identity uses height in signing space in two different ways. The first is to reflect power relations between the outside “hearing” world and his threatened inner Deaf identity, using POWERFUL IS UP. The three personified elements from the hearing world approach him from shoulder height, reflecting their power and status (Fig. 12a). They look down to talk to him and he looks up to talk to them (Fig. 12b and c). The second way uses the idea of HIDDEN IS DOWN as the three personified elements of his identity emerge from his chest and remain at chest height (Fig. 13). Richard has explained that although they are revealed to the poet as they leave his chest (referred to above while discussing movement along the midsagittal) they remain hidden from the outside world because they are low.

12a 12b 12c

Fig. 12: Oppressor of Deaf identity represented higher up in space.

Fig. 12a: Oppressor approaches at shoulder height.

Fig. 12b: Oppressor talks down to the Deaf person asking “Are you Deaf?”.

Fig. 12c: Deaf person talks up to the Oppressor replying “Yes, I’m Deaf”.

69

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Fig. 13: Element of Deaf identity represented lower down in space, as it leaves the container at chest height (see Fig. 12a where oppressive figure is at shoulder height)

5.3 Signing across the transverse axis

While the vertical axis might be the most salient, elements that might be expected to be treated in terms of verticality are frequently transferred to the transverse axis because of the natural structure of the human body. This is particularly the case in sign languages where meaning is embodied laterally because of our symmetry and the arrangements of our arms and hands.
Division left and right, across the transverse axis, is used extensively by the signers to express contrast and conflict, as well as simple enumeration. Signing space is often divided into the left side and the right side, with signs placed to the left and right of the transverse axis. A right-handed signer, for example, may place a one-handed sign in the right hand side of the signing space (i.e. ipsilaterally) or cross over and place it in the left hand side (i.e. contralaterally). It is also possible, however, to shift dominance and use both sides of signing space while keeping signs ipsilateral, so that the left hand articulates signs on the left hand side and the right hand produces signs on the right side. This device of placing two signs ipsilaterally using both hands highlights the contrast between the concepts being expressed by keeping the signs even further apart than when they are produced by a single hand (first ipsilaterally and then contralaterally). Additionally, placing two signs ipsilaterally allows them to be shown simultaneously, which highlights the degree of contrast between the two concepts shown.
Richard Carter’s Identity uses signing space divided across this axis to keep elements separate, but merely as locations for enumeration, rather than for contrast. Reference to being Deaf is made to the right; being a signer is articulated centrally and being gay is articulated to the left. There is no

70

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

implication that any of these three elements of his identity should be privileged over the others and no suggestion of opposition. In fact, in another performance of the same poem, Deafness is placed on the left and being gay is placed on the right, providing further evidence that the placement is arbitrary. It is more likely that the order in which the signs are articulated, rather than their location in space highlights their importance. The primary identity of being Deaf is signed first and the fact that he is a signer follows logically from this so it makes iconic sense to be signed second.
Paul Scott’s Five Senses places opposing aspects of different senses in opposing left-right areas of signing space. Thus while describing ‘touch’, the concepts of cold and hot are articulated to the right and left; while describing
‘taste’, pleasant tastes are on the right and unpleasant ones are on the left; and for smell, pleasant smells are on the right and unpleasant smells are on the left. Although these different senses are apparently oppositional (1/1) there is a sense of simple complementarity too – touch involves both heat and coldness (1+1); taste and smell involve pleasant and unpleasant experiences (1+1). For Touch, the signs are articulated by each hand, so that the locations are ipsilateral (Fig. 14a). For Taste and Smell, the non-dominant left hand retains the closed fist representing the dormant senses while the dominant hand shows the embodied sense, and this hand uses right and left space by placing referents ipsilaterally and contralaterally (Fig. 14b and c). I am grateful to Donna Jo Napoli (personal communication, June 2010) for pointing out to me that where only one hand is used in both halves of the signing space, signers seem to sign ipsilaterally first, and then contralaterally.

14a

71

metaphorik.de 19/2010

14b

14c

Fig. 14: using left and right to show different sensory experiences.

Fig. 14a: Touching something cold to the right with the right hand; touching something hot to the left with the left hand.

Fig. 14b: Right hand signs ready to taste something nice to the right; ready to taste something nasty to the left (note the left hand marks the source of the sleeping sense).

Fig. 14bc: Right hand signs smelling something nice to the right; smelling something nasty to the left (note the left hand marks the source of the sleeping sense).

In the two examples in Fig. 14 b and c, we can see space and the different hands used metaphorically with considerable complexity in a rather different way. Only the dominant hand is understood to be part of the embodied character, so the use of space is then used in relation to that, while the different sensory experiences are expressed on the non-dominant hand. The non-dominant hand uses surrogate space, representing the location of the five senses as they sleep in the hand, while the dominant uses the real world space as the body moves through space exactly as we would expect it to do non- linguistically. So this use of blended spaces, where aspects of the same sense are simultaneously shown on either side of the transverse axis is one more use of laterality in creative signing.
In Bully ASL, the oppositional 1/1 contrast between the characters is highlighted most strongly using divisions across the transverse axis at a performance level even beyond the linguistic level. The Hearing Impaired signer stands Stage Right; the Deaf signer stands Stage Left. Such strong distinction of physical locations of signer highlights the gulf between the two

72

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

positions of these two “deaf” people in the American Deaf community. They are physically far apart, representing the distance of their linguistic and social differences (Fig. 15).

Fig. 15: Character of Hearing Impaired signer using right hand and standing to the right; Character of Deaf signer using left hand and standing to the left.

Additionally, the Hearing Impaired signer signs predominantly with his right hand and the Deaf signer signs predominantly with his left hand.
Donna Williams’ Who Am I? also uses space across the transverse axis to emphasise contrast. She places aspects of her identity related to being a hearing person on the left and those aspects related to her deafness on the right. Some of this is further reinforced by using the left hand to articulate signs placed on the left side and the right hand to articulate signs on the right side. At one stage in the poem she signs DEAF and HEARING simultaneously, one with each hand, on opposite sides of the head (Fig. 16). It would have been possible for her to sign these two signs in sequence, using the same hand on the same side of the body but the impact of the sharp contrast between these apparently irreconcilable identities would be greatly lessened.

Fig. 16: DEAF signed on the right and HEARING on the left hand.

Williams’ effect of using opposing hands to show the opposing ideas, as with Bully ASL, is to make the opposing signs even more contrasting because they are physically ‘doubly’ separated – by location in signing space and by
articulating hand. It might be expected that the widespread valence metaphor

73

metaphorik.de 19/2010

GOOD IS ON THE RIGHT and BAD IS ON THE LEFT would be recruited for this use of space. Indeed, we do see the nicer sensations on the right and the less nice ones on the left in Five Senses.
Given this, perhaps the poems celebrating a Deaf identity perhaps should place Deaf issues on the right and hearing issues on the left. Indeed, this is the case in Donna Williams’ poem, as we can see in Fig. 16. However, in an interview for this research Donna explained that she attributes no distinct values to the left and right hand sides. Thus it is possible that she simply signed HEARING to the left first because that is the order of first and second items, determined by the way in which people who use our writing system naturally write (see Calbris 2008 for a similar argument in relation to gestures made by speakers). This suggestion that Deaf-related concepts do not need to be on the right because they are ‘good’ is reinforced by Jon Savage’s Bully ASL, in which the “strong Deaf” character is placed on the left and the hearing impaired signer on the right. Given the values of most Deaf signers, these locations should be reversed if GOOD IS ON THE RIGHT were to be followed. As Jon Savage appears to be a left-hand-dominant signer it is perhaps more likely that the spatial differences arise from the use of dominant versus non-dominant hands, rather than specifically right or left hands. Indeed, Donna Williams commented that she would feel more comfortable signing HEARING with her right hand because the sign moves between two locations on the head and this is easier done with her dominant hand (DEAF in BSL is only articulated at a single location and could be more easily signed with the non-dominant hand.). Although this is an area requiring further investigation, it does appear from limited observations that the GOOD IS ON THE RIGHT; BAD IS ON THE LEFT is not a prevailing spatial metaphor in BSL (see also Sutton-Spence/Kaneko 2005).
The fact that our body is symmetric on this axis means that the poet can choose how to use left and right spaces in each performance of any poem. Donna has used the right-hand space to represent something negative and left-hand space to something positive (in her poem Dissertation and Duck the pressure of the imminent deadline of her dissertation is placed to her right and the unthreatening, relaxing duckling is on her left). Thus we may say that although contrasts made on the transverse axis are maintained within a poem they can be re-set and re-established each time they start a new poem,

74

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

whereas those made on the vertical/saggital axes cannot be easily altered because they are much more deeply rooted in our experience with gravity, body structure and movement.
Distance across this axis can also be used to show of contrast. As Donna starts laying out the differences between her Deaf and Hearing identities, she signs DEAF IDENTITY HAVE and HEARING IDENTITY HAVE. All these signs are one- handed, allowing her to maintain the first instance of HAVE on her left hand while she continues to sign HEARING IDENTITY HAVE with her right hand, finishing with HAVE on the left hand and HAVE on the right hand. These two signs are held far apart, left and right, across the signing space, showing how apparently different and irreconcilable the two elements are (Fig. 17). So, this shows the metaphor STRONG CONTRAST IS PHYSICALLY FAR APART.

Fig. 17: Sign HAVE for Hearing identity held far to the left and sign HAVE for Deaf identity held far to the right.

When she has re-assembled most of the apparently competing aspects within herself, she finally holds her deaf nature in one hand and her hearing nature in the other. Again, these two are signed simultaneously, but this time they are signed much closer together, nearer to the central axis, showing WEAK CONTRAST IS PHYSICALLY CLOSE (Fig. 18). Perhaps by this stage we are starting to see how the two elements are seen less as oppositional (1/1) and more in a complementary relationship (1+1).

Fig. 18: Deafness and Hearingness held closer prior to being returned to the Chest container.

75

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Signs articulated in centre space at the axis bring together apparently conflicting elements. Donna’s hands put both Deaf and Hearing identities next to each other in the small chest container (Fig. 19).

Fig. 19: Deaf and hearing identities held close to the central axis within the chest container.

She then brings her hands together in a circling movement in the centre of her chest, showing that her identity brings together both Deaf and hearing characteristics and outlooks of her self. The final character in Bully ASL, representing the unifying character of Deafhood, stands centrally and signs UNITY across the central field with both hands. Even though the word D.E.A.F.H.O.O.D. is signed on one hand (American fingerspelling is one- handed, unlike the two-handed British manual alphabet), the hand is held unusually centrally. In the final sequence of the senses in Paul Scott’s Five Senses, in which sight and hearing work together, all the signs are symmetrical, and are made with both hands and articulated centrally. Again there is a sense of “coming together” in identity as the two hands come closer together.
Thus we can see that opposing views about elements of identity are articulated using opposing sides of space and opposing hands, while united views are symbolically produced centrally, often with both hands.

6. Conclusion

The examples from the four poems considered here show the strong use of linguistic spatial metaphor directly re-iconised in the poetic expression of Deaf identity in sign languages. Many of the essential conceptual spatial metaphors are similar to those seen in spoken languages, but their direct representation is notably different. The visual and kinetic aspects of sign language often use spatial metaphors, however, in conjunction with other
conceptual metaphors. Thus the ideas concerning aspects of identity moving

76

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

from inside to outside the signer rely on further metaphors about treating the body as a container and the elements of identity as being concrete and manipulable or capable of their own independent movement. At times the use of space would be unremarkable in normal signing but when seen in the context of the poems the space takes on a clear metaphorical meaning. At other times the poets deliberately stretch or bend the rules of location in space in order to highlight the relationships between aspects of their identities. I have shown that the four poets use signs placed along the sagittal axis to build on ideas of revealing hidden identities, working with container metaphors of the body and self, as signs nearer the body express suppressed or concealed identity and signs further from the body express revealed and publicly acknowledged identity. Signs placed higher or lower along the vertical axis reference not just that GOOD IS UP but also that VISIBLE IS UP. Signs placed across the transverse axis clearly set ideas that are conceptually opposed (such as Deaf and Hearing or Deaf and Hearing-Impaired) in laterally opposing space. In almost all cases the signs do not need to be placed where they are in order for their basic propositional meaning to be understood. Their location in signing space shows additional metaphorical meaning. Without the fundamental substantialising metaphor of the abstract concept of identity, however, none of this would be possible.
A great deal of research remains to be done –on signed metaphor, on the symbolic implication of signing space and on metaphors in sign language poetry. Further exploration of poetic signed metaphor is currently underway, as we are exploring the role of gaze, iconicity and handshape in poetic signed metaphor, drawing on the increasing numbers of signed poems that are becoming available for analysis. It is clear even from the small set of examples presented here, that the poetic exploitation of space highlights the extraordinary potential for spatial metaphor in visual language. As we investigate the work of Deaf poets in more depth we will gain new perspectives on creative and fundamental, more everyday metaphors that are made possible through their embodied visual linguistic expression.

References

Bahan, Ben (2007): Bird of a Different Feather. ASL Literature Series, Teacher’s
Set DVD, San Diego.

77

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Bauman, Dirksen (2008): „Postscript: Gallaudet Protests of 2006 and the Myths of In/Exclusion“, in: Bauman, Dirksen (ed.): Open your eyes: deaf studies talking. Minneapolis, Minn, 327-336.
Bauman, Dirksen/Nelson, Judy/Rose, Heidi (eds.) (2006): Signing the Body

Poetic. Berkeley et al.

Brennan, Mary (2005): „Conjoining word and image in British Sign Language (BSL): an exploration of metaphorical signs in BSL“, in: Sign Language Studies 5, 360-382.
Brennan, Mary (1990): Word formation in British Sign Language. Stockholm. Breivik, Jan (2005): Deaf Identities in the Making: Local Lives, Transnational

Connections. Washington D.C.

Brueggemann, Brenda Jo (2008): „Think-between: A Deaf studies commonplace book“, in: Lindgren, Kristin/DeLuca, Doreen/Napoli, Donna Jo (eds.): Signs & voices: Deaf culture, identity, language, and arts, Washington D.C., 30–42.
Calbris, Genevieve (2008): „From left to right… coverbal gestures and their symbolic use of space“, in: Cienki, Alan/Müller, Cornelia (eds): Metaphor and Gesture, Amsterdam, 27-53.
Carter, Richard (2010): Identity, see:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/bslpoetryanthology (02.07.2010).
Carty, Breda: (1994): „The development of Deaf identity“, in: Erting, Carol/Johnson, Robert C./Smith, Dorothy L./Snider, Bruce D. (eds.): The Deaf Way: Perspectives from the International Conference on Deaf Culture, Washington D.C., 40-43.
Hoffmeister, Robert (2008): „Border Crossings by Hearing Children of Deaf Parents: the lost history of Codas“, in: Bauman, Dirksen (ed.): Open your Eyes: Deaf Studies Talking, Minneapolis, 189-215.
Howard, Nigel (2006): Deaf, see: http://www.bslhaiku.co.uk/poet_nh.html
(02.07.2010).
Jarque, Maria-Josep (2005): „Double mapping in metaphorical expressions of thought and communication in Catalan Sign Language“, in: Sign Language Studies 5, 292-316.
Johnston, Trevor/Schembri, Adam (2007): Australian Sign Language (Auslan): An Introduction to Sign Language Linguistics. Cambridge.
Kaneko, Michiko (2008): The poetics of sign language haiku, Ph.D. dissertation, Centre for Deaf Studies, Bristol.
Kannapell, Barbara (1994): „Deaf Identity; An American Perspective“, in: Erting, Carol/Johnson, Robert C./Smith, Dorothy L./Snider, Bruce D.

78

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

(eds.): The deaf way: Perspectives from the International Conference on Deaf

Culture, Washington D.C., 44-48.

Ladd, Paddy (2003): Understanding Deaf culture: in search of Deafhood. Clevedon. Lakoff, George/Johnson, Mark (1980): Metaphors we live by. Chicago.
Leigh, Irene (2008): „Who am I? Deaf identity issues“, in: Lindgren,
Kristin/DeLuca, Doreen/Napoli, Donna Jo (eds): Signs & voices: Deaf culture, identity, language, and arts, Washington D.C., 21-29.
Ekberg, Lena (1997): „The mental manipulation of the vertical axis: How to go from ‚up‘ to ‚out‘, or from ‚above‘ to ‚behind‘“, in: Verspoor, Marjolijn/Lee, Kee Dong/Sweetser, Eve (eds.): Lexical and syntactic constructions and the construction of meaning, Amsterdam, 69-88.
Napoli, Donna Jo/Wu, Jeff (2003): „Morpheme structure constraints on two- handed signs in American Sign Language: Notions of Symmetry“, in: Journal of Sign Language and Linguistics 6, 123-205.
Napier, Jemina (2008): „Exploring linguistic and cultural identity: My personal experience“, in: Bishop, Michelle/Hicks, Sherry L. (eds): Hearing, Mother Father Deaf, Washington D.C., 219-243.
Ormsby, Alec (1995): „Poetic cohesion in American Sign Language: Valli’s
‚Snowflake‘ and Coleridge’s ‚Frost at Midnight‘“, in: Sign Language

Studies 88, 227-244.

Padden, Carol/Humphries, Tom (1988): Deaf in America; Voices from a culture.
Cambridge Mass.
Padden, Carol/Humphries, Tom (2005): Inside Deaf Culture. Cambridge Mass. Peters, Cynthia (2000): Deaf American literature: from carnival to the canon.
Washington D.C.
Preston, Paul (1994): Mother Father Deaf: Living between sound and silence.
Cambridge Mass.
Savage, Jon (2007): „Bully ASL“, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0VBvKNd6hE (02.07.2010).
Scott, Paul (2003): „Five Senses“, in: Sign Poetry DVD, Coleford Glos.
Scott, Paul (2009): „Macbeth of the Lost Ark“, see:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/bslpoetryanthology (02.07.2010).
Scott, Paul (2010): „Blue Suits“, see:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/bslpoetryanthology (02.07.2010).
Semino, Elena (2008): Metaphor in Discourse. Cambridge.

79

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Sutton-Spence, Rachel/Woll, Bencie (1998): The Linguistics of British Sign

Language: An Introduction. Cambridge.

Sutton-Spence, Rachel (2005): Analysing Sign Language Poetry. Basingstoke. Sutton-Spence, Rachel/Muller de Quadros, Ronice (2005): „Sign Language
Poetry and Deaf Identity“, in: Journal of Sign Language and Linguistics 8,
177-212.
Sutton-Spence, Rachel/Kaneko, Michiko (2007): „Symmetry in Sign Language
Poetry“, in: Sign Language Studies 7, 284-318.
Sutton-Spence, Rachel/Napoli, Donna Jo (2009): Humour in Signed Languages:

linguistic underpinnings. Dublin.

Sutton-Spence, Rachel/Napoli, Donna Jo (2010): „Anthropomorphism in sign languages: A look at poetry and storytelling with a focus on British Sign Language“, in: Sign Language Studies 10, 442-475.
Sutton-Spence, Rachel/Napoli, Donna Jo (forthcoming): „Deaf Jokes and Sign
Language Humour“, in: International Journal of Humor Research.
Taub, Sarah (2001a): Language from the Body: Iconicity and Metaphor in American

Sign Language. Cambridge.

Taub, Sarah (2001b): „Complex superposition of metaphors in an ASL poem“, in: Dively, Valerie/Metzger, Melanie/Taub, Sarah/Baer, Anne Marie (Eds.): Signed languages: Discoveries from international research, Washington D.C., 197-230.
Valli, Clayton/Lucas, Ceil/Mulroney, Kristin (42005): The Linguistics of

American Sign Language: An Introduction, Washington D.C.

Wilcox, Phyllis (2005): „What do you Think? Metaphor in thought and communication domains in American Sign Language“, in: Sign Language Studies 5, 267-291.
Wilcox, Phyllis (2000): Metaphor in American Sign Language. Washington D.C. Williams, Donna (2010): Who am I?, see:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/bslpoetryanthology (02.07.2010).

80

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Five Senses by Paul Scott

Excuse me, who are you?

Who am I? Come with me and see. Feel your arms tingle at my embrace.

Reach out - oh, that's cold!

Reach out - oh, that's hot!

So, now you know me.

Excuse me, who are you?

Who am I? Come with me and see.

A lick of ice-cream - mmm

A scoop of that - yuck!

A scoop of this - yum!

So, now you know me.

Excuse me, who are you?

Who am I? Come with me and see.

Pick a flower and sniff - lovely! Take some cheese from the fridge - whiffy!

Pop this tasty morsel in your mouth,

Yes, and it smells good too. So, now you know me.

Excuse me, who are you?

Excuse me?

Excuse me, what's wrong with him?

Oh, we're together. Together?

81

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Yes, come with us and see.

Eyes wide open, seeing and understanding.

Information and learning, Colours, speed, action.

Learning and drinking in the world through the eyes.

So now you know us. And now you know me.

Bully ASL by Jon Savage

Bully

ASL

I am hearing impaired

I am deaf

I use sign language. SEE or PSE

I sign ASL

I sign from what I read

I sign (from) what I understand

I want to have hearing people understand me

Those hearing people can learn ASL

I like to tell short stories

I can sign all day

I want to learn ASL, but

Get away! Me teach-you ASL?! No way! Don’t bother me.

I have to step back

So clever of you to join that clique

I am lonely

There aren’t many deaf out there

I want uni…

Want

[a flash of exchanges – unity and unity]

82

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

Unity! Deafhood! Unity!

Who am I? by Donna Williams

Who am I? Who am I?

I grew up with hearing culture

I came late

To join deaf culture

I have a hearing identity

I have a deaf identity

Both inside me create emotional turmoil/don’t fit together

I feel angry/torn-apart

I go to the hearing world and am labelled hearing impaired, damaged

That’s me

I go to the deaf world and am labelled “faow”3i, oral well

I’m divided in half - hearing

Divided in half - deaf

Together what have I become?

So, who am I?

Well, I open myself to look inside

I take out that I am deaf, hold it up and look at it, I toss it down

I reach in and take out, hold up and look at that I am hearing,

I toss it down

I look into myself; look around inside myself

I take out, hold up and look at that I am a woman, I lay it down

3 Insulting term meaning a deaf person who is ‘half hearing’.

83

metaphorik.de 19/2010

I take out hold and look at that I am gay, I lay it down

I look into myself, take out, hold up and look at my love of language, I lay it down

I take out, hold and look at my love of reading and writing

I lay it down

I take out, hold and look at my love of science, futurology

I pull [something] out

I pull [something] out

I look around inside myself

I close myself up and look around at what is now laid out

There are many different things there

They are all mixed

I see a winding unclear path/uncertainty

[nod three times across left to right] I open myself

I put [something] back in

I put [something] back in

Science and futurology, I put in

I pick up reading and writing

I put them in

I pick up my love of language put in

I pick up that I am gay

I put it in

I pick up that I am a woman

I put it in

I pick up, hold and look hard at that I am hearing

I hold it

84

Sutton-Spence, Spatial metaphor and expressions of identity in sign language poetry

I pick up, hold and look hard at that I am deaf

I hold it

I weigh up both

I put both in

I move both around inside

Feelings

Gently, I hold myself closed

That’s who am I

Identity by Richard Carter

[Shoulder height] A person approaches and taps my shoulder. I look up [LOOKING DOWN] Are you deaf? [LOOKING UP] Yes, I’m Deaf

[LOOKING DOWN] You should be hearing

[LOOKING UP] I should be hearing? OK, I’ll think about that

[Shoulder height] The person leaves

Thinking

[Shoulder height] Person approaches and taps shoulder. Look up

[LOOKING DOWN] Do you speak? [LOOKING UP] Me? I sign

[LOOKING DOWN] You should speak [LOOKING UP] I should speak? OK, I’ll think about that [Shoulder height] Person leaves

Thinking

[Shoulder height] Person approaches and taps shoulder. Look up

[LOOKING DOWN] Are you gay? [LOOKING UP] Yes, I’m gay

[LOOKING DOWN] You should be straight

[LOOKING UP] I should be straight? OK, I’ll think about that

[Shoulder height] Person leaves

Thinking

Open up chest like a coat

[Chest height] Person emerges from chest to Right, Person emerges from chest to Centre, Person emerges from chest to Left

85

metaphorik.de 19/2010

You should be Deaf. Definitely! You should sign, don’t speak. You should!

You should be gay, not straight. You should be gay!

[Chest height] Person returns to chest from Right, Person returns to chest from Centre, Person returns to chest from Left

[Shoulder height] Person approaches and taps shoulder. Look up [LOOKING DOWN] You should be hearing [LOOKING UP] No! I’m deaf and proud of it! No!

Thinking

[Shoulder height] Person approaches and taps shoulder. Look up

[LOOKING DOWN] Do you sign? [LOOKING UP] Yes, I sign

[LOOKING DOWN] You should speak [LOOKING UP] No! I’m proud of my signing! No! Thinking

[Shoulder height] Person approaches and taps shoulder. Look up

[LOOKING DOWN] Are you gay? [LOOKING UP] Yes, I’m gay

[LOOKING DOWN] You should be straight

[LOOKING UP] No! I’m proud to be gay!

Now (2 handed sign) [LOOKING LEVEL AHEAD] My identity Deaf

Signing Gay Definitely

No! (2 handed sign)

86

Kongressbericht RaAm 2010 in Amsterdam

Corinna Koch

Vom 30. Juni bis zum 3. Juli 2010 fand an der Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam die achte Konferenz (RaAM8 ) der internationalen Vereinigung „Researching and Applying Metaphor“ (RaAM) statt. RaAM wurde als Vereinigung 2006 im Rahmen der sechsten Konferenz in Leeds, UK, mit der Zielsetzung gegründet, die Erforschung von Metaphern, Metonymien und anderen Aspekten bildlicher Sprache zu fördern. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt dabei auf der Anwendung der Forschungsergebnisse, der Ermutigung zur intensiven Nutzung innovativer Forschungsmethodiken sowie der interdisziplinären Vernetzung und Zusammenarbeit.  Alle zwei Jahre findet eine internationale Konferenz statt, im Zwischenjahr ein Symposium.

 

[...]

Ausgabe: 

Téléchargement article complet (PDF): 

Jahrgang: 

Seite 87

Kongressbericht RaAM8 2010 in Amsterdam

Corinna Koch, Bochum (Corinna.Koch-3@rub.de)

Vom 30. Juni bis zum 3. Juli 2010 fand an der Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam die achte Konferenz (RaAM81) der internationalen Vereinigung „Researching and Applying Metaphor“ (RaAM) statt. RaAM wurde als Vereinigung 2006 im Rahmen der sechsten Konferenz in Leeds, UK, mit der Zielsetzung gegründet, die Erforschung von Metaphern, Metonymien und anderen Aspekten bildlicher Sprache zu fördern. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt dabei auf der Anwendung der Forschungsergebnisse, der Ermutigung zur intensiven Nutzung innovativer Forschungsmethodiken sowie der interdisziplinären Vernetzung und Zusammenarbeit.2 Alle zwei Jahre findet eine internationale Konferenz statt, im Zwischenjahr ein Symposium.
Die achte RaAM-Konferenz 2010 wurde vom Department of Language and

Communication der Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam organisiert und empfing 171

Wissenschaftler, davon 81 Doktoranden, aus 35 Ländern. Um möglichst vielen Nachwuchswissenschaftlern die Teilnahme am Kongress zu ermöglichen, wurden im Vorfeld eine Reihe von Stipendien ausgeschrieben, die auf Grundlage finanzieller Bedürftigkeit oder akademischer Exzellenz vergeben wurden. Zudem wurden zwei Preise für Doktoranden im Rahmen des Kongresses überreicht, der „PhD Presentation Prize“ für den besten Vortrag eines Doktoranden bei RaAM8 sowie der „Early Career Research Paper Prize“, der das qualitativ hochwertigste Nachwuchsprojekt auszeichnete.
Als erster offizieller Programmpunkt fanden am 30. Juni vier „pre-conference tutorials“ statt, die ebenfalls speziell auf die Belange von Doktoranden abgestimmt waren. Jedes Tutorium wurde zweimal gehalten, so dass eine Teilnahme an zwei der folgenden jeweils knapp dreistündigen Veranstaltungen möglich war: „Identification of Figurative Networks in Multimodal Discourse“ (Anita Naciscione), „How to make an effective
 

1 Vgl. hierzu und für alle Abstracts die offizielle Kongresshomepage:

https://raam8.let.vu.nl/.

2 Vgl. hierzu die offizielle RaAM-Hompage: http://www.raam.org.uk/.

87

metaphorik.de 19/2010

conference presentation“ (Simon Harrison), „Workshop focusing on the use of
WordSmith tools and dictionaries in combination with the MIP (Pragglejaz
2007)“ (Maria Rodriguez Marquez/Alice Deignan) und „Metonymy as a research tool“ (Susan Ryland). Die Tutorien waren interaktiv gestaltet und boten den Teilnehmern die Möglichkeit, die vorgestellten Methoden, Programme und Hinweise mit Hilfestellungen selbst in die Praxis umzusetzen und zu reflektieren.
In drei einstündigen Plenarvorträgen beleuchteten renommierte Experten aus verschiedenen Disziplinen grundlegende Fragestellungen der aktuellen Metaphernforschung. Dedre Gentner3 (Department of Psychology and School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, USA) referierte in ihrem Vortrag „Metaphor and Mapping” über Bestandteile ihrer Career of Metaphor theory, die besagt, dass bestimmte Bildspender durch wiederholten Gebrauch eine Abstraktion erfahren, dadurch ihre ursprüngliche Bedeutung vollständig verlieren und zu einer abstrakten Kategorie mit einer metaphorischen Grundbedeutung werden.
Joseph Grady (Cognitive Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, USA) stellte in seinem Vortrag sein Unternehmen Cultural Logic4 vor, das Metaphern einsetzt, um die Einstellungen von Bürgern gegenüber Belangen öffentlichen Interesses zu verändern. Diesem Vorgehen liegt die Theorie zugrunde, dass die Öffentlichkeit in vielen Fällen den zentralen Aspekt eines Sachverhaltes schlichtweg nicht versteht und dadurch dem Thema gegenüber von vornherein eine kritische Haltung einnimmt bzw. es vollständig ignoriert. So ersetzte Grady beispielsweise die seiner Ansicht nach gescheiterte Metapher des Treibhaus(effekts) („greenhouse effect“) durch die nachvollziehbarere Metapher einer Decke („blanket“), die um die Erde gelegt ist und die Wärme darunter staut.
Lynne Cameron (Faculty of Education and Language Studies, Open University, UK5) stellte in ihrem Vortrag „The Particularity of Metaphor” Ergebnisse ihrer Forschung zum Gebrauch von Metaphern in authentischen, spontanen Gesprächssituationen vor, in denen sowohl die Anwesenheit als auch die
 

3 Vgl. http://groups.psych.northwestern.edu/gentner/.

4 Vgl. http://www.culturallogic.com/.

5 Vgl. http://www.open.ac.uk/education-and-languages/.

88

Berichte - Reports

Abwesenheit von Metaphern bereits viel über den Inhalt, die Gesprächs- führung und die Haltungen der Gesprächsteilnehmer verraten. Sie plädierte dafür, dass Theorien induktiv von solchem authentischen Gebrauch ausgehend formuliert werden sollten, und belegte, dass Metaphern besonders eng mit Emotionen, Werten und Haltungen zusammenhängen.
Der Hauptteil der Konferenz bestand aus 116 zwanzigminütigen Vorträgen mit anschließender Diskussion, die von den Teilnehmern als äußerst kollegial, ungezwungen und fruchtbar empfunden wurde. Die meiste Zeit konnten fünf parallel verlaufende Sektionen besucht werden, die die verschiedenen Teilthemen der Vorträge in die folgenden Überthemen einteilten:
„Processing“, „Metonymy“, „Politics“, „Visual Metaphor“, „Conceptual
Metaphor Theory“, „Music“, „Multimodality“, „Science“, „Media“, „Foreign
Language Learning“, „Business“, „Corpus“ und „Social Aspects“.
Neben Vorträgen konnten in einer neunzigminütigen Postersektion zwölf Projekte in unterschiedlichen Stadien begutachtet und mit den ver- antwortlichen Wissenschaftlern diskutiert werden. Auch in diesem Kontext wurden hilfreiche Lektürehinweise ausgetauscht sowie bisher unentdeckte Vernetzungsmöglichkeiten erkannt. Als besonders prominent zeigten sich sowohl in den Vorträgen als auch in den Posterpräsentationen die Zugrunde- legung und Weiterentwicklung der kognitiven Metapherntheorie von George Lakoff und Marc Johnson6 sowie die vielfachen Adaptationen der Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) der Pragglejaz Group7 mit ganz unter- schiedlichen Zielsetzungen.
Die besondere Praxis- und Anwendungsorientierung von RaAM8 zeigte sich in den vorgestellten Projekten, vor allem aber in den sechs neunzigminütigen
„real world workshops“, von denen die Teilnehmer des Kongresses zwei besuchen konnten: „Metaphor in communicating public interest issues“ (Joseph Grady), „Metaphor in business organisations“ (Joep Cornelissen),
„Metaphor in education professionals’ discourse“ (Graham Low), „Metaphor in knowledge management“ (Daan Andriessen), „Metaphor and metonymy in painting“ (Irene Mittelberg), „Metaphor in product design“ (Paul Hekkert).
 

6 Lakoff, George/Johnson, Mark (2008): Metaphors We Live By, Chicago.

7 Pragglejaz Group (2007): „MIP: A Method for Identifying Metaphorically Used Words in

Discourse“, in: Metaphor and Symbol 22.1, S. 1-39.

89

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Ähnlich wie in den „pre-conference tutorials“ lag in diesen Veranstaltungen der Fokus auf der Interaktion zwischen den Teilnehmern und der gemeinsamen Erarbeitung kleiner Beispielprojekte. Anknüpfend an Joseph Gradys Plenarvortrag konzentrierten sich alle Workshops auf die Frage, wie Metaphern als Intervention oder Werkzeug eingesetzt werden können, um die Wahrnehmung und das Denken von Menschen zu verändern.
Neben den wissenschaftlichen Settings, in denen ein reger Austausch stattfand, boten sich vor allem die Kaffeepausen, die Opening Reception am ersten Abend und das Conference Dinner im Stadtzentrum von Amsterdam am letzten Abend des Kongresses an, um neue Kontakte zu knüpfen und alte zu pflegen. Im Anschluss an das wissenschaftliche Programm wurde zudem ein gemeinsamer Tagesausflug zum Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen angeboten.
Eine anschließende Veröffentlichung ausgewählter Beiträge von RaAM8 ist nicht geplant. Die nächste RaAM-Konferenz, RaAM9, findet vom 4. bis zum
7. Juli 2012 an der Universität von Lancaster, UK, statt.8 Das zwischenjährliche
Symposium mit dem Thema „Metaphor across time and genre“ wird im Mai
2011 in Spanien ausgerichtet.
 

8 Vgl. http://ling.lancs.ac.uk/.

90

Kongressbericht Metaphor Festival 2010 in Stockholm

Corinna Koch

Zum fünften Mal fand vom 16. bis zum 18. September 2010 das „Stockholm Metaphor Festival (SMF)“  an der Stockholms universitet statt. Das Festival entstand 2006 als Fachbereichssitzung des English Department der Universität Stockholm und beschäftigte sich mit den Charakteristika und dem Vorkommen von Metaphern. Mittlerweile hat sich das Festival als jährliches und internationales Event im September etabliert. Explizit erwünscht sind neben Vorträgen zu Metaphern auch solche zur Metonymie und Synekdoche, zu Vergleichen, Oxymora, Antithesen, Hyperbeln, Ironie, Wortspielen u. v. m.

 

[...]

Ausgabe: 

Téléchargement article complet (PDF): 

Jahrgang: 

Seite 91

Kongressbericht Metaphor Festival 2010 in Stockholm

Corinna Koch, Bochum (Corinna.Koch-3@rub.de)

Zum fünften Mal fand vom 16. bis zum 18. September 2010 das „Stockholm Metaphor Festival (SMF)“1 an der Stockholms universitet statt. Das Festival entstand 2006 als Fachbereichssitzung des English Department der Universität Stockholm und beschäftigte sich mit den Charakteristika und dem Vorkommen von Metaphern. Mittlerweile hat sich das Festival als jährliches und internationales Event im September etabliert. Explizit erwünscht sind neben Vorträgen zu Metaphern auch solche zur Metonymie und Synekdoche, zu Vergleichen, Oxymora, Antithesen, Hyperbeln, Ironie, Wortspielen u. v. m.
Während das Festival in den vergangenen Jahren zweitägig angelegt war, entschieden die Organisatoren aufgrund der großen Anzahl eingesendeter Abstracts, die Konferenz in diesem Jahr auf drei Tage zu erweitern. Dadurch konnte das SMF 2010 52 Teilnehmer aus 19 Ländern aller fünf Kontinente verzeichnen. Für die zwei Plenarvorträge konnten Raymond Gibbs2 (Professor of Psychology, University of California, USA) und Clive Cazeaux3 (Reader in Aesthetics at Cardiff School of Art and Design, University of Wales Institute, UK) gewonnen werden. Raymond Gibbs referierte in seinem Vortrag – entgegen der Ankündigung im Programm – über die Frage, inwiefern der Umgang mit Metaphern bewusst abläuft oder welche (metaphorischen) Mechanismen bereits in Gang gesetzt werden, bevor bzw. ohne dass der Sprecher sie bewusst wahrnimmt. Clive Cazeaux erörterte in seinem Plenarvortrag die Frage „Do We Live Metaphor or Does Metaphor Live us?“. In einem philosophischen Zugang stellte er entgegen der Annahme „we live metaphor“ die These auf, dass die Metapher von sich aus lebt („metaphor lives (us)“), –
und das auch ohne uns.
 

1 Vgl. hierzu die offizielle Homepage:

http://www.english.su.se/pub/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=5511.

2 Vgl. http://psych.ucsc.edu/directory/details.php?id=10.

3 Vgl. http://www.csad.uwic.ac.uk/csad/res_profile_cazeaux.htm.

91

metaphorik.de 19/2010

Der Schwerpunkt des SMF lag auf zwei parallel verlaufenden Sektionen, in denen 32 zwanzigminütige Vorträge mit anschließender Diskussion gehalten wurden. Die große Varietät an Disziplinen, aus denen die Vortragenden stammten, erlaubte es, das Phänomen der Metapher in verschiedensten Sprachen und Kulturen (bis hin zur finnischen Minderheitensprache Inari Saami) und aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln zu beleuchten, z. B. aus (kognitiv) linguistischer, literarischer, kultureller, sozialer, psychologischer und neurologischer Sicht. Es wurden sowohl theoretische als auch praktische sowie methodisch-empirische Fragen in einer freundlichen Atmosphäre diskutiert.
In einer separaten Postersektion stellte das Englische Seminar der Universität Stockholm das Thema „Metaphern in der Internetsprache“ auf zahlreichen Postern dar. Beispielhaft seien hier Neologismen wie „cyberspace“ und
„information superhighway“ sowie die metaphorische Bedeutung von „away from keyboard (AFK)“ genannt. Demnach bedeutet „AFK“ nicht immer, dass sich der Benutzer tatsächlich von der Tastatur entfernt hat, sondern kann metaphorisch gesehen ebenso bedeuten, dass er aktuell „not available“ ist.
Neben Vorträgen und der Posterpräsentation bot das SMF einen Workshop zum Thema „Translation of figurative speech“ an. In diesem wurden zunächst Metaphern diskutiert, die das Übersetzen selbst beschreiben, z. B. TRANSLATION IS MOVEMENT („to carry over”), TRANSLATION IS A RELATIONSHIP („fidelity, faithfulness”) und TRANSLATION IS BALLISTICS („source, target, strategies”). Anschließend wurde der metaphorische Ursprung von Verben, die „übersetzen” bedeuten, in verschiedenen Sprachen analysiert, z. B. Finnisch „to turn around“, Chinesisch „to turn over“, Indisch „to follow after“, Nigerianisch „to break apart and put back together” und Malayisch „to give birth to”. Im Anschluss wurden verschiedene englische Ausdrücke auf ihre Übersetzbarkeit hin betrachtet und bestimmte Gruppen von Metaphern herausgearbeitet, die besonders leicht oder besonders schwer zu übersetzen sind. Als besonders leicht stellten sich in christlich geprägten Ländern Bibelzitate wie „Auge um Auge, Zahn um Zahn“ heraus, als besonders schwierig zeigten sich konventionelle Metaphern, die noch nicht lexikalisiert worden sind, stark kulturspezifische und solche, mit denen im Text gespielt
wird.

92

Berichte - Reports

Als „Social Programme“ bot das SMF den Wissenschaftlern aus aller Welt vielfältige Möglichkeiten, sich sowohl untereinander als auch Stockholm und Umgebung besser kennenzulernen. Neben dem Conference Dinner im Stadtzentrum wurden eine Exkursion zur Täby Church im Norden von Stockholm vor Beginn des Festivals sowie im Anschluss an das wissenschaftliche Programm eine „Runestone Tour“ angeboten. Auch bei 7 °C, Sturm und strömendem Regen wurden die Wissenschaftler nicht müde, über metaphorische Inhalte der Runensteinbeschriftungen zu diskutieren.
Es ist erklärtes Ziel der Organisatoren des SMF, jedes Festival mit einer Veröffentlichung ausgewählter, auf den Vorträgen basierender Artikel abzuschließen. Auch in diesem Jahr sind Proceedings geplant. Verfügbar ist bisher – online und in Print – der Band mit Beiträgen aus den Jahren 2006 und
20074. Die Druckfassung für 2008 ist fast fertiggestellt.
Auch für September 2011 ist ein SMF geplant. Es wird vom 8. bis zum
10. September stattfinden.
 

4 Die Beiträge von 2006/2007 sind auf der Festival-Homepage verfügbar.

93